Historic season for Penn sprint football

SATURDAY WASN'T a good one for Penn's football team, which saw its five-game winning streak come to an end at Princeton, 28-0.

But it was an historic afternoon for the university's sprint team, which completed the second unbeaten (7-0) season in the program's 85-year run with a 41-12 win at Post (Waterbury, Conn.).

It's the fifth Collegiate Sprint Football League title in the 47-year career of coach Bill Wagner, and first since 2010. The only other time his Quakers won them all was 2000. Before that, the last time it had happened was 1931.

"At the opening meeting I told them, 'Guys, this is going to be a special year,' " Wagner recalled. "I really did feel like we had the ingredients. Now they're going into the history books. When they come back in 10 years, or even play in our alumni game next year, they're going to have those kind of memories and stories. A lot of tradition has been built here, and now they have the opportunity to be at the pinnacle of that."

The Quakers finished one game ahead of Navy and two in front of Army, the two teams that have dominated the nine-team league. In 2010 they shared the title with Army.

"They win the battle in these fields, but they win so many battles on other fields," said Wagner, a South Jersey native who once took Woodrow Wilson to a Group IV championship.

The roster is 50-deep, and there are weekly weight restrictions. Wagner's eight seniors all started (five on defense). Mike McCurdy passed for a school-record 1,740 yards. He's also the career leader, with 5,813. Against Post, sophomore Jake Klaus (Haddonfield, N.J., Memorial High) rushed for 248, the most by anyone in the CSFL this season.

The Quakers beat Army at Franklin Field on Sept. 23, 14-9. Two weeks later they beat Navy at home, 29-23. And in their next-to-last game they beat Cornell in West Philly in overtime.

Maybe that's what happens when you have a feeling.

"We're not men's football or basketball or the Penn Relays, but we're a varsity sport," said Wagner, whose daughter was an all-Ivy lacrosse player at Penn. "We're not on that pedestal, but I accept it . . . When they threw water on my head I turned around and gave all my captains hugs. I was so excited for them. I can see them down the road giving back to this.

"I'm going to be here forever. When I do leave, I want it to be even better than when I came. I'm not ready to go yet. I've got a few more years. That's my goal. I've got three coaches who played for me, one in 1973. They'll say, 'You're not leaving, are you?' It's been that kind of an atmosphere."