MANSFIELD UNIVERSITY SPRINT FOOTBALL
10/4/08

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Improved Mounties test Penn in Sprint Football  34-12 before large Homecoming crowd

MANSFIELD—The Mansfield University sprint football team showed marked improvement in only its second game in team history in a 34-12 loss to the undefeated University of Pennsylvania Quakers before a Homecoming crowd of 3,850 Saturday at Karl Van Norman Field.

The Mountaineers, who were blanked by Cornell, 35-0 in their sprint debut last week, dented the scoring column for the first time when freshman safety Jim Wronski broke three tackles and returned a Penn punt 44 yards for a touchdown early in the second quarter.  It was the first touchdown surrendered by Penn this season.  On the final play of the third period, the Mansfield offense tallied its initial score of the campaign on a 17-yard connection from sophomore quarterback Danny Moss to junior wide receiver Ryan Bernaiche.  The latter score trimmed what was a once-comfortable Penn advantage to 21-12.

However, the Quakers (3-0, tops in the CSFL) iced the victory with a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns, on a 22-yard burst by halfback Wifi Fernandez and a one-yard sneak by quarterback Michael D’Angelo.

Penn raced to a 21-0 first quarter lead on a five-yard touchdown run from tailback Mike Bagnoli, a four-yard scoring run by Fernandez, and a 28-yard hookup from DeAngelo to tight end Marten Basta.

Once Mansfield (0-2, 0-2) settled down, the Mountaineers were able to move the ball against the Quaker defense.  Moss completed 14-of-30 throws for 127 yards and no interceptions and was not sacked, and he also paced all Mansfield rushers with 32 yards on nine carries. 

Tyler Floyd caught five passes for 54 yards while fellow freshman Lucas Bailey also had five receptions for 30 yards. Bernaich had three catches for 47 yards.

Defensively, Mansfield forced three Penn turnovers, garnered three sacks, and received strong performances from freshman linebacker Will Williams, who led all performers with 14 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks, and junior linebacker Solomon Isom (12 stops).

The Mountaineers’ special teams played a role in both touchdowns.  In addition to Wronski’s 44-yard jaunt to paydirt, freshman running back Lucas Bailey set up Mansfield’s second score with a 36-yard punt return deep into Penn territory.

“You saw a program grow up a lot after the first quarter,” said Mansfield head coach Dan Davis.  “Once they got settled, our guys played hard and proved to themselves and to others that they can play with the teams in the CSFL.  We made substantial progress from our first game to today, and we more than acquitted ourselves well over the final three quarters.” 

The Mountaineers amassed 189 yards in total offense, a vast improvement over its performance against Cornell when they were limited to 14 net yards.

Once they settled down, a young Mansfield team that includes 48 of 50 players who are in their first season of collegiate football, gave a veteran Penn team a stiff test.

For Penn, Bagnoli paced the Quakers’ rushing attack with 115 yards on 17 carries to complement the aerial attack from D’Angelo, who threw for 163 yards.

Mansfield has a three-week break before it returns to action October 24 at Princeton.

                               Box Score (Final)

University of Pennsylvania vs. Mansfield University (Oct 04, 2008 at Mansfield University)

  Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score

  -----------------    -- -- -- --   -----

  University of Penn.. 21  0  0 13  - 34       Record: (3-0,3-0)

  Mansfield University  0  6  6  0  - 12       Record: (0-2,0-2)

  Scoring Summary:

  1st 11:25 PENN - BAGNOLI, Mike 5 yd run (DZIENMIANOWICZ, kick), 7-57 3:35, PENN 7 - MANS 0

      09:08 PENN - FERNANDEZ, Wifi 4 yd run (DZIENMIANOWICZ, kick), 6-32 1:58, PENN 14 - MANS 0

      03:55 PENN - BASTA, Marten 28 yd pass from D'ANGELO, Micha (DZIENMIANOWICZ, kick), 2-33 1:27, PENN 21 - MANS 0

  2nd 12:41 MANS - James Wronski 44 yd punt return (Michael Steele kick failed), , PENN 21 - MANS 6

  3rd 00:00 MANS - Ryan Bernaiche 17 yd pass from Danny Moss (Danny Moss kick failed), 1-17 0:03, PENN 21 - MANS 12

  4th 13:15 PENN - FERNANDEZ, Wifi 22 yd run (BUSLER, Todd rush failed), 4-40 1:37, PENN 27 - MANS 12

      03:39 PENN - D'ANGELO, Micha 1 yd run (DZIENMIANOWICZ, kick), 9-68 4:35, PENN 34 - MANS 12

                                     PENN     MANS

  FIRST DOWNS...................       18        9

  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............   50-221    25-62

  PASSING YDS (NET).............      163      127

  Passes Att-Comp-Int...........   23-9-2  33-14-1

  TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   73-384   58-189

  Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      1-3

  Punt Returns-Yards............     5-66     3-79

  Kickoff Returns-Yards.........     3-89     4-85

  Interception Returns-Yards....     1-33      2-7

  Punts (Number-Avg)............   5-41.6   8-34.4

  Fumbles-Lost..................      2-1      3-2

  Penalties-Yards...............     4-85     8-63

  Possession Time...............    34:44    25:08

  Third-Down Conversions........  3 of 13  0 of 14

  Fourth-Down Conversions.......   2 of 4   2 of 5

  Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      3-4      1-1

  Sacks By: Number-Yards........      0-0     4-24

  RUSHING: University of Penn.-BAGNOLI, Mike 17-115; FERNANDEZ, Wifi 6-41;

  D'ANGELO, Micha 15-26; HUBSHER, Dave 2-20; BUSLER, Todd 4-11; GREENKY, Max

  6-8. Mansfield University-Danny Moss 9-32; Tyler Floyd 3-11; Lucas Bailey

  4-11; Desmen Johnson 7-5; Paul Frederick 2-3.

  PASSING: University of Penn.-D'ANGELO, Micha 9-23-2-163; BUSLER, Todd

  0-0-0-0. Mansfield University-Danny Moss 14-30-0-127; Matt Gant 0-2-1-0;

  TEAM 0-1-0-0.

  RECEIVING: University of Penn.-BASTA, Marten 4-95; HUBSHER, Dave 2-43;

  STACK, Michael 2-19; PORTELLI, Joe 1-6. Mansfield University-Tyler Floyd

  5-54; Lucas Bailey 5-30; Ryan Bernaiche 3-47; Desmen Johnson 1-minus 4.

  INTERCEPTIONS: University of Penn.-FEIGENBAUM, And 1-33. Mansfield

  University-Cedric Ingram 1-0; Ray Shaffer 1-7.

  FUMBLES: University of Penn.-BAGNOLI, Mike 2-1. Mansfield University-Desmen

  Johnson 1-1; Tyler Floyd 1-1; Danny Moss 1-0.