Penn began the season this past Saturday with a valiant performance in defeat at Delaware, losing 28-27. The Quakers rallied from a rough start to take a 21-7 lead in the third quarter. After Delaware grabbed a 28-21 advantage, Penn fired back when junior Isaiah Malcome returned a punt 69 yards for a score with 2:24 left in the 4th quarter.
Penn went for two and the lead, but a conversion pass was incomplete, and the Quakers never got the ball back after a failed onside kick.
"I thought the kids showed great resolve, great fight for four quarters," Penn head coach Ray Priore told KYW Newsradio. "We had a couple of mistakes that are very, very correctable. Most important thing is we saw our kids execute against a real good football team and take it to the wire."
Penn had several players step up in new roles. At the top of that list was sophomore wide receiver Ryan Cragun.
In his first game action with the Quakers, he caught a game high eight passes for 145 yards.
"It's what you hope to see," Priore said. "You hope to see that development with your team as young freshmen turn into sophomores and people understand what their roles are. And when given the opportunity, they are out there and be productive. They're coached well and they took the coaching onto the field and they were able to execute. If we can continually get that effort from more and more players on both sides of the ball, some good things to follow."
Senior quarterback Nick Robinson made his second career start and completed 18 of 27 passes for 193 yards and three scores with one interception on a tipped pass. Senior running back Karekin Brooks rushed for 158 yards and caught three passes.
Lafayette has struggled to the tune of an 0-4 record this season. This past weekend, they lost at Albany 36-7.
"All four of their games they played hard from first snap to last snap," Priore said. "They've been banged up a bit with injuries, injury bug there in the o-line and d-line. They made a switch at quarterback (now starting freshman Keegan Shoemaker) which I think has stimulated their offense, their productivity. He's an active player, real good feet, good arm. Like every game, it's going to be a challenge for us to go up there to hopefully grab the win."
Saturday's game in Easton gets underway at 3:30 p.m.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @Mattleon1060.