By Michael Kelley ’14

After last week’s impressive road win against William and Mary, Lafayette football hopes to carry that energy to their home opener against Penn this Saturday.

Lafayette (1-0) comes off their biggest non-conference win since 2009, when they beat Georgetown 28-3. The Leopards will need to look past last week’s victory to prepare for a Penn team who is playing their season opener.

But as Head Coach Frank Tavani assured the press this past Tuesday at the media luncheon, there will be no fallout. “We’ve got no room for complacency. We haven’t done much yet,” Tavani said. “We’re headed into what I would say is a much more physical football game.”

Penn’s running back, Brandon Colavita ‘13, packs a punch and will be sure to contribute to the physicality of the game. At 5’9 and 225 pounds, Colavita will look to pound through a strong Lafayette defense that yielded only 84 yards rushing last week. Last season, Colavita rushed for 665 yards in 9 games, averaging 73.9 yards per game to go along with his four total touchdowns.

The Quakers bring back an experienced offense, but present a young, and largely untested defense. Four of their five offensive lineman return from last season, along with their starting wide receiver, running back, and quarterback, Billy Ragone ‘13.

“We feel good about his understanding of our offense,” Head Coach Al Bagnoli said of Ragone. “Everybody has a little more confidence in him as he gets more and more snaps under his belt.”

The Quaker defense features only three seniors, none of whom are on the defensive line. In the trench battle, that will surely be an advantage for Lafayette, whose offensive line relented just one sack last week and paved way for a hundred yard rushing performance.

Less pass rush means more time for quarterback Andrew Shoop ‘13, who threw for 230 yards and four touchdowns against Penn last season in a 37-12 blowout. Two of those touchdowns went to Mark Ross ‘14, Lafayette’s number one receiver.

Despite the successful aerial attack in their last matchup, Tavani may look to his bread and butter to win this game: running the football and controlling the time of possession.

“Last week, we were able to do things that are important to me: run the ball, stop the run, improve the turnover ratio, and win time of possession.” Tavani said. “You guys that have been with me all these years know that’s what I believe wins football games.”

Vaughn Hebron ’13 and Ross Scheuerman ’15 combined for 103 yards and helped Lafayette possess the ball for 37 minutes in their 17-14 victory.

Bagnoli, who has won eight Ivy League titles in his 20 seasons at the helm, was impressed as he watched the Leopards last week.

“I think that with the weather and the delay and on the road, that’s what makes it more impressive,” Bagnoli. “They already had our attention before the game and they certainly did nothing this past week to minimize our attention.”

Last season, the Quakers went 5-5, uncharacteristic for a team with storied successes as yearly Ivy League contenders. And after two weeks of watching football from their televisions, the Quakers are itching to play.

“They’ve had a lot of time to focus just on football,” Tavani said. “[They] will be a hungry bunch… They’re gonna come in here, ready to go.”

A Lafayette win would make them 2-0 for the first time since 2008 and winners of five out of their last six games against Penn. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Fisher Field.