Early Saturday afternoon, Penn senior running back Joe Sandberg repeated what had already become happenstance. He took a handoff from quarterback Bryan Walker, dodged a tackle, sped to sprint, and crossed the goal line for a Quaker touchdown.

What Sandberg saw on the Franklin Field scoreboard as he stood alone in the end zone must have come as a shock. Only 12 seconds remained in the first quarter, but the tally just below the time clock told the tale: Penn 28, Visitor 0.

Like the engine on a rusted junkyard jalopy, Georgetown sputtered, choked and coughed before finally starting up Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia. By the time the Hoyas got in gear, Sandberg and Penn had long ago left them in the dust.

Over their first five games, Georgetown (0-6, 0-1 Patriot League) has made a habit of digging itself in an early hole, but the 28 first-quarter points they surrendered to Penn looked more like a grave in the Franklin Field turf. Senior fullback Kyle Van Fleet managed two late touchdowns, but Penn (1-3, 0-1 Ivy League) left no doubt as to who had the better team in the 42-13 affair.

“I said two weeks ago, that if we don’t change our mindsets and play more aggressively, games are going to be predictable,” Van Fleet said in an email. “Two weeks later it’s the same story.”

Sandberg – whose senior year had thus far been marred by a nagging leg injury – sprinted out of the blocks for 117 yards and two scores in the first half. By the start of the second, Sandberg had retired to the sideline, and the Quakers were five scores ahead.

Sandberg, a six-foot, 210-pound workhorse, yoked the Quakers to his harness for the first thirty minutes, and chewed up sod in steady five and six yard intervals on the first two Quaker drives.

His first score, a four-yard jaunt, capped a coolly efficient nine-play, 83-yard drive. Following Georgetown’s customary opening-drive three and out, Sandberg went back to work, leading his team on another long scoring campaign which ended with Walker tossing a touchdown to junior tight end Jason Miran.

Penn Head Coach Al Bagnoli gave the gasping Sandberg a breather following another Georgetown dead-end drive. Thus it was freshman ichael DiMaggio’s turn to gash the Hoyas’ run defense. The Quakers locked up Patriot League Rookie of the Week Nick Parrish, and 38

whirlwind yards later, DiMaggio was alone in the end zone.

With the game, and the season, quickly slipping away, Sophomore running back Robert Lane charged through the line. Waiting on the other side was Penn linebacker Jake Lewko, who met Lane head-on and jarred the ball loose. Shortly thereafter, Sandberg pranced into the end zone for his team’s fourth score. Penn would score once more in the first half, on a 26-yard reception by sophomore receiver Tyler Fisher, a former Gonzaga Prep Eagle.

“We are running the offense I envisioned,” Bagnoli, who avoided his first ever 0-4 start of his Penn career, said in a press release. “We are getting closer to where I think this team should be.”

If 253 rushing yards is what he envisioned when he hired offensive coordinator Bill Schmitz this past off season, he must have misread Schmitz’s resume.

Schmitz, a pass-happy x’s and o’s wizard, implemented the spread offense and was all set to air it out in 2007. But so far this season, Schmitz’s rocket had languished on the launch pad: Senior Robert Irvin, the incumbent under center, struggled through two dissapointing losses to Lafayette and Dartmouth.

But thanks to a rejuvenated Sandberg and a young Georgetown defense, the Quakers are back on track heading into Ivy League play. While Sandberg and DiMaggio skipped in circles, Lewko and the Quaker defense kept sophomore running back Charlie Houghton bottled up for 37 yards. Van Fleet’s two scores came on passes from senior quarterback Matt Bassuener, but the passing game was limited on the whole: Bassuener finished the day with only 123 yards through the air.

With the memory of Saturday’s encouraging performance, Bagnoli jogged off the field and looked ahead to the oncoming Ancient Eight slate with a fresh outlook. “[Today] was obviously a better performance than we had the first three games,” Bagnoli said. “We are making progress, and progress has to be made as we head into League play.”

For Van Fleet and the Hoyas, there was nothing on the horizon but a gauntlet of challenging games and an overcast sky.

“It’s the last five weeks for all the seniors, we have to come together as a team and bump up the intensity in practice and try to have some fun,” he said. “Its difficult and frustrating to be 0-6, but the only way to begin to heal and get better is to win. We’re going to work hard all week and by Saturday, were hoping to get the ball rolling in the right direction.”

Kickoff Saturday against Fordham is set for 1 p.m. on the ulti-Sport Facility.