Box Score ITHACA, N.Y. – The struggles continued for the Big Red sprint football team on Friday night, as it dropped to 0-3 on the season in a 28-14 home-opening loss to Penn.
 
The Quakers had already built a four-touchdown lead, with one in each quarter, before the Big Red was able to find the end zone twice in the fourth.
 
The first Big Red scoring drive started with a 79-yard kickoff return by Nick Perez who broke through a pair of Penn tackles and got help from the special teams' corps with blocks along the Cornell sideline before being forced out of bounds at the Penn 16.
 
On the first play of the drive from the line of scrimmage quarterback Brendan Miller found freshman back-up quarterback turned wide receiver Robert Pannullo in the endzone. The touchdown is Pannullo's first at Cornell.
 
John Rodriguez added the extra point to cut the Penn lead to 28-7.
 
On the kickoff, the Big Red opted for an onside kick and managed to catch the Quakers off guard. Rodriguez bounced the kick towards the Cornell sideline to the Penn 46-yard line where his teammates where able to fall on the ball to both regain possession and build momentum.
 
The ensuing drive for Cornell ended with a three-yard Brendan Miller rush after the senior jumped the pile on a quarterback sneak. Rodriguez again converted the PAT to pull the Big Red within two touchdowns at 28-14. However, his second attempt at an onside kick failed and Penn ran down the game clock to seal the win.
 
The Quakers were led by Joe Raso, who rushed for two touchdowns and had eight carries for 20 total yards, though Mike Beamish was responsible for most of Penn's yardage on the ground with 24 carriers for 190 yards.
 
Penn's other touchdowns were scored on receptions by Jack Epstein and Freddy Ordonez.
 
Quaker quarterback Mike McCurdy recorded 300 yards of total offense, throughout for 205 yards with 15 completions on 26 attempts. He also rushed for 95 yards.
 
For the Big Red, Miller tallied 69 net yards of rushing offense on 20 carriers, while also completeling 10 of 23 pass attempts for and additional 102 yards.