Moment #60: Ragone gets it Done

Billy Ragone

The name of Billy Ragone has been familiar to Columbia fans almost as long as it has been to Penn fans.

Even before he started his career at Franklin Field, I paired him up with his fellow Connecticut high school star Sean Brackett ’13, as two new Ivy QB’s who were worth watching.

That thought turned out to be correct as they both would become All Ivy players and iconic team leaders.

The tough difference for Columbia fans is that Ragone currently has three Ivy League championship rings on his fingers and Brackett graduated in May with just 10 total wins as a starter.

Brackett may still be the more talented player overall, but Ragone has great physical grit especially in the clutch.

In the week five game against Penn, Columbia was forced to learn that lesson about Ragone time and again… starting with a key play early in the 2^nd quarter with the game still scoreless.

Facing a 4^th and one from the Lion 23, Penn Head Coach Al Bagnoli took Ragone off the sidelines where he had been sitting out that offensive series in favor of fellow QB Andrew Holland. Ragone started erratically as a passer in 2012, and Bagnoli and his staff wanted to make sure they weren’t relying too much on one QB.

But when push came to shove, Bagnoli knew who he needed to rely on in a tight squeeze and that was Ragone, who calmly trotted on the field and made a two yard gain for a 1^st down.

Then he trotted right off the field and handed the ball back over to Holland, who got the Quakers close enough for a 37 yard Connor Loftus field goal and a 3-0 lead.