Liam O’Brien, Donte West help Pennsylvania hold off Brown 28-21

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Liam O’Brien threw a go-ahead touchdown pass and Donte West had two short scoring runs to help Pennsylvania hold off Brown 28-21 on Friday night.

Josh Narcisse picked off a fourth-and-7 pass from James Murphy on Brown’s first drive and returned it 30 yards to the Pennsylvania 42-yard line. West had a 1-yard touchdown run 11 plays later to put the Quakers up 7-0.

Murphy answered with a 44-yard scoring strike to Ty Pezza to tie it 7-7 after one quarter.

Penn (5-2, 3-1 Ivy League) regained the lead 50 seconds into the second quarter on O’Brien’s 9-yard touchdown toss to Bisi Owens, capping a 10-play drive for a 14-7 advantage. Sean Williams Jr. scored on a 1-yard run at the end of a 74-yard drive less than seven minutes later and the Quakers led 21-7 at halftime.

Murphy pitched to Najih Rahman on fourth-and-goal at the 3 and Rahman passed to Pearson Hill for a touchdown to get Brown (3-4, 0-4) within seven midway through the third quarter.

Jayden Drayton returned the ensuing kickoff 55 yards to give Penn the ball at the Brown 45. Williams was pushed out of bounds inside the 1 after a 40-yard run on third-and-6 and West scored on the next play to make it 28-14 heading to the final quarter.

Murphy connected with Trevor Foley for a 14-yard touchdown with 4:19 remaining, but O’Brien drove the Quakers to the Bears’ 1 before taking a knee on the final play.

O’Brien completed 18 of 27 passes for 222 yards with an interception and rushed nine times for 53 yards.

Murphy totaled 360 yards on 31-for-44 passing with an interception. Brown rushed 22 times for 33 yards.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football