Senior corner’s third interception seals Tigers’ victory
By: Justin Feil
Jay McCareins isn’t being asked to play offense this season.
The Princeton University senior cornerback just happens to be providing consistent offense – and anything else the Tiger football team needs – anyway. For the second straight week, McCareins returned an interception for a touchdown to help the Tigers to a win.
Saturday, McCareins’ pick of a potential go-ahead Torero score and sprint up the sidelines 99 yards for a PU touchdown with 1:14 left in the fourth quarter sealed Princeton’s 20-17 win over first-time Princeton Stadium visitor San Diego. He intercepted three passes, knocked away another four passes, made four tackles, and for good measure, recovered the onside kick to end the Toreros’ chances.
"I don’t know if superlatives can explain it," said PU head coach Roger Hughes, whose squad improved to 2-0. "He stepped in and did multiple roles for Greg Fields, who was out with a hamstring pull. The nice thing is we had no drop-off in our special teams play. Clearly Jay elevated his defensive back play. A couple times he baited the guy to throw the post ball and came and made a saving play there."
McCareins’ third interception of the game – tying the Princeton record held by 13 others – provided the only second-half points for the Tigers, who for the second straight week jumped out to an early lead. Princeton, which led Lafayette 20-0 at halftime before winning by two points one week earlier, led 13-0 against the Toreros in the second quarter and 13-3 at halftime. San Diego, which rallied to top Yale last week after trailing 14-3 at halftime, never caught the Tigers.
"Good teams find ways to win," Hughes said. "The last two weeks we found multiple ways to win. This week our defense played outstanding in the second half. Offensively, we sputtered. We didn’t play as consistently. We had some miscues that we did not have last week. But overall the effort was outstanding.
"We went through some adversity in the second half, but the character of this team kept coming in. Defensively, we had an interference penalty after we stopped them, but we still stopped them on that drive. There are things that are subtle that show the character of this team is improving, certainly the ability to play through the good and bad plays is. We’ll have to take that into the Ivy League next week."
Princeton hosts Columbia 1 p.m. Saturday in its Ivy opener, the second of a three-game home stand. The Lions will certainly be aware of McCareins, who contributed not just defensively but on special teams in place of Fields. McCareins returned four punts for 69 yards and three kickoff returns for 47 yards.
"He was just remarkable, fabulous, marvelous," Hughes said, "whatever superlatives you can put in front of it."
McCareins helped the Tigers take the early lead by setting up the Tigers’ first touchdown of the game with his first interception. McCareins kept inside position on San Diego quarterback Josh Johnson’s intended target to haul it in.
Rob Toresco had the big gain on the ensuing 43-yard drive, rushing for 16 yards to move the ball inside the 10. On third and goal, PU quarterback Jeff Terrell completed his first career touchdown when he faked a handoff to the right, rolled left for a step and found a wide-open receiver in tight end Jon Dekker.
"The coaches did a great job of finding ways to get me the ball," said Dekker, who tied a career high with five receptions that went for 69 yards. "I love catching the ball. I’m going to help the team win. That’s the big thing. I just want to make plays and do the best I can. When they ask me to catch balls, I’ll do that, and when they want me to run block, I’ll do that. As a tight end, I really enjoy catching the ball. That’s my favorite part of football."
Bill Foran gave the Tigers a 13-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter with the first rushing touchdown of his career. Foran, who moved to wide receiver last year, returned to his regular quarterbacking position this season. In his second series in a rotation with Terrell, he drove the Tigers 81 yards for the score. In the drive, Foran connected on a 24-yard pass to Dekker and a 20-yard pass to Toresco. Foran kept the ball on an option to the left for a 4-yard touchdown run, but Derek Javarone missed the extra point.
San Diego got on the board by converting Terrell’s second interception of the game into three points. With 23 seconds to go in the first half Hutch Parker, who missed from 39 yards midway through the second quarter, was true on a 34-yarder to bring the Toreros within 13-3 going into the locker room.
Eerily like the week before when Princeton surrendered a touchdown on the first drive of the second half at Lafayette, San Diego drew closer with its first possession of the second half.
Johnson put the Toreros right on the Tigers’ heels a with five-play, 81-yard drive. Johnson completed all four of his attempts on the drive, including a 51-yarder up the middle to Adam Hannula. PU cornerback J.J. Artis ran down Hannula, but it only delayed the touchdown two plays. Johnson found Hannula up the seam again for a 13-yard touchdown to make it 13-10 with 11:33 left in the third quarter.
It was the start of a second half in which the Princeton defense bent, but did not break. The Tigers made the plays when they had to to keep the Toreros at bay. For the game, San Diego held statistical advantages in time of possession (38:50-21:10), total plays (83-49), offensive yards (415-226) and first downs (22-9). The Tigers’ offense had just 83 second-half yards, giving the defense the chance to shine this week after it was two late offensive drives that sealed the win at Lafayette.
"I would like to score some more points offensively," Hughes said. "This is more of a ‘team’ team than I’ve been around. The chemistry and we have a tight knit group. We’ve talked about the chemistry is unlike anything we’ve ever had. The way we’re winning games over the last two weeks, I’m not sure it’s a trend yet, but clearly we’re finding different ways to win each week. The nice thing, the guys on the sidelines are expecting us to make the plays to win games now. They’re not questioning, are we going to make it, please can we make it. The attitude and focus of this team is we’re going to make the plays and let’s step up and do it."
It was all defense after San Diego pulled within 13-10 on its first second-half possession. McCareins provided the biggest play when the Tigers needed it most. The Toreros had already consumed almost six minutes of the fourth-quarter clock and had moved into possible game-tying field goal range on two fourth-down catches by Wes Doyle. But on third-and-8 from the Tigers’ 13, Johnson’s soft pass was cradled by McCareins who followed a wall up the left sideline for the game-breaking score.
"They ran the same play twice in a row," McCareins explained. "The first time, I was baiting, looking like the corner route was open. I figured they’d run it again. It was the same formation they’d shown on film. The quarterback threw it on (the receiver’s) break not anticipating that we’d adjust to it. He threw it a little behind and at that point I had some guys downfield making some blocks.
"Luckily," he laughed, "I’m real fast so I didn’t get caught."
His play looked all the bigger when San Diego scored on its second play of its next possession when Johnson hit John Matthews for a 40-yard touchdown to make it 20-17 with 46 seconds left. But the onside kick went right to McCareins, who seemed to be anywhere San Diego wanted to go Saturday.
"All I know is when we’re in practice, I know where Jay is at, and I don’t throw at him," Hughes said. "I’m not going to sit here and question another coach, but clearly that was to our benefit."
Added Dekker, "He’s a special player. He makes special plays in big situations. That’s Jay."