Tigers overcome Lafayette in fourth quarter
By: Justin Feil
Think the Princeton University football team’s 26-14 win over Lafayette on Saturday wasn’t big?
Think again.
"It’s kind of gratifying to see," said PU head coach Roger Hughes before checking his emotions, "the culture change that we’ve tried to induce around here come to fruition. I couldn’t be more proud of this team. In both games they came from behind that we won so far. We have a lot of work to go, but we cleaned up a lot of mistakes we made in the first game."
While the Tigers used a third-quarter comeback to beat Lehigh the week before, they went into the fourth quarter Saturday in front of 8,291 fans at Princeton Stadium to overcome a sub-par third-quarter offensive performance. Princeton improved to 2-0 and will play at 2-0 Columbia at 1:30 p.m. next Saturday. Lafayette, which had not lost back-to-back games in 10 tries, fell to 2-2 after losing to Penn last weekend.
Jeff Terrell had two of his three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, both to sophomores making their first career scores, as the Tigers overcame a 14-13 third-quarter deficit. Terrell guided the Tigers on back-to-back scoring drives as they went to the hurry-up offense after Lafayette took the lead.
He hit tight end Will Thanheiser on a 14-yard touchdown pass on the first possession of the fourth quarter and running back R.C. Lagomarsino on an outlet pass that became a 49-yard score with 10:58 left for insurance.
Terrell also engineered an eight-play, 76-yard drive at the end of the second quarter to answer Lafayette’s first touchdown. Terrell hit Brian Brigham, who finished with a game- and career-high six catches for 72 yards, for a 25-yard touchdown strike on the left sideline.
"To come back after them putting it in, both of those drives ended in touchdowns," Terrell said. "We weren’t going to settle for field goals. We wanted to show what kind of team we are. I think we were able to get them a little backed up, a little confused with our two-minute offense."
In his second year starting, Terrell hit eight different receivers with passes, finished with a career-high 261 yards and equaled his best with the three touchdowns. He was picked off once. He also rushed eight times for a team-high 51 yards.
"To me, it’s just a natural growth progression for someone that works as hard as he does and someone who has the leadership and character that he does," Hughes said. "It’s not a surprise. It’s almost an expectation on my part. I expect him to play at this level.
"If you look at our team, probably the best analogy that I can give you is (Dick) Kazmaier standing behind 10 empty helmets because all the team left before that senior year of his. Jeff is a similar situation. His whole offensive line and tight end are gone and now he’s holding the whole thing together."
Terrell began the comeback and the Tiger defense finished off the Leopards behind J.J. Artis’ two fourth-quarter interceptions. Princeton limited Lafayette to 206 total yards in the game. For the second straight week, the Tiger defense came up with some momentum-changing plays.
Terrell’s pass to Thanheiser, his second career catch, made it a 19-14 lead, but Terrell’s two-point conversion pass was knocked down.
Lafayette’s next possession ended after it tried a running play on third-and-2 at its own 42 and Tiger linebacker Doori Song, who had two plays for losses against Lehigh, threw Leopard running back Jonathan Hurt for a 1-yard loss. David Yankovich followed with an 8-yard punt and two plays later Lagomarsino found the end zone.
Terrell hit Lagomarsino with a side-arm pass for 5 yards, but Lagomarsino broke out of one tackle and evaded two other Lafayette defenders to go 49 total yards to break open the game.
"R.C. made an unbelievable run," Hughes said. "He made a couple of people miss which is the athleticism we expect out of him. I think he’s getting his feet on the ground as well."
Artis followed with picks on the next two Lafayette possessions. On the first, Artis caught a pass over his shoulder at the Princeton 12-yard line. After Princeton’s Rob Toresco was stripped and the fumble recovered by Trey Martell, Artis recorded his second interception of the game, snaring this one in the end zone. After a Princeton punt, Pete Buchignani and Tom Methvin recorded sacks to finish off the Leopards.
"With us having the lead, the coaches were telling us they were going to air it out," Artis said. "I was getting ready to run. I knew they were going to go deep. Shaun Adair, he had a pretty nice game. He was pretty quick, a pretty shifty receiver. I was trying my best to open up and run with him and happened to be in position to make plays on the ball."
Added Hughes: "If you want textbook defensive back play, watch his two interceptions. His body position was perfect. He played the ball perfectly. And really, they did have no chance to get to the ball except to interfere with him."
Princeton won for the second straight week by showing it has the ability to come back from second-half deficits. It’s part of the culture change that Hughes has been preaching in the last seven years. Getting touchdowns immediately following Lafayette scores held the Leopards’ momentum in check and picked up fuel for the Tigers.
"Our backs are against the wall," Artis said. "Coach is always talking about if they punch, punch back and punch harder. We just went out and basically tried to execute our game plan and stuck with it and held them.
"It picks up the entire morale of the team. If the offense is clicking, we’re clicking. We can get going."
Princeton scored its first points on the new FieldTurf surface on a 30-yard field goal by Conner Louden that capped a 12-play drive. Louden followed with a 38-yard field goal in the second quarter for a 6-0 lead that capped a 17-play drive. It was a good start to the day, but the finish was better.
"They have a strong character about them," Hughes said. "That’s what we’ve been preaching. To see that coming through, these guys will tell you I’m a pretty emotional guy. Did I get choked up? I did. That’s one of my faults. I get choked up. It’s because of the pride I have about how much I care about these guys playing at the level they can so they can achieve what they want to do and have those memories the rest of their life, it’s like a father with a son. When your son does well, you’re proud."
After a second straight comeback win Saturday, there was plenty to be proud of within the Princeton University football family.