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Bears take PU football down a notch

Tigers outplayed in loss

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   Still looking for its first complete game of the season, the Princeton University football team instead delivered disappointment from the opening drive to the end of a 31-10 loss to Brown on Saturday.
   ”Overall, Brown kicked our backsides,” said Tigers head coach Roger Hughes after his team lost for the first time in Ivy League play. “They beat us in every category. They beat us on special teams. They beat us on offense and defense.”
   Buddy Farnham finished with 285 all-purpose yards for the Bears, who improved to 3-2 overall, 2-0 in the Ivies. Brown and Pennsylvania are the only unbeaten in the conference after Saturday. Princeton no longer controls its own destiny.
   ”All we can do is win the games we have, and if we win out we have a shot at the league title because it’s hard to go undefeated within the league,” said Hughes, whose team dropped to 2-3 overall, 1-1 in league. “Years in the past would bear that out. We’ll know more how good Brown is in four or five weeks.”
   The schedule gets no easier for Princeton, which hosts Harvard 1 p.m. Saturday. With both the Tigers and Crimson having a loss apiece, falling two games behind the Ivy leaders could put an early end to any title hopes.
   ”Together we have a chance,” Hughes said. “If we start to fray a little bit, then we have no chance. The character of the team is going to show through at this point. We have to circle the wagons, figure out what we can and can’t do, see who’s healthy and who’s not. We did get banged up a little bit.”
   Tigers quarterback Brian Anderson suffered what was preliminarily called a bruised shoulder in the first quarter, but didn’t come out for good until the third quarter. He was replaced by freshman Tommy Wornham and Dan Kopolovich, the latter who has been starting at cornerback the last two seasons.
   ”We tried to see if he could go on it,” Hughes said, “and it became apparent — especially in the third quarter — that he just couldn’t. The ball just wasn’t coming out. As tough a kid as he is, he just couldn’t play with it.”
   Anderson’s relief wasn’t very effective. The Tigers trailed just 14-10 on Ben Bologna’s first career field goal and Meko McCray’s first career touchdown, but managed just 18 yards of total offense in the second half.
   ”Even as bad as we were playing in the first half, and the miscues we had, it was still a 10-14 game,” Hughes said. “It felt like we could come back and take charge of it. We just couldn’t get anything going offensively.
   ”You need to come out and get something going in the third quarter,” he added. “And we just weren’t able to do that.”
   Jordan Culbreath led the Tigers with 67 yards rushing. Will Thanheiser was their top receiver again with 82 yards on 5 catches. Ryan Coyle blasted a 76-yard punt, a career long for the senior from Lawrenceville School.
   Carlos Roque recorded his first career interception and Mark Ethridge had his first fumble recovery as the Tiger defense forced two turnovers.
   ”We did create a couple turnovers today,” Hughes said, “but they weren’t in situations where we had a short field to go on.”
   Even when Princeton did get in scoring position, they found it tough going. After driving to the Brown 1 on its opening drive, they had to settle for Bologna’s field goal instead of a touchdown.
   ”There’s no excuse,” Hughes said. “I’m anxious to see the film to see what happened down there. Clearly that started things. Things kind of snowballed from there.”