Tigers football falls to Quakers
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
The third-quarter woes and inability to make stops on third downs that have plagued the Princeton University football team bit it again in a 14-9 loss to the University of Pennsylvania on Friday.
The Tigers fought back after Penn scored a touchdown on its first possession of the game to take a 7-0 lead. Princeton, in what has been another issue, settled for a field goal after Brian Anderson was sacked on third down inside the red zone. Ben Bologna, who was wide left on his first field goal attempt — again after Anderson was sacked on third down in the first quarter — nailed a career-long 32-yarder with 10 seconds left in the half to make it 7-3.
”We were in a great situation,” said Princeton head coach Roger Hughes. “I thought we had the momentum going in at half. We’d gone down and kicked a field goal and had everything going. What we needed to do was come out and make a big stop and get something going.”
Instead, the Quakers drove 71 yards and chiseled 8:06 off the clock for a two-score advantage, 14-3. Three times on the drive, Penn converted third downs, the final one a 10-yard touchdown from Keiffer Garton to Matt Appenfelder.
”That touchdown in the second half really changed the complexion of the game,” Hughes said. “It’s still a one-possession game at that point. At that point (when Penn scored), it’s two possessions and we only had one possession in the third quarter. It changes your thinking a little bit as to how quickly you have to move the ball down the field.”
After failing to score on its lone third-quarter possession, Princeton got going quickly to start the fourth quarter. Will Thanheiser came down between two defenders with Anderson’s 46-yard pass at the Penn 1-yard line. Jordan Culbreath ran it in on the next play to make it 14-9 with 9:11 still left, but the Tigers couldn’t convert the two-point attempt.
Princeton’s defense then delivered a three-and-out, and the Tigers offense took over on its own 9. It moved to its 44 with a Culbreath carry and catch. Princeton felt it had Penn on its heels but three straight incompletions without going back to Culbreath, who averaged 4.4 yards per carry despite the Penn defense’s attention to him, forced Princeton to punt.
”Time was a factor because we really felt like we were only going to get the ball two more times,” Hughes said. “So we felt we had to move the ball quickly. We didn’t have the time to give it to Jordan all the time. We just didn’t get it into a manageable third-down situation where we could maybe get Jordan more figured in the game again.
”We felt we had to get down there. Had we got one more first down, then maybe you can give it to Jordan and take more time off the clock. We really felt like we could get it to midfield before we slowed it down.”
After Lawrenceville School graduate Ryan Coyle had his second punt of the day downed inside the 5, Penn took over at its own 3 and picked up three first downs, including a 22-yard completion on third down and a 9-yard run on another third-and-8 to run out the final 6:07 of game clock. Penn converted eight of 13 third-down chances in the game.
”We thought we had the sack,” Hughes said, “and he bought himself a little more time and the receiver made a great move to get open and to his credit, he did a good job to get the ball off.
”We knew they were going to run the ball, we just didn’t come up with a stop,” he added. “It’s disappointing. The game’s on the line. We need a big stop. We have to come up with that. To Penn’s credit, on the other side, they found a way to execute.”
Culbreath finished with a season-low 57 yards, but missed part of the second quarter with an injury before returning in the second half. Anderson was 15-for-25 for 204 yards. Thanheiser had four catches for 86 yards. Scott Britton led the defense with 10 tackles. Barry Newell recorded his first career interception for the Tigers, who play at Yale on Saturday before finishing at home against Dartmouth on Nov. 22.
”We have not done well the first two possessions either side of the ball a lot of times in the third quarter,” Hughes said. “We’re going to look at everything we’re doing in the third quarter and try to get ready for that, what we’re doing at halftime. Maybe we stand outside and do sprints all half to keep them loose, I don’t know. We’re going to find a doggone answer to why we’re not coming out with the kind of passion we need to.
”It’s not a fact that we’re not playing hard. We’re not playing right for whatever reason. We have to get that straightened out.”

