Seven turnovers cost Tigers in Yale comeback
By: Justin Feil
The silence at Princeton Stadium said it all.
Silent were most of the 18,265 fans who had been drawn to see the Tigers take another step toward its first Ivy League championship in 10 years and see off a Princeton senior class in its home finale. More silent was the Princeton locker room after the Tigers lost a 14-0 lead and their title chances with a 21-14 loss to Yale on Saturday.
"I left a very sober locker room," said Princeton head coach Roger Hughes after his team slipped to 6-3 overall, 4-2 in the Ivies. "These kids are very disappointed. Defensively, I thought we played well enough to win the game."
The Tigers defense held Ivy-leading passer Jeff Mroz almost 60 yards under his 258.6 yards per game passing average and limited the third-leading team offense nearly 130 yards under its 389 yards per game average. But they couldn’t overcome the short fields forced by seven Princeton turnovers on their final nine possessions of the game.
The sixth turnover for the Tigers allowed Yale to take its only lead of the game. Princeton quarterback Jeff Terrell found Brian Shields over the middle but a hit by Yale’s Brendan Sponheimer sent the ball flying up in the air. Bobby Abare, a Bulldog freshman, cradled the ball out of the air and took it to the 1-yard line.
Three plays later, Mroz scored on a quarterback sneak up the middle to make it 21-14 with 47 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Just 27 seconds earlier, the Bulldogs tied it when Mroz found Todd Feiereisen for a 10-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to complete a 36-yard scoring drive.
Yale got good field position ironically after Mroz was intercepted for the second time by Jay McCareins, the Ivy League leader in that category. But McCareins’ 16th career interception came on a fourth-down pass that, had he just knocked away, the Tigers would have had the ball at their own 36. Instead, they did not move a yard from their own 3, punted out of their own end zone to the Bulldogs, who converted one third-and-10 before the score.
Princeton returned the final kickoff to its 27-yard line, but Terrell threw his fifth interception of the game to seal the Tigers’ fate. Brown was a 24-14 winner over Dartmouth on Saturday to remain the only team in the Ivy League with just one loss. The Bears play next week at Columbia, which has not won an Ivy game, while the Tigers travel to Dartmouth.
"We did things today that we hadn’t done all year," Hughes said. "Those are the types of things (that hurt), and I told the team ahead of time turnover ratio is going to be crucial and clearly it was."
Terrell’s first interception came with 29 seconds left in the first half and the Tigers sitting at the doorstep of a 21-0 cushion. On a third-and-4 from the Yale 5-yard line, Terrell’s pass was tipped by Brandon Dyches and Lee Driftmier caught the first of his two interceptions.
"At the time, I was trying to put them away frankly," Hughes said. "I thought if we got to 21, we could have had the game well in hand, and we had the ball first in the second half. I think that turn of events really changed the momentum."
Yale came out of the locker room and scored on its second possession of the second half on a 1-yard run by Mike McCleod on fourth down to cut the lead to 14-7.
"Offensively, we’re going down before half and really I feel like if we score that touchdown before the half to go up 21, we’re in great shape," Hughes said. "We didn’t come away with points. Our inside run game was not as effective as it needed to be. And we turned it over seven times. You can’t turn it over in this league with the parity you have and expect to win. We just didn’t make good decisions with the football."
Princeton started out quickly Saturday, but for the first time this season lost a game it scored in first. Derek Javarone missed a 39-yard field goal on the opening drive for the Tigers, but they didn’t stay off the board for long.
On their next possession, the Tigers were faced with 4th-and-12 on Yale’s 28. Terrell had great protection and found a wide-open Derek Davis in the right side of the end zone for the touchdown for a 7-0 lead with 1:20 left in the first quarter.
Princeton’s second score came when Terrell found a wide-open Brian Brigham down the middle for a 32-yard touchdown on a third-and-long with 6:22 to go before the half. The Tigers couldn’t add a third score before the half when the interception ended their drive. Yale missed a 45-yard field goal to end the half, and the Tigers’ Jake Marshall blocked a 30-yard field goal attempt early in the fourth quarter. Following the big block though, the Tigers couldn’t get back the momentum for good.
Derek Davis led the Tigers with five catches for 78 yards and also ran three times for 26 yards, including a 25-yard end around to open the Tigers’ first series. Rob Toresco had 62 yards rushing to lead Princeton on the ground. Terrell rushed for 34 yards and threw for 230 yards on 18-for-33 passing. Justin Stull led an inspired defense with 15 tackles. But the Tigers ultimately didn’t get the result they wanted as the Bulldogs silenced Princeton’s fans and the locker room.
"There are not any words being said," Hughes said. "There are a lot of kids just kind of sitting in their lockers now with their heads down. There’s a lot of tears being shed. As I told each senior in there, we’re going to need their leadership now more than ever to go finish this thing the right way. The nice thing about football is we have another shot.
"Next week, we have to fix what we did wrong, make better plays, take care of the football better and go out on a good note and send these seniors out with the type of game they deserve."