Clock runs out on comeback
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
With more than nine minutes left in its 100th meeting against the University of Pennsylvania, the Princeton University football team found a spark.
Will Thanheiser came down between two defenders with a 46-yard pass from Brian Anderson, and the Tigers were in business when Jordan Culbreath scored on a 1-yard run on the next play.
Princeton couldn’t make another big play in the end, however, as the Quakers held on for a 14-9 win on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium on Friday. Penn stayed in the Ivy League title hunt at 5-3 overall, 4-1 in the Ivies while the Tigers fell to 3-5, 2-3.
Princeton had its chances after Culbreath’s touchdown, one of the few runs he wasn’t hounded on by a Quaker defense that geared everything to stopping him. He still finished averaging 4.4 yards per carry despite missing part of the game when he appeared to suffer a serious knee injury. He returned in the second half to lead Princeton in rushing again with 57 yards.
The Tiger defense forced a three-and-out after Culbreath’s score, and Princeton started a drive from its own 9 with a 10-yard completion to Culbreath followed by a 10-yard run by Culbreath that added on 15 yards thanks to a late hit by Penn. But Anderson threw three straight incompletions from the Tigers’ 44 and had to punt.
“Time was a factor because we really felt like we were only going to get the ball two more times,” said PU head coach Roger Hughes. “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.”
None of the Tigers offense got involved in the game again. Penn took over at its own 3 after Ryan Coyle had his second punt of the day downed inside the 5 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.”
It was the Quakers’ execution out of the locker room that twice proved the difference. Penn scored on its first possessions of the first and second halves. They had no other scoring drives.
After the Quakers took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, Ben Bologna put the Tigers on the board with a career-long 32-yard field goal with 10 seconds left in the first half. Princeton went into the locker room trailing just 7-3.
“We were in a great situation,” Hughes said. “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. And we didn’t do that. And that’s what teams do to dominate and win the game. We have to find the answers to why that’s happening and correct it so next time we make it happen.”
The third quarter has plagued the Tigers all season, and it did so again as Penn started the second half with a 14-play drive that consumed more than eight minutes before they opened a 14-3 lead.
“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.”
It left the Tigers playing catch-up the rest of the game. Princeton couldn’t convert enough of its final possessions into points in the end. The Tigers only had three possessions in the second half.
“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.”
Anderson finished the game 15-for-25 for 204 yards. He was sacked twice, both inside the red zone, once when Bologna converted a field goal and once when Bologna missed. 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 next Saturday.