By Justin Feil, Special Writer
Dorian Williams began his career known indistinguishably as No. 110 for the Princeton University football team’s preseason practices.
The senior free safety leaves as No. 1 after the Tigers overtook and pulled away from Dartmouth in the second half for a 38-21 win Saturday to secure a share of the Ivy League championship.
Princeton closed the season 8-2 overall, 6-1 in the Ivies, tied for the title with Penn, a team that the Tigers destroyed, 28-0, three weeks ago. Princeton’s one loss came in overtime against Harvard.
“I do feel like we’re the best team in the league,” said Williams, who is one of three captains for Princeton along with quarterback Chad Kanoff and linebacker Rohan Hylton. “The way we performed on both sides of the ball and special teams kind of proved that we’re the best team in the league. Not to be too arrogant, but I think it’s known around the league too.”
Princeton trailed Dartmouth, 14-7 for most of the second quarter before a late chip-shot field goal by Tavish Rice cut the Tigers deficit to 14-10 going into halftime. The Tigers pulled together in the locker room and came out inspired in the second half.
“It’s conflict inside that was tearing us apart,” Williams said. “And that’s something we got rid of in the second half. We played as a team in the second half.”
The half started with Williams and the defense forcing a punt from Dartmouth, but the drive continued after a roughing the kicker penalty.
“I went out there and said we’re going to stop them,” Williams said. “As soon as we stopped them, the offense went out there and scored.”
Princeton scored 28 straight points and held Dartmouth off the scoreboard until only 21 seconds remained in the game. Twenty-one seconds later, Princeton was celebrating its second Ivy title in four years thanks to its second-half surge.
“I just said, we have to keep trusting,” recalled PU head coach Bob Surace. “I didn’t think we were trusting. We were in this emotional state and we were kind of fighting each other a little bit. If we just trust and focus on the now, we’re going to be fine.”
The senior class of 34 players were freshmen when Princeton won in 2013, when they again shared a crown after losing to Dartmouth. The Big Green had won each of the last six season’s finales over Princeton.
“It’s unreal,” Williams said. “When we won the title when we were freshmen, we lost our last game and it was kind of bittersweet. It was like we had the outright chance and we didn’t take full advantage of it. It’s awesome to win at home. We had the home crowd involved. It’s something you’re going to remember forever.”
The go-ahead score came when John Lovett rushed for his second touchdown of the game to cap a 15-play, 85-yard drive. It was the junior quarterback’s 20th rushing touchdown on the season, and it broke Keith Elias’s record of 19 set in 1993.
Said Surace: “When you say ‘Keith Elias,’ if you just approach that record, you say, ‘Holy cow,’ because he’s one of the great players to ever play in the league.”
Lovett also passed for a touchdown, his 10th of the season. He had a hand in 31 touchdowns for Princeton this year – he also caught a touchdown pass against Cornell. Scott Carpenter was on the receiving end of Lovett’s final touchdown of the season. Jesper Horsted also caught a touchdown from Kanoff, who finished 14-for-24 for 200 yards and one touchdown.
“I thought we just kept playing our game,” Kanoff said. “And we started playing better. They were playing well at the beginning of the game for sure. They had a lot of energy. People get tired and the rush always gets a little less at the end of games. We kept playing our game.”
The run game also excelled. Charlie Volker ran 18 times for 111 yards and a touchdown. Princeton outgained Dartmouth on the ground, 219-61.
Princeton’s defense and special teams made sure the offense didn’t need many points in the second half. Chance Melancon and Rohan Hylton had interceptions in the second half, and Mark Fossati’s strip of a Dartmouth kick returner and Ryan Quigley’s recovery led to a short touchdown drive to break the game wide open against a Dartmouth team that had held a 69-11 advantage in fourth quarters this year.
“You don’t want to be in a game where that’s all they’ve done is dominate there,” Surace said. “That really helped us get over the hump. Other than the one play where we had a coverage bust, we played really well.”
Princeton was selected to finish fifth in the Ivy preseason poll, largely due to an inexperienced offensive line and question marks in their defensive backfield. Williams helped anchor the defensive backs while the offensive gelled into a formidable unit, and the skill players capitalized on opportunities to far exceed those predictions.
“I think it’s so tough to measure a team bond,” Surace said. “I felt it since Day One when (PU alum lineman) Ross Tucker comes in and speaks to the team and he’s got their attention. Every guy is just locked in that way. I think as I grow as a person, every once in a while I’ll say something that they’ll find funny and they’re willing to joke with me now. When you first get there and you’re trying to build a culture, it’s like this (holding hands apart). Players here, coaches there. There’s a trust.”
Surace grew to trust this year’s senior class to lead the Tigers to a title, and they had contributors all over the field. It resulted in history for that class.
“It’s been 20 years since ‘95 and ’92, and they didn’t play together,” Surace said. “Nobody has two rings since the ‘60s.”
Princeton could have let a 23-20 overtime loss to Harvard derail their title hopes. Surace, however, preached the importance of looking not at the big picture but each game as it came. The Tigers romped over Cornell, Penn and Yale in succession with the defense allowing only 10 points combined in that stretch. And when they pulled away from Dartmouth convincingly, it gave them an even better case to claim they were the league’s best.
“If we were allowed to go to the playoffs, it’s head-to-head,” Surace said. “That’s the tiebreaker from the time your 3 til whenever. We’re not allowed to, but everybody who has common sense says that. When I was a player I lost head-to-head and I got a ring, and I’m not giving it back. I’m keeping that one. But the two that we had, we won that. You do feel it’s a better feeling when you won that.”
Winning the finale hadn’t happened the last six years, and Dartmouth had consistently put a damper on Princeton going into the offseason. The Tigers wouldn’t let that happen this year.
“This is a team that everybody can be proud of,” Surace said. “How we play, how we do things as a coach. They’re not perfect, I’m not perfect, but it’s a group of guys that works their tails.”
The Tigers held their season-ending banquet on Monday, and they will turn the page after this week to looking to 2017. They will head into it after graduating a senior class that had a hand in one of the best runs in Princeton football history. Williams and his classmates will graduate with 26 wins in Ivy play, equal with the Class of 1997 for the most by a Princeton class since the Ivies began formal play.
“Nobody’s won that many since the 1950s before Ivy play started,” Surace said. “That’s a really good accomplishment when you see that.”
