Defense Smothers Brown In 31-7 Home Victory, Helps Tigers Extend Win Streak To Three

Saturday, October 15

Princeton, N.J.

3:00 PM

Princeton University

4-1 , 2-0

Brown

1-4 , 0-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Brown

Princeton

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Defense Smothers Brown In 31-7 Home Victory, Helps Tigers Extend Win Streak To Three

October 15, 2016 | Football

Box Score

The Princeton defense left Brown scoreless for the first 59 minutes, forced two interceptions and limited Brown to a 3-of-17 success rate on third downs Saturday afternoon to send the Tigers to a dominating 31-7 victory in front of 5,881 fans at Princeton Stadium. The win leaves Princeton as one of three unbeatens in Ivy League play; one of the other two, Harvard, will meet the Tigers on Powers Field next Saturday on the ILDN and ESPN3 during Alumni Weekend on campus.

The Tigers held Brown to only 52 yards rushing and 200 total yards, 62 of which came on its final drive when Princeton played a number of its younger players. Until that point, the defense, led by a 10-tackle effort from Luke Catarius and a five-tackle, one-interception showing by Dorian Williams, controlled the game in a similar fashion to its performances at both Columbia and Georgetown. Princeton had five tackles for loss, including a sack by Jeremiah Tyler and Kurt Holuba, six pass breakups and four quarterback hurries.

There was just never a moment of comfort for the Brown offense until the outcome had long been decided.

Princeton's offense was challenged by a stingy Brown defense, but it was up for the challenge and reached the 30-point mark for the fourth time in five games. Senior James Frusciante caught two touchdown passes from John Lovett — who added his 10th touchdown run of the season later in the game — while classmate Isaiah Barnes put Princeton ahead 2:11 into the game when he caught a perfect 33-yard strike from Chad Kanoff in the right corner of the end zone.

The Barnes touchdown came seconds after Williams picked off Thomas Linta on Brown's third play from scrimmage. His pass went off a receiver's hands and bounced high in the air. Williams jumped and picked it off to set the Tigers in ideal field position, a play that set the tone for the rest of the game.

"This was a fantastic effort by everybody, including our scout team, which did an incredible job preparing us all week," head coach Bob Surace said. "The defense pressured Brown everywhere, and it played with the kind of intensity we preach. We tackled, we defended the pass — it was great to see."

Freshman Ryan Quigley led Princeton with 43 yards on 10 rushes, while senior wideout Trevor Osborne had 70 yards on five catches. Kanoff completed 16 of 23 passes for 185 yards and a touchdown, while Lovett threw for 71 yards, including both scores to Frusciante.

Princeton and Harvard are both 4-1, 2-0 in the Ivy League, while Penn also moved to 2-0 in league play with a home win over Columbia.

NOTES: Senior Tyler Roth averaged 42.5 yards per punt and pinned Brown inside the 20 twice … freshman Tavish Rice made his first field goal at home, a 32-yard strike in the third quarter … on six consecutive drives between the second and third quarters, the Princeton defense allowed only 33 total yards and one first down … after missing the last two games, Ty Desiré came back with a quarterback hurry and a tackle for loss … Princeton has held a time of possession advantage in each of its last three games; prior to that, the Tigers held the advantage three times in the previous 23 games.