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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton 20, Columbia 0
August 16, 1999 | Football
Oct. 31, 1998
- Game Notes
Cashing in on his most remarkable skill, Fittizzi turned in the biggest play of the game when he blocked his seventh punt in the last 14 games. Fittizzi's block was scooped up by Danny Brian, who ran it in from the three yard line to make it 14-0 Tigers midway through the second quarter.
After a scoreless first quarter, Princeton took a 7-0 lead when Derek Theisen capped a 10-play, 71-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run. Brian's touchdown came 51 seconds later, after Princeton held Columbia after the ensuing kickoff.
Alex Sierk then added a pair of field goals, giving him 36 for his career, two off the all-time Ivy League record.
The defense did the rest, holding Columbia to 105 total yards and nine first downs while turning in six sacks. David Ferrara moved within 3.5 sacks of the school single-season record when he turned in 1.5 to run his season total to 11.
Andrew Babinecz had five tackles and a sack to earn Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors.
Game Notes
at
COLUMBIA (2-4, 1-2)
The Date Oct. 31, 1998 The Kickoff 1:30 p.m. The Site Lawrence A. Wien Stadium,New York, N.Y. The Series Princeton leads 54-12-1 Last Year Columbia defeated Princeton 17-0 Last Week Princeton lost to Harvard 23-22 Columbia lost to Yale 37-14 The Coaches Princeton: Steve Tosches (12th season, 73-41-2) Columbia: Ray Tellier (14th season, 50-93-3) TV/Radio The game can be heard live on the Princeton Radio Network, which includes flagship station WHWH AM 1350 in Princeton and WHTG AM 1410 in Eatontown. The game can also be heard live on WPRB FM 103.3. The game can be seen on RCN, which will televise the game Tuesday at 8 p.m. The Storyline The wildest Ivy League race ever tries to sort itself out
PRINCETON at COLUMBIA
The 68th meeting
This Week's Note of the Week
- OHSOCLOSE - The Ivy League is the only league in Division I football where first place and last place are separated by one game. No other league where every team has played at least three games has first and last separated by fewer than three games.
- We're having a parity - Should all of the following happen, then all
eight
Ivy League teams would enter the final week of the season at 3-3, which
would make all four games on Nov. 21 championship games:
-
This week - Columbia defeats Princeton, Yale defeats Penn, Dartmouth
defeats
Harvard and Cornell defeats Brown
Nov. 7 - Penn defeats Princeton, Brown defeats Harvard, Cornell defeats Yale and Dartmouth defeats Columbia
Nov. 14 - Princeton defeats Yale, Harvard defeats Penn, Brown defeats Dartmouth and Columbia defeats Cornell - By the way - If each Ivy League game is considered a 50-50
proposition,
then the odds that the above scenario would play out is .024%, or 24 in
10,000 or 417-1.
- More closeness - Of Princeton's last 27 games dating to the final game
of
the 1995 season, 19 have been decided by seven points or fewer and 13 have
been decided by four points or fewer. In addition, four have gone to
overtime and a fifth ended in a tie.
- Spreading it around - In the last three weeks Princeton has had five
different players rush for at least 50 yards in a game (a total of seven
times) but no player rush for at least 100 yards.
- The whammy - Princeton, who lost to Columbia 17-0 last year, has not lost consecutive games to the Lions in the 124-year history of the series.
- Even Steven - Princeton is 4-4 all-time at Columbia since Lawrence A.
Wien
Stadium opened in 1986.
- No rush - Princeton ranks second in Division I-AA in rushing defense
(63.5
yards per game).
- In a rush - Princeton needed six games in 1998 to eclipse its 1997
season
rushing total (986-879).
- 2.1 yards and a cloud of dust - Princeton allows 2.1 yards per rush.
- History lesson - The Ivy League champion has had more than one loss
only
twice (a tie between Princeton and Dartmouth in 1963 and a three-way tie
between Harvard, Penn and Dartmouth in 1982).
- The fab four - Princeton's four tailbacks (Kyle Brandt, Derek Theisen,
Damien Taylor and Nathan McGlothlin) are on pace for a combined 1,392
rushing yards. Only twice has a Princeton running back exceeded that
figure (Keith Elias twice).
- Injury update - David Ferrara bruised his elbow near the end of the
Harvard game. X-rays were negative, and he is expected to be fine for
Columbia. The status of Hamin Abdullah, who missed the Harvard game with
an ankle sprain, will not be known until the end of the week.
- Sack master - David Ferrara has 9.5 sacks on the season and is on pace
for
16. The school record is 14.5, set by Brian Kazan in 1991.
- Getting his kicks - Alex Sierk's three field goals against Harvard
left
him with 34 for his career, two better than the previous school record
held by Chris Lutz '91. Sierk needs four field goals in the final four
games to tie the Ivy League record, held by Dave Regula (Dartmouth '98).
- Getting his kicks II - Freshman Taylor Northrup made his varsity debut
as
the kickoff man against Harvard. Northrup kicked off six times, and three
of those kicks reached the end zone.
- More kicks - Matt Evans is first in the Ivy League and fifth in
Division
I-AA in punting average (44.8 yards per punt).
- Not getting his kicks - Matt Evans averages 6.3 punts per game this
year
after averaging 7.8 punts per game in 1996 and 1997.
- Career day - Jim Salters had matched his career-high with 13 tackles
against Harvard.
- Career day II - John Burnham rushed for 84 yards against Harvard. His
career rushing total heading into the game was 49 yards.
- Burnham, baby, Burnham - John Burnham is averaging 199.3 yards of
total
offense per game. The last Princeton player to average better than 200 for
a season is Jason Garrett, with 248.5 yards per game in 1988. No Princeton
player has averaged more than 178 yards per game since.
- Everybody loves Raymond - Ray Canole has caught at least one pass in
16
straight games, every game since he became a starter for the first game
last year.
- Highly possessive - Princeton had a nearly 17-minute edge in time of
possession against Harvard.
- Highly possessive II - Princeton has a nearly six-minute edge in time
of
possession per game against its opponents this year.
- By Djordje - Tight end Djordje Citovic is averaging 22.6 yards per
reception.
- Picked clean - Ryan Demler ranks seventh in Division I-AA in
interceptions
per game (0.7).
- Line 'em up - Steve Lamberton, who started 13 straight games at
offensive
tackle, played guard in place of the injured Hamin Abdullah against
Harvard.
- Fan-tastic - Princeton drew 61,439 fans for six dates in 1996, the
final
season at Palmer Stadium. Princeton has drawn 71,810 fans for the first
three dates this season at Princeton Stadium.
- Quarterly report - Princeton has outscored its opponent for the year
in
each quarter.
- Road worriers - Princeton has lost five straight Ivy League road
games.
- Point, counterpoint - The game against Harvard was Princeton's first
one-point game since a 16-15 win over Lehigh in 1987, Steve Tosches' first
season as head coach.
- Catching on - Ryan Crowley has caught 29 passes in six games. No Tiger
wide receiver has caught more than 35 since the 1995 season.
- Catching on II - Princeton has had 13 different receivers catch at
least
one pass.
- D-plus - Princeton ranks first in the Ivy League and ninth in Division
I-AA in scoring defense (15.2 points per game).
- Young gun - Freshman cornerback Brian Beem, making his second straight start, had five tackles against Harvard.
Probable Two-Deeps
Princeton Offense WR 15 RAY CANOLE (Sr., 6-1, 195, Minooka, Ill.) 19 Phil Wendler (Sr., 6-3, 195, Kent. Wash.) LT 72 JUSTIN BENNETT (Sr., 6-3, 295, Tulare, Calif.) 66 John Raveche (So., 6-4, 285, Hoboken, N.J.) LG 57 HAMIN ABDULLAH (Jr., 6-3, 280, Jacksonville, Fla.) 68 Brian Herdman (Sr., 6-4, 285, Canonsburg, Pa.) C 61 BERNARD MARCYK (Jr., 6-2, 270, Absecon, N.J.) 62 Brian Wilson (So., 6-2, 275, Springfield, Pa.) RG 52 JOHN AMBURGY (So., 6-4, 270, Clearwater, Fla.) 65 Ross Tucker (So., 6-5, 280, Wyomissing, Pa.) RT 76 DENNIS NORMAN (So., 6-3, 270, Marlton, N.J.) 74 Steve Lamberton (Sr., 6-4, 280, Wynnmoor, Pa.) TE 82 TOM STANLEY (Sr., 6-4, 250, Delray Beach, Fla.) 84 Djordje Citovic (So., 6-5, 230, Middleburg Heights, Ohio) WR 5 RYAN CROWLEY (Sr., 6-0, 185, Norfolk, Neb.) 3 Danny Brian (Jr., 5-9, 170, Escondido, Calif.) H-B 89 JASON GLOTZBACH (Sr., 6-3, 245, Redlands, Calif.) 24 Bruce Erb (Jr., 6-0, 220, Pequannock, N.J.) QB 4 JOHN BURNHAM (Sr., 6-3, 205, Washington, D.C.) 16 Jon Blevins (So., 6-3, 200, Westlake, Ohio) or 18 Pat Minnihan (Sr., 6-1, 185, Sycamore, Ill.) TB 34 KYLE BRANDT (So., 6-0, 200, Lincolnshire, Ill.) and 40 Nathan McGlothlin (Sr., 6-2, 230, Lebanon, Va.) and 29 Derek Theisen (Jr., 5-11, 200, Avon Lake, Ohio) and 32 DAMIEN TAYLOR (Jr., 5-11, 200, Virginia Beach, Va.)Princeton Defense DE 95 DAVID FERRARA (Jr., 6-3, 250, Ramsey, N.J.) 90 David Atchison (So., 6-2, 235, Sunnyvale, Calif.) DT 58 Douglas Silverman (Jr., 6-2, 245, Potomac, Md.) 60 Preston Tims (Jr., 5-11, 245, Boardman, Ohio) DT 63 TUMOANA WEBSTER (So., 6-0, 340, Aukland, N.Z.) 99 Brian Latzke (Sr., 6-3, 270, Brookfield, Ill.) DE 56 DAN SWINGOS (Sr., 6-4, 240, Brecksville, Ohio) 96 Jason Rotman (So., 6-4, 240, Deerfield, Ill.) LB 54 JIM SALTERS (Sr., 5-11, 205, Pullman, Wash.) 51 Mike Higgins (So., 5-11, 205, Ho Ho Kus, N.J.) LB 7 MIKE VERONESI (Sr., 6-0, 195, Dyer, Ind.) 36 Craig Foote (Jr., 6-2, 220, Aurora, N.Y.) LB 50 CHUCK HASTINGS (Jr., 6-2, 210, Trenton, Mich.) 41 Drew Babinecz (Fr., 6-2, 220, West Chester, Pa.) CB 8 GERRY GIURATO (Jr., 5-10, 175, Jacksonville, Fla.) 39 Garrett Fittizzi (Jr., 5-9, 165, Voorheesville, N.Y.) SS 30 Rocky Fittizzi (Sr., 5-9, 185, Voorheesville, N.Y.) 33 Dave Richie (Jr., 5-10, 180, Coal Township, Pa.) FS 22 RYAN DEMLER (Jr., 6-2, 185, Escondido, Calif.) 28 Andrew Frank (So., 5-10, 175, Sterling Heights, Mich.) CB 43 Brian Beem (Fr., 5-9, 175, Atlanta, Ga.) 39 Garrett Fittizzi (Jr., 5-9, 165, Voorheesville, N.Y.)
Princeton Specialists PK 2 ALEX SIERK (Sr., 6-1, 180, Bettendorf, Iowa) KO 6 TAYLOR NORTHRUP (Fr., 5-11, 175, Jupiter, Fla.) P 20 MATT EVANS (Sr., 6-1, 185, Bellaire, Texas) LS 91 TODD HELFRICH (Jr., 6-3, 225, Northbrook, Ill.) H 86 CHUCK MINERVINO (Sr., 6-0, 190, Roseland, N.J.) PR 15 RAY CANOLE (Sr., 6-1, 195, Minooka, Ill.) KR 34 KYLE BRANDT (So., 6-0, 200, Lincolnshire, Ill.)