Princeton University Athletics
Princeton 21, Navy 20
August 17, 1999 | Sprint Football
On the sprint football team, where the seniors had won one game in their Princeton careers - and everyone else on the team had never won - losing had become the norm.
The Tigers have lost close games and taken true beatings during their 15-game losing streak, but this week they showed that their spirits have not been broken. Oct. 30 the sprint football team righted itself by defeating Navy in overtime, 21-20, and then, incredibly, began another streak - a winning one.
After the win over the Midshipmen - the team's first win since toppling Penn in 1995 - the Tigers went into Friday's contest against Cornell at Weaver Stadium feeling confident, and came out a winner again.
"We're really excited," senior running back and captain Kevin Roberts said. "We knew we could beat them. We were evenly matched."
Princeton defeated the Big Red Friday, 22-21, on a two-point conversion with 45 seconds left in the game, and now have a two-game winning streak going.
The Tigers are now 2-3 overall and 2-1 in the Collegiate Sprint Football League. The game against Navy was truly a team effort. Three different Tigers ran for touchdowns - freshman tailback Jeff Mah, sophomore quarterback Geoff Gasperini and junior quarterback Joe Andolina - and senior defensive back Andy Parker and freshman linebacker Andrew Morabito had interceptions.
The teams ended regulation tied, but Andolina's one-yard touchdown run and junior place kicker Jim McGinley's extra point in overtime gave the Tigers a 21-14 lead. Navy, however, then scored a touchdown, and as the Princeton offensive unit prepared to go back on the field, Navy's kicker Luke Watson failed on the extra point attempt and gave the Tigers the win.
Intimidation
The key to the game may have been Princeton's block of Watson's extra point attempt in the first quarter, because Watson was subsequently wary of a second block.
"He might have thought someone was coming up the middle and tried to avoid him," Roberts said, "and that's why he kicked it wide."