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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Harvard
Players Mentioned
15th-Ranked Harvard Surges In Second Half, Tops Tigers To Stay Unbeaten
October 24, 2015 | Football
BOX SCORE
Princeton knew it would need to both create opportunities and capitalize on them if it hoped to spring an upset of 15th-ranked Harvard in Boston Saturday afternoon. Over the first 25 minutes, it created them, but didn't capitalize enough.
The rest of the way, it could do neither against a senior-laden Harvard squad.
The Crimson scored touchdowns on five straight possessions midway through the game to turn a tense, close matchup into a one-sided 42-7 win for the home sideline. The win moves Harvard to 6-0, 3-0 in the Ivies, and sets up a first-place showdown Friday night against Dartmouth on the NBC Sports Network.
Princeton, which fell to 4-2, 1-2 in the Ivies, was left to wonder what could have been. The Tigers forced two turnovers in the first half, stopped the Crimson on a pair of fourh downs and got a two-yard touchdown pass from John Lovett to Nick Peabody midway through the second quarter, but a stingy Harvard defense made sure all of that resulted in nothing more than a 7-7 score.
Harvard's final possession of the first half is when the game turned, and it began with a Crimson fumble that bounced away from two Tiger defenders and into the hands of running back Paul Stanton. Princeton, which nearly had the ball inside the Harvard 20 with under four minutes remaining in the half, couldn't get the Crimson off the field after that. A 94-yard drive ended with a five-yard touchdown pass to Ben Braunecker just before halftime, and the Crimson carried that momentum into a dominant second half.
Harvard scored touchdowns on its first four drives of the second half to vanquish all Princeton upset hopes.
The Tigers were not without their opportunities early. A fumble recovery on the opening kickoff set Princeton up at midfield, but senior wideout Seth DeValve was injured on the first offensive play, and a penalty and botched snap killed that drive. The Tigers would have other opportunities early, but they couldn't convert enough third downs to get in scoring position.
Princeton finally got moving midway through the second quarter, and it started when junior quarterback Chad Kanoff found senior wideout Isaiah Barnes on a 32-yard strike on 3rd and 10. Two receptions by freshman Alex Parkinson and two short runs set up the Tigers' lone score; Lovett took the snap, rolled to his right and waited for a defender to commit to him before throwing to Nick Peabody for the two-yard score.
That evened the score at 7-7, and the Tigers would get one possession with a chance to take the lead, but two more penalties killed the drive before it ever had a chance to go, and Harvard never let momentum get back to the Tigers.
Kanoff completed 22 of 43 passes for 236 yards, with Barnes catching six of them for 67 yards. Lovett added five catches for 68 yards, while junior Trevor Osborne caught five for 64. Freshman Charles Volker had 11 rushes for 41 yards, but the Tigers could never get its run game going against the league's top rush defense.
Seniors Khamal Brown and Matt Arends both recorded 11 tackles, while Dorian Williams had nine and a pass breakup in the end zone. Samuel Huffman had Princeton's lone sack of the game, while Arends forced two fumbles and had a PAT block (that was seemingly returned for two points by Anthony Gaffney) that was called back due to a penalty.
Princeton will return hom next Saturday for a Halloween showdown with Cornell. The game will start at 3:30 pm, and will be shown by both the American Sports Network and the Ivy League Digital Network.