Princeton Scores Seven Straight TDs, Routs Columbia To Claim Ivy Opener 48-13

Calendar

Football

September 20, 12PM

vs San Diego

Princeton, N.J.

Football

September 27, 3PM

at Lafayette

Football

October 3, 7PM

vs Columbia

Football

October 11, 12PM

vs Mercer

Football

October 18, 12PM

at Brown

It was early in the second quarter, deep in Princeton territory and after a fairly even first quarter, when Tiger head coach Bob Surace showed just how much he believed in his team.

Princeton faced 4th and 1 at its own 29 yard line in a deadlocked Ivy League road opener, and Surace sent in John Lovett to get the extra yard and keep his offense on the field. The gamble paid off in a four-yard gain. His team repaid his faith in style over the next thirty minutes:

TD. Stop. TD. Turnover. TD. Stop. TD. Stop. TD. Stop. TD.

Ballgame.

That even first quarter became nothing more than a distant memory in Princeton's 48-13 Ivy League-opening win at Wien Stadium. The Tigers (2-1, 1-0 Ivy) outgained Columbia 439-272, forced two turnovers and scored touchdowns on seven straight possessions to join Cornell, Harvard and Penn atop the Ivy standings through one week of competition.

Senior quarterback Chad Kanoff had his best performance of the young season, completing 21 of 25 passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns, including the first scores of the season for both Scott Carpenter and Trevor Osborne. Lovett, the All-Ivy junior, had a remarkable performance of his own; he became the third different Tiger to have three rushing touchdowns in a game, and he added his first touchdown pass of the season, a five-yard pass to Joe Rhattigan that capped a 14-point outburst over 18 seconds that gave Princeton full control of the game.

Leading 13-6 at the time, Lovett capped a 70-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run to open Princeton's first 14-point lead of the season. It wouldn't last long; Brannon Jones stripsacked Columbia quarterback Anders Hill on the first play of the ensuing drive and recovered it at the 5, and Lovett immediately followed it up with a rolling five-yard TD pass to Rhattigan, who tiptoed the sidelines for the fourth of Princeton's seven straight touchdowns.

Jones' play was the highlight of a dominating defensive performance, especially over the middle two quarters. Henry Schlossberg had two of Princeton's four sacks and Dorian Williams had a team-high six tackles for the Tigers, which kept Columbia scoreless for more than 47 minutes of the game. In fact, more than 30% of Columbia's total yardage came on an 88-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter.

Princeton will head to Washington, D.C., to complete both a three-game road trip and its nonleague schedule with a 1 pm showdown at Georgetown (3-1); the Hoyas, a 17-14 winner over Columbia last weekend, stayed within two touchdowns of Harvard in a Friday night loss in Boston.

NOTES: Princeton ended a five-game road losing streak that dated back to last season … this was Princeton's sixth straight win over Columbia, and it now owns a 70-15-1 lead in the all-time series … Princeton converted on 13 of its first 17 third-down opportunities; of the four they missed, they converted on fourth down three times and punted once … Joey DeMarco and Jake Strain both shared a sack, while Mark Fossati had a tackle for loss … Tavish Rice converted on six of his seven PAT attempts, but he didn't attempt a field goal for the third straight game, as the Tigers were a perfect 7-for-7 in the red zone.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results