Princeton Tops Yale To Clinch Bonfire, Stay In First Place Tie

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September 20, 12PM

vs San Diego

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September 27, 3PM

at Lafayette

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October 3, 7PM

vs Columbia

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October 11, 12PM

vs Mercer

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October 18, 12PM

at Brown

It was 1:00 Saturday afternoon, just a few minutes before kickoff for the Princeton-Yale football showdown on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium. Warmups were over. The band had played the national anthem. Kickoff was minutes away.

Ninety minutes, as it turned out, as thunder and lightning, with high winds and pouring rain, engulfed the stadium, sending both teams back into the lockerrooms and fans to seek shelter. It would be 2:30 before the game would actually begin. For Princeton and its fans, it turned out to be well worth the wait.

Princeton took the momentum with a gutsy drive just before halftime and then dominated the second half, erasing two Yale leads to come away with a convincing 35-20 win over the Bulldogs that gave the Tigers two major rewards. First, Princeton remained tied for first place in the Ivy League with one week to go. Second, Princeton earned a bonfire for a Big Three championship with its wins over Harvard and Yale.

The weekend began with a three-way tie for first between Princeton, Dartmouth and Yale, which meant that the game in Princeton would be a huge one. With the win and with Dartmouth's win over Cornell, the Tigers and Big Green are both 5-1 in the league with one game left, which for Princeton is at Penn and which for Dartmouth is at Brown. Harvard and Yale, who meet to end their seasons, are both 4-2, which means a three-way tie is still a possibility should both Princeton and Dartmouth lose.

When the game finally got going after the delay, they played a tight first half, during which Princeton got touchdowns from Dylan Classi on a 12-yard pass from Cole Smith and then John Volker on a 64-yard catch-and-run, also from Smith.

Princeton 14, Yale 14 | 7:10 2nd

Speed runs in the Volker family.

Just like that, we're tied.

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— Princeton Football (@PrincetonFTBL) November 13, 2021

Yale matched the two Princeton TD's, and it looked like it would be a 17-14 Bulldogs lead at the half after a 43-yard field goal by Jack Bosman with 51 seconds to play. Instead, Bob Surace decided to be aggressive, and it paid off in a major way. His Tigers would drive 75 yards in six plays, taking the lead with three seconds left in the half on a seven-yard Cole Smith pass to Jacob Birmelin. The key play was a 44-yard Smith-to-Dylan Classi pass that put the Tigers in business; the unsung moment of the play was a massive block by Andrei Iosivas on the play.

Instead of trailing by three at the break, the Tigers were instead up 21-17. The second half saw Princeton's defense limit the Bulldogs to just 58 yards and three points. Princeton broke the game open in the third quarter on a 27-yard touchdown run by Trey Gray and a one-yard Nico Vangarelli TD run.

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