The ball stood on Dartmouth's 33-yard line — third down and seven yards to go. Princeton's last chance rested on forcing the Big Green offense to punt, for only the second time that afternoon. Quarterback Greg Smith broke the huddle, and surveyed the line of scrimmage. He took the snap, faked a hand-off to his running back and rambled toward the Tiger sideline on a bootleg. Sensing an opening, he took off downfield, and lunged past the first down marker.
With that, a Princeton football season full of dramatic comebacks and miracle finishes came to a crashing halt. As the clock showed zeroes, head coach Roger Hughes' first season came to a close with a 42-37 loss.
"I'm disappointed with the loss, but I'm very proud of our players' effort," Hughes said. "It was a situation where our kids never gave up. I would have liked to have gotten this win for our seniors who have shown tremendous leadership, tremendous work ethic and great character all year."
Back and forth
The final contest was typical of the Ivy season in general — high scoring and extremely competitive. While both teams had opportunities, neither could strike the crushing blow to ensure victory.
Dartmouth actually trailed at four different times during the see-saw affair, only to be saved by the strong arm of field general Smith. The Big Green quarterback finished the game with 20 completions on 27 attempts for 308 yards passing, four touchdowns and two interceptions.
"We finally came together as an offense, and scored touchdowns," Smith said.
Smith did not start the game auspiciously, however, as he forced his second pass of the afternoon into double coverage. Princeton's sophomore strong safety Kevin Kongslie made a terrific break on the ball and intercepted the offering.
Konglsie's play led to junior kicker Taylor Northrop's 42-yard field goal, which put the Tigers on the board first, 3-0. This also marked the last time in the game that neither team scored a touchdown on back-to-back possessions.
While Smith and Dartmouth wide receiver Matt DeLellis — who finished with two touchdowns and 164 yards receiving — were tearing up the Princeton secondary, Tiger quarterback Jon Blevins countered them blow for blow.
Blevins, a senior, responded to Dartmouth's first score by hitting sophomore wideout Chisom Opara with a 41-yard touchdown late in the first quarter. On the play, Blevins lofted the ball down the left hash marks and Opara leapt high above the Big Green defenders, plucked the ball out of the air, and landed in the end zone. Blevins finished the day with 288 yards passing and no interceptions, while Opara was clearly his favorite target — hauling in 10 receptions for 134 yards.
Senior fullback Marty Cheatham, playing in his last game as a Tiger, once again played a vital role in the Princeton offense. Several times during the course of the afternoon, Cheatham kept the offense rolling with key third-down receptions.
Despite strong play from the offense, Princeton's inability to keep the Big Green out of the end zone proved to be its undoing. Discounting the final possessions of each half, Dartmouth scored on all but three of its drives, and finished the day with 477 yards of total offense.
Shining moments
Though it ended with a disheartening climax, Hughes' first season produced several pronounced improvements. Prince-ton tripled its Ivy win total from last year and installed a potent offense capable of scoring previously unthinkable numbers of points. While Hughes and his staff deserve credit for the turnaround, none of it would have been possible without the efforts of a graduating class of seniors, who have endured a season entirely on the road and a coaching change in their collegiate careers.
"While I'm very saddened by losing them," Hughes said, "I'm also excited about the future in that these seniors have given us a great foundation to build on."
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