Football comes back from early deficit to beat Yale

In front of a crowd of alumni and fans alike in the homecoming game Saturday in Princeton Stadium, Princeton (2-6 overall, 2-4 Ivy League) triumphed over Yale (3-5, 1-5), 34-14. In a game fraught with big plays, it came down to which team had more.

Princeton struck first early, as junior running back Cameron Atkinson returned from his knee injury by breaking a run from the left side for 45 yards and a touchdown. However, a holding penalty brought the score back, and the Tigers decided to go to sleep for a little while.

On the other side of the ball, the Elis took advantage of Princeton's inability to score. Behind quarterback T.J. Hyland, getting his third start of the year with starting quarterback Peter Lee sidelined due to injury, Yale's offense came out aggressively. With six minutes, 20 seconds left in the first quarter, Hyland found tight end Jeff Ditman wide open down the middle, and he hit the big target for a 44-yard gain. This play sparked an offensive flurry from the Elis, who took a 14-point lead with two touchdowns from running back Jay Schulze.

"We came out a little flat early," head coach Roger Hughes said. "But we fought through that, and I'm very proud of the kids' effort."

This season has shown a strange trend for Princeton. In seven out of eight games, the team that scored first lost the game. Against Columbia at the beginning of the season, the Lions jumped to an early lead before the Tigers scored 44 points. The only exception was against Harvard, when the Crimson scored first and hung on to win. The trend held true against Yale.

The Tigers got their first boost with 6:02 left in the first half. Hyland dropped back and found his receiver breaking on an out with the Princeton defender, sophomore cornerback Brandon Mueller, at his back. Hyland delivered a near perfect pass that his receiver got two hands on, but Mueller reached in, pulled the ball free and steadied it against his hip before going down for the Tigers first interception of the day.

That was all the boost Princeton needed. The Tigers went on a 34-0 run throughout the rest of the game.

With sophomore quarterback Dave Splithoff orchestrating the passing game, Atkinson broke through the line from four yards out to put up the Tigers' first touchdown.

After another Eli punt, Princeton tied the game when Splithoff found freshman wide receiver B.J. Szymanski racing down the sideline. With the Yale defender playing tight man-to-man coverage, Szymanski reached up and pulled the ball down. As the defender went down, Szymanski stepped over him and stumbled into the end zone. The Tigers went into halftime tied with the Elis, 14-14.

At the start of the second half, Atkinson single-handedly moved Princeton out of its own territory on two consecutive 15-yard runs. Then Splithoff again found Szymanski for a 39-yard touchdown pass, giving the Tigers the lead. Senior kicker Taylor Northrop followed with a field goal, furthering Princeton's lead and breaking the University record for most career field goals.

One of Princeton's sore spots this entire season has been its inability to put together four quarters of solid football. That all changed this weekend. In the first play of the fourth quarter, Atkinson broke through the line and headed for daylight and the end zone on a 40-yard run, putting the Tigers ahead 31-14.

The defense was able to maintain its intensity, picking off two more passes ending the Yale threat to Princeton's season. It was the Tiger defense that allowed the offense to make the successful run. They were able to contain Hyland, who has made a reputation as a playmaker. Everywhere he went, sophomore linebacker Zak Keasey seemed to be there waiting for him. Keasey led the team with nine tackles. Right on his heels was Mueller with eight. The defense also sacked Hyland four times for losses totalling 29 yards.

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The Yale defense, on the other hand, just could not keep up with Princeton's big-play offense. The Elis had been ranked second in rushing yards allowed per game in the Ivy League, but the Tigers tallied 249 yards on the ground.

"I'm very proud of the team," Hughes said. "We had talked all week about finishing, and today we made plays to win the game."