Fifteen minutes of shame for football team against Lehigh

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The football team suffered yet another fourth quarter meltdown on Saturday. After a 2001 season of blowing games, the Tigers started right where they left off, forgetting the two wins with which they closed out last year. While the breakdowns have often begun in the third quarter, the final fifteen minutes are especially painful.

Last season, the Tigers led Lehigh, Brown, Harvard and Penn, at some point during the second half. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they squandered all of those leads, plus a tie throughout the third quarter with Cornell, for five of their six losses last year. Only Colgate jumped out to an early lead on the Tigers.

It turns out that college football games in fact last 60 minutes, not 30, 45, or even 54, which would have helped out the Tigers this Saturday.

In the first six minutes, eight seconds of the fourth quarter, Lehigh was able to score 17 points. One of those touchdowns came on a one-yard run with only six seconds elapsed in the fourth quarter. The collpase began late in the third.

Junior quarterback David Splithoff's advice — "Stay calm, and keep your head up" — to the team in the huddle, did not make up for the lack of execution by the Princeton offense. After reeling off 24 points in the first half, they went stone cold, gaining only 49 yards on the ground and 42 yards through the air in the second half.

As Lehigh made its comeback, the Tigers refused to go back to the deep pass — even though all of Princeton's touchdowns for the day were either set up or scored on long passes.

The Tigers' only promising drive of the fourth quarter came when they were forced to throw. Three consecutive second half drives had stalled and the Mountain Hawks had tied the game with 8:52 left, but the Tigers seemed to have life. After two unsuccessful runs, the Tigers gained 13 yards on two passes. Momentum seemed to have shifted before sophomore Jon Veach fumbled with 6:06 left. No other fourth quarter drives consisted of more than five plays, while the two sustained drives at the beginning of the third quarter ended in a missed field goal and a 30-yard pooch punt.

This brings to light one of the Tigers' most glaring drop-offs from last season — the kicking game. The departure of Taylor Northrop '02 left a hole in special teams that was only partially filled by a freshman and a sophomore on Saturday. Sophomore Joe Nardello took over in the punting department, averaging 33 yards on four punts. This compares to a 39.3-yard average for Northrop. Nardello also dropped a snap, managed to run for a yard, but did not gain a first down. Freshman kicker Derek Javarone made a 19-yard field goal in the second quarter, but sailed a 39-yard attempt wide left in the third. In contrast, Northrop only missed five field goals last year, with only one shorter than 40 yards. Javarone's kickoff yardage also suffered as the game went on. His opening kick went an impressive 65 yards, but each proceeding kick decreased until a pedestrian 52 yards after Princeton's final score. These kicks included one that went out of bounds, which brings the ball to the 35-yard line.

Even with the mistakes on offense and special teams, the players cannot take all the blame for the team's demise.

The coaching staff's strategy of run, run, pass, punt provided little help to a team that left it all on the field.

Even when passes were called in situations that did not expressly require them, Splithoff threw passes from a three-step drop, to avoid pressure from the Mountain Hawks. As the game wore on, he inevitably threw these off his back foot and high to a receiver. Whether they were complete or not, the receiver was still punished consistently. Going out of the shotgun saved Splithoff from rushing his throws, but then he often got restless and scrambled without checking all of his options downfield.

Focusing on Princeton's lack of success overlooks Lehigh's remarkable turnaround. The Mountain Hawks were able to string together successful drives with athletic plays and timely play calling. When the Tigers were attacking in full force, the Mountain Hawks threw screens. When Princeton was back on its heels, Lehigh ran up the gut. Lehigh was unable to put many points on the board in the first, due much to their own inability to take advantage of Tiger mistakes. Senior tailback Cameron Atkinson, who mysteriously disappeared from the game for most of the second half, fumbled early in the first quarter, but the Tigers retained possession. Lehigh's quarterback overthrew an open receiver after a Princeton defensive back failed to cover him downfield. As the game wore on, mistakes like these seemed to vanish from Lehigh's game.

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Princeton's defense was able to hold on for a while, but eventually, the talented Mountain Hawks took their toll on the Tigers. Lehigh's speedy wide receiver Michael Sutton was able to rack up 90 yards on seven receptions, plus another 121 yards on four kick returns. Those 90 receiving yards take into account a 23-yard loss in the third quarter.

The Tigers' stop of Sutton on a screen pass 23 yards behind the line of scrimmage was the biggest movement toward the Princeton goal-line of the second half.