Sprint football finds offensive drive, but drops home opener

With less than a minute to go before halftime and down 12-0, Princeton's sprint football team knifed through Cornell's defense to score its first touchdown of the season.

Fittingly, senior running back Rikki Racela, in his fourth and final season, put the Tigers on the board with a two-yard scamper. Racela's touchdown was the culmination of a lightning-fast drive that left the Big Red defense flatfooted.

The only problem with the drive was that it might have been too fast. After Racela's score and a failed extra point, 27 seconds still remained on the clock.

In those final 27 seconds, Cornell engineered a drive that was just as swift as the one Princeton had put together moments before.

As time bled off the clock and the rain fell intermittently, Big Red quarterback Jake Macaulay hit a streaking Nick Ormsby for a 17-yard pass right before the break.

All the momentum the Tigers had seemingly acquired with Racela's touchdown was gone in a matter of seconds. Cornell's last-second touchdown was a sucker punch, and proved to be the game's defining moment.

"I believe we were the better team," senior captain and defensive end Christian Gomez said, "but the little things cost us. We dropped some interceptions, and their touchdown right before the end of the half was a big momentum changer."

There was some controversy surrounding the Big Red's touchdown drive, however.

After the Tigers recovered an onside kick, the officials ruled that Princeton had touched the ball before it traveled ten yards. Cornell made good use of the resulting possession, as the Big Red scored in only two plays.

Cornell went on to win the game 22-12, fending off a late rally from Princeton in the fourth quarter.

Aside from surrendering 16 points in the second quarter, the Tiger defense played well as a unit, as it kept the Big Red offense in check for most of the game.

"The defense played solidly and confidently all game," Gomez said. "We had our backs to the wall several times and forced Cornell into field goals when they had the ball in the red zone. The only time we let up was in the final sequence of the first half, where we allowed them to drive down the field in two plays and score."

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Although on paper the Cornell offense had great success in the second quarter, the Big Red probably would have been limited to a single score had Princeton's recovered onside kick stood.

On the other side of the coin, the Tiger offense that struggled to score points last year found the end zone twice against Cornell. After Racela's touchdown, sophomore quarterback Dennis Bakke added another with a one-yard run.

Bakke also hooked up with sophomore receiver Adam Farren 11 times for 140 yards, in spite of some awful conditions that resulted in three Princeton interceptions. Many of Farren's receptions helped the Tigers accumulate their 17 first downs, while the Big Red had only 12.

The offensive line played well, often giving Bakke enough time to find Farren for key yardage. The passing game was much more effective than the running game, accounting for 188 of Princeton's 252 total yards of offense.

Turnovers were responsible for the Tigers' ultimate downfall, with most of them occurring at the worst possible times.

"The reason we lost was due to stupid mistakes," Racela said. "We messed up two punt snaps, which translated into points for Cornell. If we hadn't made mistakes on our part, we would have beaten these guys. But we'll work hard this week to correct our mistakes and focus on beating Penn."

If Princeton is to have a shot at knocking off the Quakers next week, its struggling special teams unit will have to be flawless. Last season Penn defeated the Tigers, 56-12, amidst a slew of costly Princeton turnovers. The Tigers' home opener against the Quakers is this Friday at seven p.m.