Columbia won Saturday's football game, 33-27, on a miracle catch by Wade Fletcher. The last second Hail Mary gave the Lions their first victory against Princeton since 1997, and their first victory at Princeton since 1945.
A clearly dejected Roger Hughes, head coach, downplayed the importance of the Hail Mary catch after Saturday's contest, saying "There were a number of plays during the course of the game that led to the outcome."
The Hail Mary was simply the last huge momentum shift in a game that was marred with more ups and downs than a Red Sox playoff contest.
In Saturday's game, the Tigers were unable to hold onto any momentum they were able to accumulate over the course of the game.
Princeton opened with its best quarter of football in this young season. In the second and third quarters, however, the offense was inept and the defense grew weary of trying to stop Columbia's short passing attack. When the Tigers responded with a marathon, 16-play, game-tying drive, momentum seemed to reside on the Princeton sideline. That's when Columbia delivered the final stake through the Tigers' collective heart.
The Tigers played excellent football in the first quarter of last night's game, and again when their backs were against the wall in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Early and often
Princeton jumped out to a 20-0 first quarter lead. After failing to do anything on their first drive of the game, Princeton scored touchdowns on their next three possessions.
The first came on a 71-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Matt Verbit to junior wide receiver B.J. Szymanski. The Tigers then went to the running game for their next two scores, as junior running back Brandon Benson took one in followed by senior tailback Jon Veach.
The Tigers' running game finished with 208 yards on the ground, but they were unable to run the ball effectively during Columbia's extended comeback in the middle of the game.
Big lead does not hold
For the third-straight game, however, Princeton could not put together 60 minutes of solid football. The only difference between Saturday's effort and their previous two was that the team opened strong and faltered in the middle of the game.
Columbia dominated the time of possession in the second and third quarters, moving down the field methodically as it began its prolonged comeback.
After piling up 228 yards of offense in the first quarter, the Tigers managed only 104 yards before their last eight minute, 15 second game-tying drive.
Momentum shifts
The inconsistency Princeton showed once again cost them the game. The Tigers had only two drives in the middle two quarters where they did not go three and out. The first one, at the end of the half resulted in a missed 37-yard field goal by sophomore Derek Javarone.
Princeton seemed to have overcome the Columbia comeback to begin the second half. The Lions took the second half kickoff and marched down to the Princeton 17-yard line. Otis forced a ball into double coverage in the end zone and senior safety Sam Snyder picked the ball off, giving the offense the ball and a bit of momentum.
The offense responded by driving 58 yards to the the Lions' 22-yard line. But on fourth-and-less-than-a-yard, the offense could not pick it up. Hughes chose to run a toss sweep to Benson instead of kicking the field goal, but he could not get back to the line of scrimmage. The Tigers not only gave the ball back to Columbia but gave back all the momentum as well.
The missed field goal attempt and the failed fourth down conversion are just two occasions where momentum-shifting plays went in the Lions' favor.
The biggest momentum changer was, of course, the Hail Mary play at the end of the game.
When asked to describe the feeling, Hughes compared it to "throwing up in your mouth when the acid just stays there."
Hughes was quick to point out, though, that "no one play wins or loses a game."
While this may be true, one play is certainly capable of defining a season.
Hughes put the emotions into quick perspective, saying "This one hurts."
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