Losing streak hits 32 as Army tops sprint football

The first league game of the season was yet another ugly one for the sprint football team as it was run over by Army (3-1, 1-0) Friday night 35-0 at Shea Stadium in West Point, N.Y.

Despite a huge individual performance by senior running back/linebacker Matt Worley, the Tigers were unable to overcome its six turnovers, could not put any points on the scoreboard. Worley caught five passes on the night for 49 yards, ran for another 84, and made six tackles on defense.

Princeton's inability to stop the big play led to its demise in this contest. The Black Knights, on a one play, 17-second drive, jumped out to an early 7-0 lead less than five minutes into the game when quarterback Braden Amigo took the ball 94 yards for the score.

At the end of the first quarter, Amigo struck again, connecting with receiver David Roller for a 66-yard touchdown pass. The Tigers trailed 21-0 at the half, after Amigo's third touchdown of the game, an 80-yard toss to Patrick Hall.

The second half featured more of the same big play production from Army. Two fourth quarter touchdowns, a 79-yard touchdown pass to Derek Brown and a Brandon Newkirk 69-yard fumble return, capped off the scoring.

Princeton was unable to stop the Army receivers in man-on-man coverage down-field.

"We put a lot of guys in the box to stop the run," senior quarterback Dennis Bakke said, "and therefore had a lot of single coverage on the outside. Obviously, we need to work on our man-to-man defense."

In a wild game in which most of the statistics favored the Tigers, Army scored all five of its touchdowns on plays longer than 60 yards. Princeton held the ball for more than 70 percent of the game (42 minutes, 17 seconds) and more than doubled the first downs of the Black Knights (24-10).

"We spent the entire game in their half of the field," Bakke said. "We turned it over a couple of times and could not capitalize on the goal-line."

Army, known for its running game, nearly passed for as many yards as it ran. The Black Knights outgained the Tigers on the night, 477 yards to 346. Despite that stat, Princeton was able to run 94 offensive plays in the game compared to Army's mere 37. The difference, however, was that the Black Knights took advantage of their offensive opportunities.

The one statistical category that mattered on this night was turnovers. Princeton lost two fumbles and threw four interceptions in the loss. Army, on the other hand, protected the ball and did not cough it up once.

The Black Knights' quarterback Amigo, was a one-man wrecking crew with both his arm and his legs. Army's leading rusher and passer for the game, Amigo ran the ball nine times for 124 yards and one touchdown and completed three of six passes for 225 yards and three touchdowns. The Black Knights' leading tackler, Mike Kelvingon, had 17 total tackles and an interception.

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Princeton's senior stars Bakke and Worley combined for 114 yards on the ground. Bakke was 17-of-41 for 193 yards but threw four costly interceptions. Defensively, sophomore linebacker Zach McKinney led the Tigers with eight total tackles, including seven of the solo variety.

Sprint football next battles Cornell at home on Friday at 7:00 p.m. in the year's most winnable game.

"Cornell couldn't do anything on offense against Army," Bakke said. "The team is not terrible, but beatable. We will work on our goal-line offense a lot. Defensively, we can't have coverage lapses, and we have to convert on third and fourth downs."