Missed extra point dooms football in comeback bid vs. Cornell

Maybe the football team didn't deserve to win this game. But it was an awfully painful way to lose.

After being thoroughly outplayed for 40 minutes by Cornell, Princeton scored two touchdowns to close the gap to 21-20 with six minutes, 48 seconds to play. An extra point by junior kicker Derek Javarone, and the game would be tied.

But Javarone's boot never made it through the uprights. Cornell defensive tackle Matt Pollock just barely got the fingertips of his outstretched right hand on the ball, deflecting it just enough that it fell well short. When Princeton's final desperation drive was snuffed out, Cornell (2-5 overall, 2-2 Ivy League) had itself a victory.

The Tigers (4-3, 2-2), meanwhile, were left with a long five-hour ride home from Ithaca to ponder how and why their train to a magical season had suddenly run completely off its track.

"It's hard to say it slipped away when you weren't winning the entire time," junior linebacker Justin Stull said. "But at the same time, it was a winnable game."

The Big Red scored first, on their second possession, when quarterback Ryan Kuhn found Brian Romney over the middle and Romney sailed untouched for a 54-yard touchdown. Otherwise, however, neither offense could get much going. Cornell wasted very good field position several times, including once when its defense tipped and picked off a pass by senior quarterback Matt Verbit. Seven first half penalties didn't help the Big Red cause.

Princeton finally got on the board midway through the second quarter. After Verbit overthrew wide-open sophomore wide receiver Brian Shields — it would have been an easy touchdown — he looked deep again on the very next play.

Once again, he had a man wide open. Freshman Bill Foran — in his first non-special teams action of the year — was streaking down the right sideline, the man covering him tripped up and lying on the turf. This time, Verbit didn't miss, and Foran waltzed to an 80-yard score.

Both teams then missed scoring chances just before the half. Cornell kicker A.J. Weitsman shanked a 36-yard-field goal attempt off the left upright. A few minutes later, the Tigers moved the ball deep into Cornell territory on a 37-yard catch by junior wide receiver Greg Fields, but couldn't score before halftime.

Things stayed the same to start the second half, as Princeton's offense looked horrid while Cornell moved the ball but couldn't put points on the scoreboard. Weitsman missed another field goal, this time from 35 yards out and off the right upright.

The Big Red finally pulled ahead when Kuhn and Romney hooked up for another score shortly after the Tigers were committed their first penalty of the game, a costly pass interference call. The 24-yard touchdown strike was perfectly thrown, and Romney made a nice grab despite tight coverage.

After another unsuccessful Princeton drive, Cornell struck again. This time it was quarterback D.J. Busch finding receiver Chad Nice on the left sideline for an 80-yard touchdown. Junior cornerback Jay McCareins made a leaping attempt to tip away the ball, but came up empty and landed flat on his back, leaving Nice nothing but open turf to the endzone. Nice and Romney tormented the Tiger defensive backs all day long, combining for 256 of the Big Red's 320 passing yards.

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"A couple of times we were a little bit out of position and they found those holes," Stull said. "If we were in coverage the way we were supposed to be, the holes wouldn't have been there."

On the verge of having the game slip away, Princeton finally responded with a sustained drive. Senior tailback Jon Veach punched the ball into the end zone from three yards out to cut the deficit to 21-14 just before the third quarter ended.

It was Fields — the only Tiger to consistently make big plays on offense — who did most of the work on the drive. Twice, he caught slants in the middle of the field and cut back to the sideline, for 23- and 29-yard gains, respectively. He finished with eight catches for 121 yards.

After the teams traded punts to start the fourth, Princeton got another spark from Fields, who returned a Nick Baumgartel punt 45 yards to the Cornell 23-yard-line. After a series of runs up the middle by senior tailback Branden Benson on which Verbit faked a reverse handoff to Fields, the Tigers finally actually ran the reverse, and Fields scampered around left end for the touchdown, making it 21-20.

After the blocked extra point, Princeton quickly stopped Cornell's offense and got the ball back in good field position after Baumgartel shanked a punt. A scramble by Verbit and a fourth-down catch by McCareins gave the Tigers a first down at the Big Red 39-yard-line with two and a half minutes to play.

But Princeton couldn't move the ball further. After three curiously conservative play calls, the Tigers were left with a fourth-and-12. Under pressure, Verbit's desperation heave to McCareins sailed out of bounds, and Cornell got the ball back and ran out the clock.