Hartigan carries Bears to victory

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — On the final, clock-killing drive of its 31-28 win over the Princeton football team (3-2 overall, 1-1 Ivy League) Saturday, Brown (4-1, 1-1) found its offensive philosophy in the surname of its star tailback, Nick Hartigan.

The Bears let their school's all-time leading rusher run hard up the middle. Then, they let Hartigan run hard again.

The seemingly simple plan worked even better than it sounded. Hartigan, who carried the ball 38 times for 245 yards on the afternoon, destroyed any hopes of a last-second Princeton comeback by continuing to move the chains, even when everyone in Brown Stadium knew what was coming.

"We were at third-and-five," Brown head coach Phil Estes recalled after the game, "and I said to [Hartigan], 'What do you want to run? How can you get me five yards?' He said, 'Let's go straight ahead.' And he got those five for us."

Thus, a game that saw Princeton rally from a 24-7 second-quarter deficit to briefly take a 28-24 third-quarter lead ended in disappointment for the Tigers and head coach Roger Hughes.

"I think we're going to look at the film tomorrow," Hughes said afterward, "and be sick at some of the things that happened."

Princeton will be able to trace much of that ill feeling back to the first and fourth quarters, when it not only let Hartigan run roughshod, but also failed to generate much of anything offensively.

Before the Tiger offense could even get going, Hartigan had buried Princeton in a 17-0 hole, rushing for 96 yards — including a 74-yard touchdown run down the right sideline — in the first quarter alone.

"I don't know how anyone could have that kind of yardage in the field conditions we were in," Estes said, referring to the rain and wind that beat down on Providence all afternoon. "I went out there after the game, and I was up to my ankles in mud."

Princeton junior quarterback Jeff Terrell and the Tigers were slower to find their footing than Hartigan, but, once they did, the stage was set for a furious comeback.

With 20 seconds remaining in the opening period, Terrell put Princeton on the board, running 39 yards on a quarterback keeper and recovering his own fumble as he crossed the goal line for a touchdown.

Terrell was responsible for three of the Tigers' four touchdowns, threw for 173 yards and ran for a team-best 74 yards on 12 carries.

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After the Bears hit pay dirt on the first drive of the second quarter to bring their lead back to 17 points, Terrell helped Princeton surge ahead with three unanswered touchdowns.

A 45-yard run by sophomore fullback Rob Toresco set up the first of those scores, a two-yard Terrell pass to wide-open senior tight end Jon Dekker. Toresco amassed 94 all-purpose yards on the day, filling the shoes of junior tailback Cleo Kirkland, who was ineffective on his two carries.

On the opening drive of the second half, Toresco cut Brown's lead to three. With the ball at the two-yard line, he took the pitch from Terrell and, thanks to a huge block from sophomore fullback Evan O'Reilly, marched unimpeded into the end zone.

The Tigers were right back in the red zone on the subsequent drive after senior wide receiver Greg Fields toed the sideline while evading tacklers for a 23-yard rush. Two plays later, Terrell kept it himself for a one-yard score, stretching the ball across the plane of the goal line with two hands while being tackled.

Princeton scored touchdowns on all three of its red-zone chances Saturday, and the Tigers have yet to come away empty-handed this season on any of the 18 drives in which they move inside their opponent's 20-yard line.

But Princeton paid dearly when its defense, which had held the Bears at bay as the offense mounted its comeback, temporarily reverted to its first-quarter form.

Brown's final possession of the third period saw quarterback Joe DiGiacomo and his all-Ivy receiving tandem of Jarrett Schreck and Lonnie Hill torch the Tiger secondary one last time.

On a nine-play, 81-yard scoring drive, DiGiacomo threw for 67 yards, Schreck and Hill each picked up first downs, and tight end David Turner caught a five-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone. The catch put the Bears up by three, which proved to be the winning margin after a scoreless final period.

DiGiacomo threw for three touchdowns, and Schreck, who caught six passes for 121 yards, routinely created separation between himself and senior cornerback Jay McCareins, the Princeton secondary's most trusted stopper.

Similarly, no player in the Ivy League could have stopped Hartigan on Saturday. He hit the holes created for him by his offensive line with reckless abandon and refused to be wrapped up by the Tiger tacklers who met him on the other side.

"He doesn't have a ton of moves," senior linebacker Justin Stull said of Hartigan, "but he'll run over you, and he keeps his legs pumping."

It was the type of punishing performance that will make Princeton players happy to hear any name other than Hartigan on the lips of their opponents next week.