Quakers blank Tigers, 42-0

PHILADELPHIA — For the second straight weekend, sprint football failed to score a point. The Tigers (0-2 overall) did, however, cut the number of points their opponent scored nearly in half, losing 42-0 to Penn (2-0) on Friday night.

The Quakers scored three touchdowns in the first quarter and registered three more scores in the final three quarters. All night, Princeton's solid drives were stalled by turnovers, seven in total.

"Penn was definitely not as good as the score reflected," sophomore quarterback Alex Kandabarow said. "It was our fault. We were shooting ourselves in the foot with the fumbles and interceptions. We made it way too easy for them to score."

Penn senior running back Scott Pickett charged out of the gate, scoring two of the Quakers' three first-quarter touchdowns, one of which came on an 81-yard burst.

Penn's final touchdown of the quarter came on Mike LoGuidice's lone completion of the game, a 28-yard touchdown pass to Corey Higa.

With three minutes, 18 seconds remaining in the half, Pickett scored his third touchdown of the game. Starting at his 42-yard line, Pickett took the handoff on an end-around, eluded several tacklers and took the ball in for the 58-yard touchdown run to cap a four-play, 93-yard drive.

In the second half, Penn kept the ball on the ground in an attempt to keep the clock running, tacking on two rushing touchdowns in the half. Early in the third quarter, J.T. Hutchinson found the end zone from seven yards out on the sixth play of the drive. In the fourth, freshman quarterback Mike D'Angelo scored on a four-yard quarterback keeper. Hutchinson ran for 75 yards in the game.

Despite the score, Princeton's Kandabarow played an excellent game, completing 14 passes for 103 yards. His primary target, sophomore wide receiver Lon Johnson, racked up 80 yards on 10 receptions. In total, including punt and kickoff returns, Johnson had 224 all-purpose yards in the loss. Senior running back Frank Langston, the Tigers' second leading receiver, had six receptions for 44 yards.

Johnson's longest reception, a 27-yarder, came in the second quarter on a beautifully thrown ball from Kandabarow. Having beaten the cornerback down the field on the go-route and with a safety coming over the top, Johnson caught the ball over his right shoulder and was eventually dragged down at the seven-yard line. With first and goal at the seven, Princeton could not punch it in and eventually turned the ball over on downs.

The Tigers' other solid drive began in their half of the field early in the third quarter. After three completions in a row, Princeton found itself on the Quakers' 35-yard line. On the ensuing pass play, a completion, the ball was wrestled from the receiver's hand prior to hitting the ground. This play was the story of much of the game. As soon as the Tigers began to establish an offensive rhythm, the team turned over the ball.

Princeton's undisciplined play also hurt its cause. The Tigers were penalized eight times for 47 yards, including three illegal substitutions and one encroachment. Many of these penalties occurred when Princeton was pinned deep in its own zone, magnifying the consequences.

One Tiger mishap, however, resulted in an unplanned but entertaining play. On fourth-and-10, the long-snapper hiked the ball over the head of Kandabarow, who also handles the team's punting duties.

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"The snap was high, and a guy came in unblocked," he said. "I saw him and realized there was no way I could get the punt off, so I sidestepped him and took it."

Kandabarow ran 15 yards for the first down and kept the drive alive.

Princeton's defense had difficulties tackling, though the Tigers were aggressive all night. Senior defensive lineman G.J. Ligelis led the team with six total tackles, four of them solo. Freshman defensive back Javier Janbieh recorded three more tackles and picked off a Penn pass.

Penn's LoGuidice was just one-for-seven in the game and had trouble leading the Quakers' passing attack, only producing 36 yards all night. Yet Penn's running game rendered any passing game unnecessary. The Quakers outgained Princeton in the game, 404-175 yards.

While the Tigers did gain more yards through the air, Penn ran for 368 yards. Princeton only ran for 37. The Quakers' Pickett alone racked up an incredible 190 yards rushing on just eight carries, scoring three touchdowns.

"We definitely improved compared to last week's execution of plays," Kandabarow said. "We did a good job of pass protection this game, and our defense was able to stop Penn's drives consistently."

But the Tigers will have to keep improving — they will get no reprieve next weekend when they host Army, the team that beat them, 77-0, in their season opener.