Defense staunch, but seven turnovers doom Princeton

The football team's dreams of an Ivy League title and a bonfire went up in smoke Saturday afternoon, leaving the Tigers shaking their heads and wondering what might have been.

"We had our chances to get the 'W,' and we didn't pull it out," senior cornerback Jay McCareins said as he slowly trudged away from the locker room, eyes bleary. "There's nothing you can say."

Princeton (6-3 overall, 4-2 Ivy League) let a win slip away with sloppy offensive execution, falling to Yale (4-5, 4-2), 21-14, amid the roars of a packed Princeton Stadium full of the hopes and dreams of fans young and old.

Those fans had plenty to cheer about early on, as the Tigers grabbed a commanding 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter behind a dominating defense and two touchdown tosses by junior quarterback Jeff Terrell to senior wide receivers Derek Davis and Brian Brigham.

And then the wheels came off Princeton's offense.

Beginning with the Tigers' final drive of the first half, their last nine drives of the game all ended in some level of disaster: five interceptions, two fumbles and two three-and-outs.

Princeton's defense would do its best to make an early lead hold up — as it had successfully done so many times this season — but on this day, the offensive miscues would simply prove to be too much to overcome. On Yale's three touchdown drives, the Bulldogs had to move a total of just 62 yards to score 21 points.

Their first score of the day came late in the third quarter after Terrell's third interception of the day, an ill-advised throw into heavy coverage which was intercepted by Yale safety Nick Solakian and returned to the Tigers' 25.

After the Bulldogs advanced the ball to Princeton's six-yard-line, the Tiger defense made a valiant goal line stand, keeping Yale out of the end zone on five straight plays. But, finally, on fourth-and-goal from the one, Mike McLeod broke through the wall, putting the Bulldogs on the scoreboard and cutting Princeton's lead in half.

The Tigers held that 14-7 lead for some time, aided by a blocked field goal attempt by junior defensive end Jake Marshall. But, ironically, things began to go seriously wrong on an interception by McCareins with three minutes, 29 seconds left to play in the fourth quarter.

On the previous drive, sophomore fullback Rob Toresco fumbled the ball on Princeton's own six-yard line. The Tigers got lucky, though, when Yale was penalized for a personal foul and two consecutive false starts. The miscues combined to push the Bulldogs back to the Princeton 36.

Finally, on fourth-and-25, Yale quarterback Jeff Mroz lobbed a pass into coverage that McCareins was able to leap for and pull down on the three-yard line.

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It was a mixed blessing, though, because had McCareins simply batted down the pass, the Tigers could have gained far better field position. But, as he explained, it wasn't quite so simple a decision.

"For sure, [it] would have been [better] to knock it down, but then if I put one hand up, he can put two hands up and take it away from me," McCareins said, noting that the intended receiver, Ashley Wright, had done exactly that last weekend against Brown. "Unfortunately I was at the three-yard line and not in the end zone — which I kind of thought I was — to get a touchback."

The consequences of the play were clear. To avoid a safety, Princeton's offense found itself forced into protect-mode and was hardly able to gain any yardage. The Tigers punted after three plays, and Yale took over at the Princeton 36.

After the Bulldogs moved the ball to the Tigers' 10-yard-line, the Princeton defense made another fierce stand, forcing three straight incompletions. But on fourth down, Mroz connected with a diving Todd Feiereisen in the right corner of the end zone, tying the game.

Still, with the score tied and about 75 seconds left to play, the Tigers had a chance to capture the victory. At worst, it seemed, the game would head into overtime.

But disaster struck once more. On first down from the 20-yard line, Terrell connected with junior wide receiver Brian Shields on a short slant over the middle, but Shields was immediately drilled by Brendan Sponheimer. The ball popped out of Shields' grasp and into the waiting arms of linebacker Bobby Abare, who rumbled down the field to Yale's one-yard line.

Once more, Princeton's defense did its best to stand tall, stopping the Bulldogs' first two plunges toward the goal line. But on third down, Mroz stretched into the end zone, nailing the coffin shut on the Tigers' hopes for a bonfire and, more than likely, the Ivy League championship.

After the game, Princeton struggled to explain how and why its magical run toward an Ivy title had been derailed. Both McCareins and Hughes said neither nerves nor the enormous pressure to win the game played a role in the loss.

"I didn't see any jitters," Hughes said.

The Tigers' fast start supported Hughes' words, as Princeton dominated the first 25 minutes of play. Terrell played nearly flawlessly before his first interception late in the half, twice finding men wide open in the end zone after what appeared to be breakdowns in Yale's secondary.

But though the Tigers capitalized on the Bulldogs' mistakes early on, they made more than enough of their own for Yale to win the game in the second half. Between seven turnovers and nine penalties, Princeton inflicted far too much damage on itself to walk away victorious.

"We did things today that we hadn't done all year," Hughes said. "Every time we got something going, the other thing that killed us were penalties ... You can't do that and win games against good teams."