Tigers demolish Big Green

Ivy League footballers have reason to be glad that this year's season is over, because only now can they avoid one particularly dangerous Tiger.

With the help of a 100-plus yard field goal return for a touchdown by senior cornerback Jay McCareins — yet another game-changing play in a season where McCareins could fill a highlight reel with his own spectacular performances — Princeton's football team (7-3 overall, 5-2 Ivy League) capped off an unexpectedly successful season with a 30-0 shutout of Dartmouth (2-8, 1-6) in Hanover, N.H. on Saturday.

"If you asked me if I would have taken 7-3 at the beginning of the season," head coach Roger Hughes said, "I would have taken that every time."

As the third quarter wound down, the scoreless Big Green found itself at the Tigers' 26-yard line, trailing by 13. On fourth and long, Dartmouth's field goal unit came on as McCareins lined up in the end zone as though to receive a deep kick.

The 43-yard attempt fell well short and landed in the arms of McCareins, who wasted no time in gunning his way first toward the far sideline and eventually all 100 yards to the other end zone, giving Princeton a commanding 20-0 lead.

The play was a bit of a risk, for had McCareins not been able to move the ball a significant distance, the Tigers could have started their possession with terrible field position.

"As he started to run it out, I said to myself, 'You better make it to the 20, you better make it to the 20,'" Hughes said. "The next thing I know, I'm calling for the extra point team."

From that point on, Princeton was merciless. On the ensuing kickoff, Dartmouth received the ball at its own five-yard line, only to make it to its own 26 before the Tigers forced and recovered a fumble that senior Derek Davis advanced to the 15.

That, of course, was great field position for starting a drive.

It only took one run by sophomore fullback Rob Toresco to find the end zone and give Princeton a devastating 27-0 lead.

If Toresco's score wasn't it, then the final nail in the coffin came on the Big Green's next drive. Junior cornerback J. J. Artis picked off a pass from Dartmouth quarterback Joshua Cohen on the first play. The Tigers eventually scored a field goal in the subsequent drive, which ate about 10 minutes off the fourth-quarter clock and sealed the game for Princeton.

The Tigers' scoring both started and ended with field goals, but to start the scoring that way gave the contest nervous overtones of past games in Hanover.

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"Two years ago when we were up there, we got down into scoring range five times and were only able to produce field goals," Hughes said. "[On Saturday,] we were a little flat coming out."

Though Princeton nearly fumbled the ball on Dartmouth's kickoff, the Tigers eventually fought their way down to the red zone, where senior kicker Derek Javarone nailed a 21-yarder to put Princeton on the board first five minutes into the game.

He did the same thing in the beginning of the second quarter, splitting the uprights from 28 yards out. The Tigers' first touchdown came when junior quarterback Jeff Terrell, under pressure with 11 seconds to play in the half, danced away from a would-be sack, rushed from the 12-yard line to the five, cut away from another tackler and walked into the end zone to put Princeton up, 13-0, going into the locker room.

Even if it hadn't scored 30 points, though, the Tiger defense denied the Big Green time and again. Part of Princeton's plan coming into the game was to put heavy pressure on the young quarterback Cohen, and the defensive unit succeeded in sacking him five times.

Cohen, when he wasn't driven to the ground, passed for just 95 yards. The real problem for Dartmouth, though, was that the Big Green was held to negative six yards rushing — not exactly the hallmark of a successful offense.

On one set of plays in the third quarter, for instance, the Tiger defense effectively set up McCareins to receive his field goal. After the Big Green fought down to the 12, senior defensive backs Rob Anderson and Nate Starrett each sacked Cohen, and fellow senior defensive back Dave Ochotorena knocked a pass incomplete to push Dartmouth all the way back to the 26.

Indeed, it was quite a final game for Princeton's seniors, who felt a full range of emotions after the game.

"For a lot of guys, they will never put pads on again, and the finality [of their last game] and ... shutting [Dartmouth] out the way we did all hit them at the same time," Hughes said.

It was a strong end to a season that no one had seen coming. Noting the Tigers' road victories against defending Patriot League champion Lafayette, Dartmouth, Penn and Harvard, Hughes said he was pleased with how this season had ended, despite last week's crushing loss to Yale.

While it wasn't quite a championship season, Princeton proved this year that it is once again a force to be reckoned with in the Ivy League. It remains to be seen who will step up and be dangerous next season, once McCareins and the rest of the Class of 2006 are but a memory.