Footballers grind one out

Last year, Tiger footballers said they'd reached a new level. Coaches and staff said there was a new confidence present in the program and a new can-do, positive attitude that had been lacking before.

Whatever all that means, the Tigers hammered the point home with a come-from-behind win over a team they hadn't beaten since 1993.

Princeton (1-0) defeated Lehigh (1-2) 14-10 in a hard-fought tale of two halves that saw the Tigers fight back from a 10-point halftime deficit to notch the win in their first game of the season.

"This is a huge win for us — this is the one team that the staff hasn't beaten since we've been here," head coach Roger Hughes said. "I don't think our kids may even appreciate how tough it was."

But if one thing is certain, it's that when things got tough, the Tigers stepped up, putting together two big drives and coming up with all the big defensive plays. The comeback was more impressive given that it was staged in the third quarter, just when the Tigers were feeling the sudden heat and humidity they hadn't seen all camp.

Princeton came out roaring in the second half, with senior wide receiver Brian Shields taking back the opening kick. After a modest return to the 28, the Tigers benefited from a facemask penalty against Lehigh and rapidly advanced.

Senior quarterback Jeff Terrell, who would finish the game with 205 yards, connected with sophomore tight end Billy Mitchell to move from the Princeton 35 to the Lehigh 35.

Then, after a reception by Shields, a third pass found sophomore wide receiver Adam Berry for his first career reception ever closer to the end zone.

From there, it only took a simple rush straight up the middle by junior running back Rob Toresco to score the touchdown and put Princeton not far behind Lehigh, 10-7 — all in only the first two minutes, 50 seconds of second-half play.

It looked like the Mountain Hawks might answer on their next drive, though, as Lehigh marched upfield with the end zone in sight. But senior defensive back Tim Strickland came up with the first of two big plays, picking off a long, telegraphed pass to the end zone and returning it all the way to the Tigers' own 32.

"When you're looking at our defense, [Strickland's] the one guy who's played a lot [over time] and he took a lot of the defense on his shoulders and really played well," Hughes said.

His play set up a second successful drive by the Tigers. After a few plays for positive yardage to get across midfield, sophomore tailback R.C. Lagomarsino rushed up a wide-open near side and made it down to the 19 with an impressive 27-yard run.

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A few plays later, it was Berry on third and three who caught a 12-yard pass from Terrell to score the Tigers' second touchdown with 6:56 remaining in the third. Suddenly, after getting slapped around in the first half, the Tigers were up, 14-10.

Another big defensive play — and a bit of luck — kept the Tigers in control. As Lehigh marched downfield and approached the end zone quickly, junior linebacker Doori Song crashed through the Hawks' offensive line and took down the Lehigh ball-carrier in the backfield, forcing the Hawks to try a field goal, which clanged off an upright.

Finally, it was Strickland again who came up with the game-saving play. He thwarted one more Lehigh drive, picking off a pass with 12:57 remaining at Lehigh's own 48.

"[Strickland's two picks] had a double psychological cut," Hughes said. "It was unbelievably uplifting for us and on their sidelines I felt like that may have taken the wind out of their sails."

If the defense passed its tests, so did the offense. The offensive line worked beautifully, particularly on the last drive of the game, which Princeton used to kill off any of Lehigh's hopes of a comeback. The Tigers gave the ball to Toresco over and over again, and he breezed by his blockers and pounded ahead to grind out the necessary yardage.

"The last drive, I can't tell you how proud of [the offensive line] I am. They came together and we ran the ball hard ... and those guys put the team on their backs," Terrell said, noting that "there was still a good chunk of time left on the clock."

It was the cap to a brilliant second-half effort by Princeton that helped erase the first half's inadequacies.

Indeed, the Mountain Hawks sailed through the first half. Lehigh quarterback Sedale Threatt hit a receiver streaking downfield 69 yards to advance to the Princeton 12 — the first play of only Lehigh's second drive. With a defensive stand, Princeton only allowed a field goal.

After another ineffective Tiger drive, Lehigh put together a textbook one of their own, putting together nine plays in 4:41 for a combined 72 yards. The touchdown came on a rush by Threatt, who with it gave his team a commanding 10-0 lead before halftime.

All this makes Princeton's win even more dramatic — and perhaps more important for the team's confidence and spirit it claims to have taken away from last year. And with four rushers and six receivers all notching over 10 yards in their respective categories, the Tigers may have found the formula they've been seeking for so many years.