Imagine fighting a boxer who — no matter how hard you hit him — always hits back, harder. A lot harder. You can throw everything you've got at that boxer, only to have him throw it all back at you, and then some. It's going to be a frustrating fight.
Lafayette (2-2 overall) learned this lesson the hard way after it came to Princeton Stadium Saturday night, threw everything it had at Princeton (2-0), and walked away 24-16 losers in a highly competitive match.
"We always talk about, if they punch, punch back and punch harder," senior defensive back J.J. Artis said. Unfortunately for the Leopards, the Tigers took this lesson to heart.
This lesson was evident in the most crucial moments of the game. After Princeton had several excellent opportunities to put up points but had come away with only two field goals by the waning moments of the first half, Lafayette's vaunted offense began to churn on all cylinders.
An excellent punt return off senior punter Colin McDonough's 57-yard boot gave the Leopards excellent field position, starting from around Princeton's 40 yard line.
Attempting to establish a ground game, Lafayette pounded the ball three times to bring up fourth-and-one. The Leopards decided to go for it, and once more, running back Jonathan Hurt pounded the ball up the middle.
It gave Lafayette the only chance it needed. After a quick sack, quarterback Brad Maurer hit wide receiver Shaun Adair for a 16-yard touchdown pass on an underneath route. Adair easily nabbed the ball, the extra point was good, and after nearly a half of controlling the football game, the Tigers were down 7-6.
Then senior quarterback Jeff Terrell put on his gloves and went right back at the Leopards.
With a little over two minutes remaining in the game, Terrell orchestrated a textbook example of the two-minute offense. The Leopards' defense, which had stymied and frustrated Princeton all game long, was suddenly on its heels.
"The credit goes to the players. The two-minute drive, we've practiced that a bunch. It was just automatic," head coach Roger Hughes said. "We went to the two-minute offense in the fourth quarter again because they started to blitz a lot more. We kind of got back on our heels so we needed a tempo changer and we thought that took them out of the blitz package."
The two-minute offense would prove to be the Tigers' strength over the course of the game. Terrell completed passes to senior wide receivers Brendan Circle and Brian Brigham while scrambling for a few yards himself in order to keep the drive alive. The net result: eight plays, 76 yards and 2:15 off the clock that ultimately culminated in a 28-yard touchdown pass to Brigham.
It put Princeton back up 13-7 and would set the tone for the entire game.
The third quarter proved to be 15 minutes of offensive ineptitude for the Tigers, but for the Leopards, it was a chance to reclaim the lead once again.
Late in the third, Terrell made his costliest mistake of the evening when he was picked off at his own 33-yard line.
Maurer completed a pass to bring the Leopards to Princeton's 7-yard line. The Tiger defense looked as if it was going to minimize the damage caused by Terrell's costly mistake, but on third-and-two, Hurt waltzed into the end zone on a wide-open left side of the field for a 14-13 lead.
Once again, momentum appeared to shift. On the ensuing kickoff, Lafayette had superb coverage and brought down senior kick returner Brian Shields at the 15-yard line.
But once again, Princeton responded with an exclamation mark.
Terrell moved the chains with quick, short passes to Shields and Circle, and the Tigers proceeded to finish off the third quarter with a nice sweep run by sophomore running back R.C. Lagomarsino.
Terrell continued to move the offense down the field, spreading the ball to all his receivers and scrambling when necessary. After a completion to Brigham, Terrell scrambled to the Leopards' 15-yard line. Calmly, coolly, Terrell proceeded to pick the Lafayette defense apart and finished the drive off with a spectacular 15-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Will Thanheiser, who was in the deep corner of the Leopards' endzone, and somehow managed to come down with the ball to give Princeton a 19-14 lead. It was Thanheiser's first career touchdown catch.
"I think, like Coach said, that's what we're most proud of the team right there. Just the character it shows, to come back after, you know after them putting it in, and you know both of those drives ended in a touchdown too—we weren't going to settle for a field goal," Terrell said. "We wanted to show what kind of team we were right there, so I'm proud of the receivers, the way they ran their routes, and like coach said, when we're able to get them off, you know, cut it back up, get them confused with our two-minute offense."
The Tigers decided to go for two, but the conversion attempt failed.
When the Leopards returned, Artis dropped Hurt for negative yardage, forcing a punt that would sail widely to the sidelines, giving Princeton excellent field position.
And then, the glory. In what was probably the most spectacular play of the evening, Terrell, under pressure, saw no one to pass to, save Lagomarsino. Terrell dumped off a short pass to Lagomarsino on an underneath route, and then — quite literally — he took off, making several defenders lunge but catch only air as he danced around the field en route to a 49-yard touchdown reception to give the Tigers a commanding 26-14 lead.
"It was the check-down, and Jeff did a good job of getting the ball out under pressure, and I made some cuts, and I just ran," Lagomarsino said.
Maurer tried to respond, but Artis — yet again — stymied Lafayette's offensive unit. In Princeton territory, Artis intercepted a pass from Maurer on the 17-yard line, putting the Leopards in a tough spot.
Lafayette was to have one more chance, however, when junior fullback Rob Toresco fumbled the ball in Princeton territory. The Leopards recovered Toresco's untimely mistake, but once again, the defense countered.
Take a wild guess at who was in the action.
Desperate for a score, Maurer launched the ball into the end zone, but Artis intercepted the pass yet again for a touchback.
"If you want textbook defensive back play, watch his two interceptions," Hughes said. "His body position was perfect, he played the ball perfectly, and really, Adair had no chance to catch the ball other than to interfere with him. It was textbook. I couldn't be prouder of the technique he had ... It was perfect."
Both of Artis' interceptions were clutch plays, as Lafayette was threatening to score both times that Artis halted their drives.
At that point, with time almost expired, Princeton proceeded to run out the clock to claim the victory.
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