Sprint Football: Late comeback spoils chance for first victory

Fifteen minutes, 31 seconds. That’s how close the sprint football team came to recording its first home win in 11 years. Instead, heavy rain and a systematic Mansfield offense washed away the Tigers’ chance at victory, sending the team to a 26-14 loss at the hands of the visiting Mounties (2-4 overall).

For the first time this season, the Tigers (0-6) held a lead over their opponent. With 9:30 remaining in the second quarter, the Tigers gained possession with excellent field position after a poor Mansfield punt from deep in its own territory. Princeton wasted no time capitalizing on this opportunity: Freshman quarterback Jaison Zachariah hit fellow rookie Kees Thompson for a 44-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the drive.

Immediately, the sideline and the raucous crowd erupted, spurred by the prospect of victory, but senior center and co-captain Sam Gulland and the rest of the Tigers were very aware that there was still work to be done.

“We were excited,” Gulland said. “It was a good play by [Thompson]. But we just wanted to get back on the field and do it again. The one thing we were not is content.”

It would be a while before the offense had the chance to repeat its success, as Mansfield responded to the 7-0 deficit with a 53-yard touchdown drive that consumed nearly six minutes.

After the halftime break, Princeton again used the big gain potential of its playmakers to drive down the field. A pair of double-digit runs by sophomore running back Kevin Infante quickly moved the Tigers into Mansfield territory. With the end zone in sight, Zachariah hit Thompson for his second touchdown of the game, a 36-yard strike on the fifth play of the drive.

Seemingly unfazed, Mansfield stuck to its game plan, running the ball and working slowly down the field. Mansfield gained only 33 yards on its ensuing posession, but it lasted more than six minutes and pinned Princeton deep in its own end. After the Tigers failed to gain a first down, Mansfield running back Lucas Bailey returned a punt to the Princeton 15. The Mounties didn’t waste the short field: They tied the score at 14 with 31 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

A few minutes into the fourth quarter, Thompson fumbled a fair catch attempt on a Mansfield punt, and the Mounties made the Tigers pay for their special teams mistake.

A touchdown run by running back Desmen Johnson, good for seven of his 121 yards in the game, left the Tigers down, 20-14. A bad snap on the extra-point attempt kept the deficit at six, but Princeton was unable to take advantage of this miscue.

Playing with the lead for the first time in the game, the Mounties had the perfect answer for preventing Thompson and Infante from burning them again: Keep the ball away from the Tigers’ offense. Mansfield maintained a slow, steady attack that devoured clock time, keeping the Tigers’ playmakers on the sidelines for more than 11 minutes in the final frame.

Gulland turned aside the suggestion that the Princeton defense tired as the game went on, but he recognized the difficulty in winning a game in which the defense spends 42 minutes on the field.

“The guys on our defense are in really good shape,” Gulland said. “It’s not that they were so tired, but when [Mansfield’s] offense has the ball that much, they start to get in a rhythm.”

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Exacerbating the Tigers’ ball control problems were a series of unnecessary penalties and poor performance on third down. Princeton took seven false-start penalties through the game, leading to lots of long-yardage situations. Facing this extra distance, the Tigers mustered only one third-down conversion in 10 attempts.

“We had two good drives on offense,” Gulland said. “But we need to be more consistent. We can’t have our defense on the field for three-quarters of a game.”

Meanwhile, Mansfield converted nine of 23 third downs, including a pivotal third-and-seven late in the game that extended a seven-minute, 29-second touchdown drive that put the game away for the Mounties.

Despite the loss, the Tigers have extra motivation to break into the win column when they host Penn (3-3, 1-3) this Thursday night in the season finale.

“We are nowhere near content with the Mansfield game,” Gulland said. “We’re excited for the Penn game and as hungry as ever for a win. We have seven seniors who are going to play with reckless abandon and leave it all on the field.”