Football: Hurry-up offense pays dividends in fourth quarter

Under first-year head coach Bob Surace ’90, the football team is quickly becoming known for its fast-paced attack. A team needs more than talent for such a system to be successful; it needs to be well-conditioned and disciplined to take advantage of a tired opponent late in games.

Princeton was able to wear down Lafayette on both sides of the ball last night, the biggest key to its 36-33 victory. The Tigers outran the visitors and were the more disciplined team in the late stages, overcoming an 11-point second-half deficit to win the double-overtime thriller.

The speed of Princeton’s no-huddle attack was evident in the final stats. The Tigers had possession for just 22 of 60 minutes in regulation, yet they ran only eight fewer plays than their opponents. The tempo eventually caught up to Lafayette, as the hosts scored on all five of their possessions after halftime.

“It was a testament to our conditioning and the shape that we’re in,” senior receiver Trey Peacock said of the Tigers’ comeback. “Throughout the game, they got more and more tired, and in the second half their defense was really winded.”

The Leopards executed better early on, scoring a pair of touchdowns off Princeton miscues. Late in the second quarter, a blown coverage left Kyle Hayes wide open on a third-down post pattern. Ryan O’Neil hit Hayes in stride and the receiver was left with nothing but daylight, streaking 78 yards to give the visitors a four-point lead.

Early in the third quarter, freshman Roman Wilson chose to let a punt drop in front of him but made his decision too late. The ball bounced off Wilson’s leg and to the Lafayette coverage team, handing the visitors a 21-yard field that would result in seven points and a 21-10 lead.

The muffed punt marred what was an otherwise productive game for the rookie. Thanks largely to Wilson’s returns, the Tigers — who lost the field-possession game badly in their season-opening loss at Lehigh — started drives after kickoffs an average of 10 yards further upfield than their counterparts.

Wilson’s gaffe was the last major Princeton miscue. Despite fighting an uphill battle in the trenches and some inconsistency in the vertical passing game — junior quarterback Tommy Wornham completed just 23 of 43 passes after throwing for a career-high 392 yards last week — the Tigers overcame the double-digit hole and scored 17 points in three second-half possessions.

The Tigers played toward the sidelines, outrunning the weary Leopards. A 30-yard sweep by senior running back Jordan Culbreath and a 21-yard end-around from Wilson keyed a 70-yard drive that brought Princeton within eight points.

On the next series, the hosts found another source of speed. Wornham led the Tigers in rushing as a quarterback last year, but had largely stayed in the pocket early this season. Lafayette, presumably aware of his changed habits, ignored the junior’s legs and paid the price. Wornham scrambled for 12 and 23 yards to convert third-and-long situations, then capped off the drive with a five-yard touchdown.

“I ran a lot in high school, and I ran a little bit last year,” Wornham said. “The holes were there. The entire crowd was screaming ‘run’ one time, so I thought it might be a good idea to do it.”

Although the Leopards largely took away the deep passing game, the Tigers found other ways to turn their wideouts into weapons. A screen pass to Peacock in the first quarter netted 36 yards — the longest Princeton play of the game — and the Tigers went back to the same play twice on the game-tying drive. Orange and Black receivers also carried the ball three times on end-arounds.

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“The coaches do a great job of looking over film,” Peacock said. “They saw a weakness — that we could run a lot of screens to open things up — and it worked out.”

Conditioning also made the difference on the other side of the ball. Alan Elder, Lafayette’s top rusher, carved up the Princeton defense for 5.2 yards per carry in the first half but managed just 2.9 in the second. In the two overtime periods, the Tigers held Elder to just eight yards on five touches. Elder’s struggles, as well as a dropped pass in the end zone by Mark Layton, forced the Leopards to settle for a pair of field goals.

“We trained for the fourth quarter,” said senior linebacker Jon Olofsson, who finished with a game-high 16 tackles. “We want to be known as a second-half team.”

The Tigers may hurry to the line of scrimmage, but they have a more measured philosophy: winning games in the late stages. If last week’s game was any indication, there may be more come-from-behind victories in their future.