Football: Epperly’s start can’t hide team’s faults

The football team lost its final game of the season at Dartmouth by a score of 24-17 this past Saturday, giving the Tigers a final record of 1-9 overall and 1-6 in the Ivy League. A field goal early in the third quarter gave the Tigers a 17-15 lead, but that was the last time the Tigers put points on the board, and a touchdown and field goal by Dartmouth (5-5, 4-3) were enough to get the hosts past the Tigers.

The Tigers appeared ready to head into halftime with a lead, but a Dartmouth interception gave the Big Green the ball. The hosts were able to turn that opportunity into a touchdown, giving them a 15-14 lead going into the second half.

“Obviously you never want to give up a touchdown, especially before the half, but we were still in position to win the game in the second half,” junior linebacker Andrew Starks said. “We did a great job opening the second half with a strong offensive drive and getting the momentum back.”

“It’s always great to go into halftime with a lead confidence-wise, but we were only down by one even after the score,” junior wide receiver Shane Wilkinson added. “I feel we handled it well, and we knew that we could easily take the lead back.”

“I think the touchdown before half really ended up hurting us, but it all started with the interception,” said freshman quarterback Quinn Epperly, who took responsibility for the play. “Our coaches always tell us how turnovers cause you to lose games, and it definitely did not help us.”

Epperly started the game at quarterback, being the first freshman to start at the position in over a decade. He finished the game 9-for-19 with 93 yards, throwing one interception and no passing touchdowns. He also had 73 yards on the ground and two rushing touchdowns.

“I think my play at Dartmouth was just all right,” Epperly said. “Obviously, we lost the game, so I did not make enough plays on offense to allow us to win. I need to have a great offseason, in which I plan on working extremely hard and getting a lot better in order to give our team a better chance to win in the future.”

“Quinn did a great job,” Starks said, more optimistically. “He is a very dynamic athlete, and he adds another gear to our offense.”

Tailback Chuck Dibilio, another freshman starter, had a relatively quiet game in which he had 66 rushing yards on 23 attempts and another 10 yards on one reception.

Dibilio totaled 1,068 rushing yards for the season, good for second in the Ivy League behind Dartmouth’s Nick Schwieger, who clinched the rushing title with 157 yards on Saturday.

“Chuck had a great season. It was really impressive to see him come in and take the Ivy League by storm as a freshman,” Wilkinson said. “He ran well this year, and he’ll only get better from here on out. He’s a great kid and a real hard worker, so look out for him these next few years. He’s going to be a stud.”

“Chuck was incredible this year. Looking at his numbers and records alone tells how great a season he had,” Epperly added. “On top of his stat accomplishments, Chuck carried the offense in numerous games to keep the score close. Chuck is a very hardworking individual [who] is one of many players that gives Princeton a bright future.”

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Princeton must now look toward the future as this season comes to an end with the Tigers having nothing except one win to show for it, matching last year’s worst overall record in program history.

“Our record this year does not do our season justice,” Wilkinson said. “If you go back and look at the games, we’re one or two plays a game away from a winning record. We’ve been steadily improving as a program, and I’m excited to see where we’re heading. We played to our potential at times, and it shows that we can be a very dangerous team.”

“Everyone knows that for us to get where we want to be next season, we must continue to work even harder and fully buy into what our coaches are telling us to do,” junior running back Akil Sharp added.

“The future of the program looks bright,” Starks said. “We have a number of starters returning next year and experience is valuable. We also had quite a few freshmen and underclassmen contribute this season, and they will obviously be back after getting a lot of early playing time.”