Princeton cruise past Brown at Home

Junior quarterback John Lovett passed for two touchdowns and rushed for a third as the Princeton Tigers (4-1, 2-0 Ivy) cruised to an easy victory over Brown (1-4, 0-2 Ivy).

Princeton kicked off the scoring early, with senior quarterback Chad Kanoff uncorking a 33-yard bomb to senior wide receiver Isaiah Barnes for the first score. Brown failed to respond, and the Tigers soon extended their lead to 14 when Lovett engineered a second scoring drive and capped it off with a touchdown pass to senior wide receiver James Frusciante.

From there, the Tigers seemed to score at will. Lovett, again proving his worth as a dual-threat quarterback, tossed a second touchdown to Frusciante to open the second quarter and continued to punish the Bears, both on the ground and through the air. Brown never put together a successful scoring drive in the first half, and Princeton would give itself an imposing 28-0 margin heading into the half as Lovett ran into the end zone for his third score of the game.

As the second half opened, Princeton only increased its control of the game. The Tiger defense continued to punish Brown, and freshman kicker Tavish Rice tacked on a 32-yard field goal that extended the home team’s lead to 31. Although the Bears ultimately put together a 68-yard drive and scored a touchdown to deny the Tigers a shutout with a minute remaining in the fourth quarter, they never posed a serious threat over the course of the 31-7 victory.

For Princeton, the game was a near-perfect showing for both offense and defense. After an explosive outing at Georgetown where he also accounted for three touchdowns, Lovett delivered an even more stunning repeat performance. However, he was not the only quarterback delivering for the Tigers: Kanoff went 16 for 23 over the course of the day with 185 yards and one touchdown through the air. Defensively, Princeton forced two interceptions from Brown quarterback Thomas Linta and held the visitors to only 148 passing yards and 52 yards on the ground.

With this convincing victory, the Tigers have now won three straight as they head toward the heart of their season. And while Brown has yet to win a conference game, Princeton’s upcoming opponents have seen far more success. The Tigers are currently tied for first place in the Ivy League with Harvard and Penn, and will face both teams in the next three weeks — Harvard this coming weekend and Penn on Nov. 5. Both games, along with other conference matchups against Cornell and Dartmouth, should prove huge tests for a squad that has already shown great potential.

The Tigers will kick off against the Crimson on Saturday, Oct. 22, at1:00 p.m.