The scoring woes of Princeton Football (3–7 overall, 2–5 Ivy League) continued in their final game of the season on Saturday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, failing to get into the end zone in a 17–6 loss to the University of Pennsylvania (6–4 overall, 4–3 Ivy League).
“There weren’t a lot of possessions … and games with long drives are going to be more low scoring,” men’s football Head Coach Bob Surace ’90 told The Daily Princetonian.
The first drive of the game started strong for the Tigers. An 11-play, 60-yard drive put the offense into position to score, but a first-down holding penalty stalled the drive and forced them to settle for a field goal.
The Quakers answered with a monstrous 19-play, 75-yard touchdown drive built on short runs and quick passes. The defense had multiple chances to get off the field during this drive: senior defensive back Nasir Hill delivered a sack, and junior defensive back Torian Roberts had two pass breakups that were inches from being interceptions. But the Quakers’ offense repeatedly converted third downs and a long fourth down to keep the drive alive and get into the end zone to go up 7–3.
The Tigers’ offense was able to answer later in the first half with another field goal from junior kicker Esteban Nunez Perez. The kicker from Fargo, N.D., finished the season with an 82 percent field goal success rate and a 100 percent extra point success rate. Accounting for 50 points, he was responsible for almost a quarter of the Tigers’ total points scored this season.
However, despite a good effort by the defense to limit the Quakers to 17, the second half proved even less fruitful for the Tiger offense, which did not find the end zone.
“We’ve been good at minimizing penalties on offense, but the second half, I believe we had three that set us back on two drives, and then we’re in 2-minute mode at the end,” Surace told the ‘Prince.’
The Tigers end the year with a 3–7 record for the second season in a row. Four of their seven losses were within nine points. However, several younger players had notable bright spots, including first-year wide receiver Josh Robinson from Tampa, Fla. Robinson led the team with 46 receptions and set a Princeton first-year record with 569 receiving yards.
“I am most proud of the consistency I was able to show throughout the season,” Robinson told the ‘Prince.’
Robinson’s goal for next season is to “come back more polished, more physical, more explosive, and more prepared to help [his] team win games next season.”
The season marks Surace’s 15th with the team. While the past four seasons have been disappointing, he led the Tigers to four Ivy League championships in 2013, 2016, 2018, and 2021, was a two-time Ivy League Head Coach of the Year winner in 2016 and 2018, and coached five NFL draft picks.
“I am grateful to coach amazing young men,” Surace told the ‘Prince.’ “Grateful to see them all graduate and go on to amazing life success. Grateful to work with tremendous coaches and support staff. The journey for me is about people, and I am so lucky to be surrounded by such incredible people for a long time here.”
Early Monday morning, Penn Athletics announced the resignation of head coach Ryan Priore, who had held the position for eleven seasons. The Quakers finished with a 6–4 record overall this year, winning four of seven in the Ancient Eight; however, Priore had not won an Ivy Championship in the City of Brotherly Love since 2016.
Zeke Arnold is a Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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