Princeton football defeats Columbia 35–7 in Ivy League opener

On Saturday afternoon, junior running back Kai Honda carried the ball just 14 times. He took four of those to the end zone. Behind Honda’s 219 rushing yards, Princeton football (2–1 overall, 1–0 Ivy League) opened conference play with a 35–7 win over Columbia (2–1 overall, 0–1 Ivy League) at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium. 

Honda averaged 15.6 yards per carry and scored on runs of 40, 7, 53, and 70 yards. He is the first Tiger to score four rushing touchdowns in a game since Collin Eaddy ’22 at Brown in 2021. 

“Our offensive line has wildly been successful,” Honda told The Daily Princetonian. “Any running back in our room can do what I’ve been doing as long as our offensive line continues to produce.”

Columbia took the opening kickoff and had a 12-play drive, putting them at the Princeton 20-yard line, but senior defensive lineman Rocco Marcelino stopped Columbia running back Griffin Johnson for no gain on fourth and one. Princeton then moved the ball 40 yards in six plays before Honda finished off the 80-yard drive, breaking free for a 40-yard touchdown run. 

“That was just a gap scheme play,” Honda said. “Our line did a fantastic job blocking. I was one-on-one with the corner, made him miss, and just took it up the sideline.” 

Columbia then tied the game early in the second quarter when quarterback Chase Goodwin found wide receiver Bryce Coleman for a 14-yard touchdown. Princeton answered right away; sophomore quarterback Ty Ciongoli sparked the drive with completions of 22 and 35 yards, setting up Honda to run it in from seven yards out to reclaim a 14–7 lead. 

The Tigers’ defense delivered again late in the half, stopping Columbia on fourth and two at the Princeton 29-yard line with under four minutes left. On the next drive, Princeton faced fourth and five near midfield before a Columbia offside penalty gave the Tigers a fresh set of downs. 

“Karma happened when they jumped offsides on the punt,” Head Coach Bob Surace ’90 told the ‘Prince.’ “So we communicated up to the offensive coordinator, ‘Hey, we can use a run,’ and they were in a prevent defense, so we hit them on a big run by Kai. That made a big difference.” 

Honda went 53 yards up the middle for his third score with 1:08 left in the half, putting the score at 21–7 at halftime.

Columbia’s best chance to get back in the game came in the third quarter, when the Lions drove to the Princeton 7-yard line. However, sophomore defensive lineman Nate Stohl was able to stop Johnson one yard short on fourth and two, and the third quarter ended scoreless. 

Early in the fourth quarter, junior linebacker AJ Pigford was in on back-to-back sacks, forcing a Columbia punt. Two plays later, Honda took a handoff 70 yards for his fourth touchdown, putting Princeton ahead 28–7 with only 10:10 remaining. 

“It was just our O-line doing a fantastic job, getting their blocks done, and left me one-on-one again,” Honda said to the ‘Prince.’ “Made that guy miss, and, you know, just turned it into a track meet.” 

Honda became the first Tiger to rush for 200 yards and score four touchdowns in a game since Keith Elias ’94 in 1992, and just the second FCS player to do it this season, after Montana’s Eli Gillman. His 70-yard score was also Princeton’s longest run since John Volker ’25 went 75 yards against Penn in 2024. 

It's @Kaihonda25's world and we're just living in it. He's got FOUR touchdowns on the day! 💻 - https://t.co/VjUzfg7UjC 📻 - https://t.co/cSu38DUxM7 📊 - https://t.co/W9XK6if6pJ #JUICE 🍊🥤 https://t.co/mU3P8XiutE

— Princeton Football (@PrincetonFTBL) October 3, 2026

After another Columbia turnover on downs, Ciongoli connected with senior wide receiver Aidan Besselman for a 55-yard touchdown on third and six, capping the scoring at 35–7. 

Columbia outgained Princeton 422–379 and held the ball for 39:39 to Princeton’s 20:21. Goodwin threw for 331 yards on 35-of-51 passing, but the Lions came up empty on all four of their fourth-down attempts. On the Lions’ final drive, senior defensive back Torian Roberts intercepted Goodwin in the end zone with 2:11 to play. 

“Defense played really hard,” Surace noted. “The fourth-down stops were the other big difference.” 

Junior linebacker Connor Cronin led Princeton with 10 tackles, and Pigford and junior linebacker Jake Moore each added 1.5 sacks. 

Surace said the impressive performance started in practice earlier this week, recalling a comment from senior associate head coach and defensive coordinator Steve Verbit, who is in his 41st season with the program. 

“He said, ‘That’s the best Wednesday practice I’ve ever had,’ and I was like, ‘Man, that usually carries over, right?’” Surace said. “And it carried over to the game. I felt we played like we practiced on Wednesday.” 

Princeton, now winners of two straight games, will travel to Staten Island next Saturday to face Wagner (1–4 overall, 0–2 Northeast Conference) for the first time in program history.

“We’ll celebrate this one,” Surace told the ‘Prince.’ “Those schools typically have a lot of transfers, and we’ll have to get to know them. I thought we had good plans today, and we executed them. We’ll have to do the same.” 

After their trip to Wagner, Princeton will look ahead to their second Ivy League game against Brown (1–2 overall, 0–1 Ivy League). With wins in each, the Tigers would surge to four victories, topping the mere three they had in each of their 2024 and 2025 seasons. 

Ethan Cole is a staff writer for the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’ 

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