October 16, 2014

Princeton Football Falls 31-30 at Colgate, Aims to Bounce Back as It Hosts Brown

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STOPPED AT THE GATE: Princeton University linebacker Mike ­Zeuli heads up the field in recent action. Last Saturday, senior co-captain Zeuli made 10 tackles in a losing cause as Princeton fell 31-30 at Colgate. The Tigers, now 2-2 overall and 1-0 Ivy League, will look to get back on the winning track when they host Brown (2-2 overall, 0-1 Ivy) on October 18. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Showing a distressing penchant for falling behind early in games last season even as it went 8-2, a major point of emphasis for the Princeton University football team in 2014 has been getting off to faster starts.

Playing at Colgate last Saturday, Princeton achieved that goal. With junior speedster Dre Nelson returning the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown to get things rolling, the Tigers roared out to a 16-0 lead.

“It was the second time in three weeks that we returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown,” said Princeton head coach Bob Surace.

“It was really good execution and really good blocking. We forced some three-and-outs and got the ball in good field position. We ran the ball well.”

Things didn’t go as well in the second quarter as Princeton was outscored 21-7 to find itself clinging to a 23-21 lead at halftime.

“They are a good football team, they will probably finish first or second in the Patriot League,” said Surace. “They hadn’t thrown the ball quite as much as they did on Saturday.”

Although Princeton’s lead had been cut to just two points at intermission, Surace wasn’t pushing the panic button.

“At halftime, it was play the next play,” said Surace. “Focus on the next play and on not anything that happened at the end of the half. We were our worst enemy with the turnover and then their QB throws a TD pass. We were still ahead. We came out in the second half and played well.”

Princeton scored a touchdown on its first possession in the third quarter to increase its lead to 30-21 but it never scored again, succumbing to a Colgate rally in losing 31-30 before a crowd of 4,402 at Andy Kerr Stadium.

“Ten of our 12 drives went to the 50 or beyond,” said Surace, whose team dropped to 2-2 overall with the setback. “We didn’t finish drives as well as we need to. It was a penalty here or a thing there.”

Things were looking very good for Princeton in the early going. In its second possession after Nelson’s jaunt to paydirt, the Tigers put together a 90-yard scoring march that culminated with a one-yard touchdown run by quarterback Quinn Epperly.

Princeton forced a three-and-out and was on the move again. Sparked by a 38-yard pass from Epperly to Matt Costello, the Tigers got deep in Colgate territory. Although the drive stalled, the Tigers cashed in with a 38-yard field goal by Nolan Bieck to go up by 16-0.

The Raiders, though, started to get going in the second quarter as quarterback Jake Melville started finding the range with his passing game. Midway through the quarter, Colgate got on the board as a 3-yard TD run by Demetrius Russell capped a 64-yard march and narrowed the gap to 16-7.

Princeton answered back as Connor Michelsen hit Costello with a 28-yard TD pass to make it 23-7.

But that lead was short-lived as Melville hit some big passes, including a 24-yard scoring strike to Alex Greenawalt to draw Colgate to within 23-14.

Then, in a pivotal sequence, Epperly threw an interception which Colgate later converted to a touchdown on the last play of the half as Melville found John Quazza in the end zone for a 13-yard TD to make it 23-21 going into halftime.

Seemingly stemming the Raider tide, Princeton started the third quarter by forcing a three-and-out and then going on a scoring march. Driving 64 yards, the Tigers took a 30-21 lead as Will Powers scored on a 12-yard run.

Colgate responded with a big drive of its own, going 76 yards and scoring on a 24-yard pass from Melville to Risley Lesko to narrow the gap to 30-28.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, the Raiders forged ahead for the first time as Jonah Bowman hit a 23-yard field goal.

Princeton advanced to the Colgate 29 and 35 on its next two possessions but both drives ended with incomplete passes. In the waning moments of the contest, the Tigers forced a fumble and got the ball at their own 28 with 1:15 left in regulation. After picking up one first down, Princeton’s bid for a last minute victory ended with incomplete passes on the third and fourth downs.

In reflecting on the defeat, Surace rued his team’s failure to come through on a day when it outrushed the Raiders 201 yards to 111.

“The effort and physicality were there, they are one of the more physical teams we will see in four or five years,” said Surace, who got 131 yards on the ground from DiAndre Atwater with Powers gaining 43.

“We needed to execute a little better with all the good things we did in the running game.”

One of the things that has hurt Princeton is coming up short in the turnover battle.

“We were +10 in turnovers last year and this year we are -3,” said Surace. “We are not taking care of the ball as well. We have to keep attacking the ball in defense. We are playing with physicality but we are not doing a good job of getting the ball away from the other teams.”

With Brown (2-2 overall, 0-1 Ivy League) coming to Princeton Stadium on October 18 for a key Ivy clash, Princeton is poised for another physical battle.

“Coach [Phil] Estes and his group year in, year out does a good job,” said Surace, whose team is 1-0 in Ivy action. “They always play physical and have a really solid defense. I think the Colgate game prepared us well for them.”

In Surace’s view, Princeton is prepared to play a complete game. “We were close on Saturday; we are playing good teams and that is what it looks like when two good teams play each other,” said Surace.

“We have got to be better on a few plays. If we are playing 200 plays, I can’t be talking about seven where we were a little off. We need to take better care of details.”