SENIOR MOMENT: Princeton University football running back John Volker looks for an opening in recent action. Senior Volker ended his Princeton career on a high note last Saturday, rushing for 130 yards and one touchdown and catching four passes for 40 yards to help Princeton edge Penn 20-17. The Tigers ended the fall at 3-7 overall and 2-5 Ivy League. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

John Volker was determined to keep his cool as he stood in the end zone with his classmates and their families last Saturday when the Princeton University football team held its annual Senior Day ceremony before hosting Penn in the season finale.

“Of course it is emotional, the focus for me was just remaining focused and not looking at the big picture,” said Princeton senior running back Volker. “I owe it to my teammates, my coaches, and everyone who put a lot into this program to have my full attention on this game for 60 minutes.”

Volker displayed his focus for all 60 minutes against the Quakers, beginning and ending his final game for the Tigers with a bang. Volker sprinted 75 yards for a touchdown on Princeton’s first play from scrimmage as the Tigers jumped out to a 7-0 lead. In the waning moments on the contest with Princeton clinging to a 20-17 lead, Volker bulled for 15 yards and a first down as the Tigers ran out the clock to win by that 20-17 margin, snapping a four-game losing streak to end the fall at 3-7 overall and 2-5 Ivy League.

“I am going to remember this game for the rest of my life,” said Volker, a 6’0, 215-pound native of Fair Haven, who ended up rushing for 130 yards on 15 carries with one touchdown and catching four passes for 40 yards against Penn.

Volker won’t soon forget his 75-yard TD dash as he raced through a big hole and then cut outside and sprinted down the sideline to paydirt.

“It parted like the Red Sea,” said Volker. “I just ran, I sprinted to the end zone. The O-line played a great game. It is the best feeling in the world. Usually I kind of just black out but for whatever reason, I was like wow, this is the first play of the game.”

Even though Princeton found itself down 17-10 at halftime, the Tigers weren’t discouraged.

“We are really good at handling adversity,” said Volker. “Throughout all of the ups and downs this season, the effort remained the same every game. We never point the finger, we never got in a bad way. It was just go out and do your job.”

In the third quarter, the Princeton defense got the job done. A fumble recovery by defensive lineman Collin Taylor set up a Jeffrey Sexton field goal as the Tigers narrowed the gap to 17-13 with 6:23 left in the quarter. Less than a minute later, sophomore defensive lineman Caden Wright scooped up a Penn fumble and rumbled six yards into the end zone as Princeton went up 20-17.

“That was awesome,” said Volker, referring to the heroics by the Tiger defense. “I think that shows the effort piece, the passion, and the brotherhood we have. Everyone fought to the last play, that was just great to see.”

Volker showed his passion down the stretch as his hard running helped the Tigers close the deal.

“It is an amazing feeling when you have backing of the whole program,” said Volker. “The coaches put the ball in my hands. Thank God that I delivered, I couldn’t be prouder.”

While Volker was proud of the win in the finale, it was the deep bonds with his teammates that meant the most to him.

“It is always good to end the season with a win,” said Volker. “I think the important takeaway from the season is that these guys are going to be my brothers for life. We can always remember this last game that we had together.”

Although Volker missed some time this fall with injury, he was still able to rush for 514 yards and six TDs in his final campaign.

“That is the nature of the game, you are going to get a little banged up and you are going to have to tough it out,” said Volker. “I am glad I didn’t get too injured where it kept me out too long this season. Our training staff got me right, I was just really grateful that I got to play.”

In addition, Volker has been grateful to add to a family tradition as his older brother Charlie ’19, was a star running back for Princeton.

“It is always great to make my brother proud,” said Volker.

“He has always been a great role model for me. People say following in footsteps has a negative connotation. I see it as a great thing, he has always been a great leader and brother to me.”

Having been coming to Princeton games since 2015, Volker ultimately decided that he wanted to follow in his brother’s footsteps.

“I didn’t really think about it too seriously until I got midway through high school,” said Volker. “I always knew this place was awesome. That is eventually what my decision came down to at the end.”

Princeton head coach Bob Surace credited Volker with making an awesome run on his TD jaunt.

“It was not only his cut to the outside, he outran some angles,” said Surace, who joked with Volker that he ran faster on his touchdown run than his brother did on his program-record 96-yard TD run against Brown in 2017. “Penn had some fast guys on defense. For him to outrun those guys was very impressive.”

At halftime, Surace implored the Tiger defense to step up.

“The first message was that I was really disappointed at the end of the half,” said Surace. “They competed a 20-yard pass to start where we are in cover two and it is a two-minute drill. The corner has to be deeper and we missed some tackles. I just thought that for whatever reason we had a lack of focus on that series. I talked about punching the ball. They were loose with the ball. Words are words, their execution punching the ball out was huge. The guys really did a great job forcing those.”

The strong rushing of Volker and sophomore Ethan Clark (26 yards on seven carries) was a huge plus for the Tigers. “When we have had two running backs healthy, we have been really good,” said Surace. “Those guys just run hard.”

The bounces finally went Princeton’s way after tough losses to Cornell (49-35 on November 2) Dartmouth (26-17 on November 8) and Yale (42-28 on November 16).

“We fought hard all year, I don’t question that they are going to come out on Tuesday fired up and ready to go,” said Surace. “They know some of the issues with being shorthanded but they tried to fight through them and we have had the almosts. All of the last three games were like this game. They are a coin flip and the other teams made plays at the end.”

The 3-7 campaign will result in some soul searching for Surace.

“It is frustrating because I really wish I could have done more to get the guys in the mix to win a championship,” said Surace. “We will review all of that. There will be an overview tomorrow, a snapshot, but then we will take a month to just look at all of the video and data.

The progress made by some of Princeton’s young guys bodes well for the future.

“They have been growing,” said Surace, citing the play of sophomore linebacker Chase Christopher, freshman linebacker AJ Pigford, sophomore defensive lineman Caden Wright, sophomore defensive back Torian Roberts, and sophomore defensive back Haynie. “When guys are playing in roles that might be sooner than you expected them to be in they are either going to tire out and we are going to look really ugly or they are going to grow and get better. I think there is a lot of positives from what those guys did and we have to keep building.”

Surace pointed to the play of junior back-up linebacker Jalen Jones as an example of that growth.

“I complimented Jalen Jones, he was a third string SAM linebacker (strongside) behind Marco [Scarano] and Payton [Tally] and Marco goes inside so he is a second string,” said Surace.“He ended up having to play three quarters today and he played really, really well. It is just preparation. He is a guy who didn’t have to study but he did. That is a sign of guys who really care about each other.”

The Princeton seniors keep caring despite the defeats piling up as the program suffered its first losing season since 2011.

“I knew they were going to handle coming to practice, preparing, playing hard,” said Surace. “It is do we have enough ammunition to beat a good team. There is going to be error, we made some errors today. It was too much to overcome against Yale. It was a little bit too much to overcome against Dartmouth. Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way and you have to be able to keep fighting.”

Volker, for his part, was proud to fight to the end with his teammates.

“The guys I see every day, the guys I eat meals with, the guys I go to practice and lift with, that is what I am going to remember the most about this place,” said Volker. “There are some amazing people here, I am really going to cherish that.”

And by keeping his focus last Saturday as emotions swirled, Volker produced a Senior Day performance to remember.