READY TO POUNCE: Princeton University linebacker Marco Scarano, right, gets ready to make a tackle in game earlier this season. Last Saturday, senior linebacker and team captain Scarano made nine tackles in a losing cause as the Tigers got edged 13-10 by Yale. Princeton, now 3-6 overall and 2-4 Ivy League, plays at Penn on November 22 in its season finale. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
As the Princeton University football team hosted Yale last Saturday in its final home game of the season, senior linebacker Marco Scarano reflected on his journey over the last four years when he and his classmates were honored before the contest.
“It was surreal, you never think it is going to happen until it does,” said Scarano. “Walking out with my family was super emotional. I love this program. I love everything about it and I love everything it has done for me.”
Princeton head coach Bob Surace loved the perseverance Scarano displayed as he didn’t let getting sick keep him from getting on the field against Bulldogs.
“Marco had an illness on Thursday, I didn’t know until game time of he was going to play,” said Surace. “I am telling you these guys are incredible. I talked to him and he said I am not missing the game. I have two more games in my life. If I didn’t tell you nobody would ever know. They just see him playing, not realizing that he was basically in the infirmary and rolls off the bed.”
Fueled by the Senior Day emotion, Princeton played hard but came up short in a 13-10 loss to Yale as it moved to 3-6 overall and 2-4 Ivy League.
Seeing the Tigers come up short in another tight contest was agonizing for Surace.
“It is three straight three-point losses and the fourth game in a row where we had every opportunity to win and it hurts,” said Surace, whose team fell 20-17 to Dartmouth on November 8 and 20-17 to Cornell on November 1. “It is painful. It is unfortunate that they are not seeing the benefits of all of their work. I hate it, I apologize to them. We have to put our finger on it to get a couple of plays better. That is all it is. We just have to be a little better. I have to get us to be a little better.”
Princeton produced some good defensive work to keep it in the game against a high-powered Bulldog squad which improved to 7-2 overall and 6-1 Ivy with the win over the Tigers.
“I am super proud of the defense; we were talking about how we needed to step up in this game all week long and I think we did,” said Scarano, who ended up with nine tackles in the loss. “We didn’t come out with the win. We needed one more play at the end there to hopefully hold them to no field goal. We put our all into this and it showed today.”
It was not surprising that the defensive struggle came down to a field goal. The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead late in the first quarter on a 29-yard field goal by Esteban Nunez Perez. Yale answered with a field goal midway through the second quarter. The Bulldogs forged ahead on a one-yard touchdown plunge by Josh Pitsenberger to take a 10-3 advantage into halftime.
Neither team scored in the third quarter and then Princeton evened the contest at 10-10 after a one-yard TD run by Ethan Clark with 8:46 left in regulation. The Bulldogs then put together a 55-yard march which culminated with a field goal that proved to be the margin of victory. Princeton had one last gasp possession and got to the Yale 48-yard line on a 15-yard reception by Josh Robinson but the drive got halted by a Yale interception.
Junior cornerback Torian Roberts helped spark the defensive effort by Princeton as he made two first half interceptions.
“We wanted to make it confusing for the quarterback with disguises and that is how we came up worth some turnovers today,” said Roberts. “It is just changing up the looks.”
Roberts’ first pick came when he intercepted Yale QB Dante Reno on his back in the end zone to keep the Bulldogs from scoring on their first possession of the contest.
“I was reading their No. 2 receiver, he was coming in and I see the quarterback, he was looking dead at him,” said Roberts. “I tried to break on the play and as I tipped it all I hear is ‘ball, ball, ball.’ My instinct was to look up in the air and find it and come down with it.”
Early in the second quarter, Roberts struck again as he stepped in front of a Yale receiver on the sideline to get another interception. He took off with the ball but fumbled as he sprinted across the field and fell on the ball to keep possession for the Tigers.
“On the second one, we tried to give him different looks,” said Roberts. “He thought we were in man-to-man. We happened to be in cover two and I jumped underneath it and I was able to come down with the pick. I saw a lot of green. When I caught it, I tried to tuck it in, and it hit me in my pad instead of my elbow and I dropped it. I recovered it and tried to get some more yards. There was definitely a lot of green grass in front of me.”
In reflecting on his performance, Roberts said he was inspired by senior safety and co-captain Nasir Hill.
“Nasir is our DB senior leader, we look up to him,” said Roberts, who now has a team-high four interceptions. “He sets the standard high for what the rest of us want to be. We always try to play to his energy. Especially since he is a senior and this was his last home game, we tried to put it all out there for him today.”
The Tigers showed a lot of energy on offense as they outgained Yale 313 yards to 273 and and built an 18-12 edge in first downs and 34:24-25:36 in time of possession. Princeton, though, struggled in the red zone, failing to score on two of its trips inside the Yale 20.
“At the end of the day, it is about points, we are winning all of these other areas — yards, time of possession, first downs,” said Surace. “We are doing such a great job in those areas. I have to figure out the red zone, it has been our weakness through this losing streak. I thought we had great practice in there, I thought we did a really good job. Credit Yale, they did some really good things that stopped us.”
Princeton’s recent run of tough losses reminds Surace of his experience as an assistant coach with the Cincinnati Bengals.
“This is like the 2008 Bengals; we were beat up, we had injuries and we fought our way into a lot of close losses and then we won at the end of the year and it led to a playoff team,” said Surace of the Bengals, who went 4-11-1 in 2008 and then improved to 10-6 the next year. “I said to the seniors, don’t hang your head. I expect all of you guys to reap the benefits of what these guys will do in the future because of your leadership.”
Scarano, for his part, has relished serving as a captain of the squad.
“I feel like leading the guys has been a privilege for me, I don’t think it is anything but that,” said Scarano. “Leading the guys had been an amazing experience. I love these boys to death.”
With Princeton wrapping up its 2025 campaign by playing at Penn (5-4 overall, 3-3 Ivy) this Saturday, Scarano is hoping for an amazing ending.
“That is what football is, it is a game of inches and you have to learn from it,” said Scarano. “At this point, we have to come out with a win next week and hopefully set the standard for the boys so we can come out and win some more games next year.”
Surace is confident that the Tigers will come out hard against the Quakers in the finale.
“We are going to go out and play and do everything we can to give our best effort and see if we can just put it all together,” said Surace. “We are not far off. When you play these even games for a few weeks in a row, it is not like 100 yards or miles, it is inches. It is absolutely painful. Clearly we have a lot of good players and a lot of good coaches. We just have to get those little details done a little better.”
Roberts, for his part, believes that the Tigers will get it together against Penn.
“Even though our playoff hopes are out of the way, we never go into a game down,” said Roberts. “We are going out there to put up 40 points and trying to send the seniors out the right way.”