Army attacks s. football early, often in 57-14 rout

George W. Bush and Al Gore have been debating the state of the military in this country since before their respective party conventions. Bush claims that the Clinton administration has let the military slip during the past eight years. The sprint football team went into Pride Bowl XXII against Army hoping that the Republican was right.

Sunday, however, Army made its case that the military is as strong as ever. On the sprint football field, anyway. The Black Knights (4-0 overall, 1-0 Collegiate Sprint Football League) demolished Princeton, 57-14.

"Basically, Army handed it to us — they jammed it down our throats," senior captain and tight end Mike Piazza said. "Our defense was reeling for the entire game."

The Black Knights used a litany of big plays on offense to pick apart the undermanned Tiger defense. Several Princeton players, especially in the secondary, were either hampered by injuries or missed the game entirely.

The Tigers (0-3, 0-1) have been undone by injuries in each of their three games so far, and this loss was no exception.

Senior cornerback Jeremy Green was unable to play because of an injury he suffered during the loss to Penn on Oct. 6. His replacement, freshman Ned Bartlett, injured his ankle Sunday and his effectiveness was seriously limited.

"Our secondary was in shambles," Piazza said.

Army was in control of the game from the early going, taking the lead five minutes into the game on a 39-yard touchdown run by Gary Ducote. It would be the first of six rushing touchdowns the Cadets would burn the Tigers for in the game. Army amassed 389 total rushing yards on the day, with 124 coming from quarterback John Hall.

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"[Army] broke off big plays at will and our defensive ends appeared unable to contain the quarterback on the option," Piazza said.

Unfortunately for Princeton, the team would not fare much better on the offensive side of the ball. Though senior running back Robin Clarke ran for 93 yards and Princeton gained 174 yards on the ground — the most by a team against the Black Knights in four years. The Tigers managed only 269 yards of total offense.

Despite a 20-yard touchdown grab by senior wide receiver Ki Moon, the passing game — which had experienced some success in Princeton's first two losses — never materialized in this game. Piazza added four receptions of his own, but may have sustained nerve damage in one elbow during the contest.

The performances by Clarke and Moon were the only two bright spots for the Tigers in a game dominated by the Black Knights.

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"On offense, again, we moved the ball pretty well at times, although we demonstrated a failure to execute various third down pass plays," Piazza said.

Just as in the football team's rout of Brown a day earlier, big plays and turnovers made the difference in this game. Only one of Army's scores was shorter than 20 yards and one score came on a 29-yard fumble return by Leo Kosi.

The Black Knights did most of their damage on the ground, but the steamrolling was occasionally broken up by perfection in the Army passing game. Hall threw only four times, but he completed each of his attempts — including a 55-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to Harlan Harrison.

After Moon's catch in the end zone, Princeton managed only one other score on the day — a one-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Geoff Gasperini. On the whole, it was a demoralizing day for the Tigers.

"At this point, morale is low, but Army did prove itself a better team," Piazza said. "We must redouble our efforts to rebound in the second half [of the season]."