Football: Gridders blasted by Bears, 34-0

The football team’s momentum from a win over Columbia two weeks ago and a near comeback against Hampton last weekend died quickly when the team traveled to Brown on Saturday. The Bears (4-1 overall, 1-1 Ivy League) earned their first Ivy League victory with a 34-0 shutout of Princeton (1-4, 1-1) in Providence, R.I.

The story of Saturday was all Brown. The Bears’ offensive attack was evenly balanced, with 2009 first-team All-Ivy quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero leading the way. With the Tigers constantly on their toes, waiting to defend a pass by Newhall-Caballero — who threw for 229 yards and a touchdown — Brown opened up the run. The Bears finished with 162 rushing yards, leaving the Tigers’ defense really missing its leading tackler, junior linebacker Andrew Starks, who was injured in last week’s matchup at Hampton.

Head coach Bob Surace ’90 was impressed with Brown’s offense, as sometimes there seemed to be little Princeton could do to defend the Bears’ attack. “Their quarterback and receivers really made terrific plays,” Surace told GoPrincetonTigers.com. “There were times I thought that our coverage was really good, and they made diving catches, fingertip catches. You got to credit them on those ones.”

Early on, Brown’s offense was especially productive, as the Tigers found themselves in a hole from the get-go. Less than a minute into the game, Brown linebacker Dan Smithwick intercepted a poorly-thrown ball from senior quarterback Tommy Wornham and bolted 36 yards for a touchdown, the latest in a series of Princeton turnovers that led to points for opponents this season.

The Tigers went three-and-out on their next possession and punted the ball away. They might have punted the game away as well, as Brown came back down the field and scored on two of its next three possessions while dominating both sides of the ball. After a field goal was followed by two more touchdowns, the Tigers went into the locker room with a 24-0 deficit that proved insurmountable.

“You’re going to make mistakes. Mistakes happen, and you have to be able to be a mentally tough, hard-nosed person [to come back],” Surace said.

The Brown defense was impenetrable as well, allowing only 82 passing yards and holding the Tigers to only three third-down conversions on 15 attempts. Brown, on the other hand, converted nine of 16 third-down plays and was successful on its only fourth-down try.

“We have to be better on third-down,” Surace said. “We had been pretty good in improving that area, so that was disappointing.”

Though the Tigers’ improved offensive line protected the pocket quarterback well, according to Surace, the players at skill positions did not make enough plays. Wornham did not have his best game, completing only 11 of 27 passes for 75 yards. Freshman quarterback Connor Michelsen replaced Wornham for the final series, completing three of his four passes but gaining a total of only seven yards.

Michelsen was just the latest of Princeton rookies to see game action on offense. Freshman running back Chuck Dibilio again was the Tigers’ focal point, rushing 16 times for 78 yards on the heels of a 147-yard performance last week. Another freshman, wide receiver Matt Costello, continued to be Wornham’s favorite target, catching a team-high four passes for 24 yards.

The Tigers will have to bring a much better performance to compete in next week’s game at Harvard. The Crimson is tied for the Ivy League lead at 2-0 and beat Brown 24-7 last month.