A small but lively crowd saw the Tigers (2–6 overall, 1–4 Ivy League) narrowly lose to the Dartmouth Big Green (7–1, 4–1) on a cold Friday night at the Princeton Stadium. Princeton played their best game of the season by far.
It was the second half that saw Princeton rally back from 21–7 down and keep the game competitive. The defense played the best they have this season for all four quarters while the offense, after an initial downturn following their first touchdown, played to their true potential in the second half.
“I feel like we’ve made progress,” Head Coach Bob Surace ’90 told The Daily Princetonian. “It doesn’t always show in the result, but we’ve made some really good progress.”
Despite second quarter setbacks, Princeton came into the game strong — something sorely missed against Cornell. Before Dartmouth could even make it into Princeton’s territory, sophomore linebacker Robert Sanders got his first career solo strip sack with sophomore defensive lineman Caden Wright recovering the fumble.
Two third down conversions later and the Tigers were up 7–0. On a huge third-and-six play in the red zone, junior quarterback Blaine Hipa stayed poised before finding senior wide receiver Connor Hulstein wide open for a touchdown.
After two big 20+ yard passing plays on a Dartmouth drive, the Big Green ended up with first-and-goal at the Princeton 1. Dartmouth quarterback Grayson Saunier was able to convert immediately as he ran into the endzone to tie the score 7–7.
This was the start of Princeton’s defensive woes, specifically their pass defense. In total they allowed 185 yards off 21 completions and allowed the Big Green to make large gains up the field, cutting down their ability to mount a second half comeback.
Princeton’s run defense was a different story, however. Despite usually finding strength in their rushing, Dartmouth averaged just 2.9 yards per rush across 41 attempts as the Tigers’ defense stayed solid.
“We knew it was going to be a hard 60 minutes, whether it was 60 or 65 minutes,” junior safety Nasir Hill told the ‘Prince.’ “We just stayed focused and didn’t flinch the whole game — just tried to make plays.”
After a Princeton three-and-out, Dartmouth made the most of their opportunity and continued to exploit Princeton’s pass defense. Speeding towards the endzone, they managed to convert on third-and-goal for another QB rushing touchdown, taking the score to 14–7. The next drive saw another three-and-out for the Tigers as Hipa took a big sack, forcing a punt.
Further anguish came for the Tigers after a mismatch on special teams saw a four-man Dartmouth rush against the three-man line of secondary punt blockers on fourth down. With this, Dartmouth was able to get a punt block and recovery, putting them on the Tigers’ 17-yard line.
The team needed some resilience as they went into the half down another touchdown, 21–7. In less than a minute, the Big Green converted on a crucial third down through a pass into the top left corner of the endzone to get the score and see out the half.
“I told them: ‘Take a deep breath — I’m frustrated, you guys are frustrated,’” coach Surace said to the ‘Prince’ about his halftime team talk. “We were doing enough good that if we [tightened] up just this much we [would] execute on offense, and the reality is that it was better.”
After successive punts, Princeton got the ball on Dartmouth’s 41. A crucial defensive pass interference call on fourth-and-two saw Princeton convert to get the first down. The next play, Hipa rolled out left and found senior wide receiver Luke Colella at the 1-yard line, who muscled his way into the endzone for the Tigers’ second touchdown of the night, making it 21–14 Dartmouth.
“That’s a great designed play, we worked [on] it all week,” Hipa said to the ‘Prince’ about the touchdown pass to Colella. “We ran it and just how we thought it would work, it worked. I just got the ball to a playmaker and he ended up finishing in the endzone.”
The teams traded punts as they went into the fourth quarter but an unfortunate fumble by senior wide receiver and punt returner AJ Barber gave Dartmouth the ball back on the Tigers’ 37, though the Tigers restricted the Big Green to a field goal.
Quarterback Blaine Hipa has had a shaky start to his Princeton career but will hope to finish his junior year strong.
Ryan Salik / The Daily Princetonian
The drive started with a big completion by Hipa to Hulstein, who hurdled a man before diving down to get 16 yards. A few plays later, Hipa again came up big for the Tigers, finding senior wide receiver Matthew Mahoney for a 38 yard gain before the drive ended in a field goal.
Looking to complete the comeback, the Tigers began a final drive pinned on their 2-yard line. With poor field position, the Tigers couldn’t get the drive going, as Hipa got called for an intentional grounding penalty in the Princeton endzone and Dartmouth were awarded a safety.
The final score ended 26–17 Dartmouth. The story was a familiar one for the Tigers — small mistakes costing them big.
Hipa ended with 137 yards and two touchdowns, while Colella got 41 yards and one touchdown for the night. However, it was the lack of running game — at 43 yards off 32 attempts — and only three sacks which really set the offense back. Princeton extended their unwanted lead in the Ivy League for sacks against, conceding 238 yards across 35 sacks in their eight games played.
“This year feels like 2000 with the Cincinnati Bengals,” coach Surace said to the ‘Prince.’ “In so many ways: offensive injuries and so many negative plays on offense that set us back … we’re going to have to fix that, because we can’t play with so many negative plays, it’s killing our drives.”
The Tigers are now bottom of the Ivy League — a prospect they haven’t faced in many years — but with two games to play, they can claw themselves out from this position. They face Yale (5–3, 2–3) in a big matchup away in New Haven next Saturday at noon.
“We got to get our health back,” coach Surace told the ‘Prince’ about next week’s matchup. “We can’t come out against Yale with 35 guys not practicing, but hopefully those numbers diminish some.”
“We don’t want to make excuses, and I’m not trying to make excuses,” coach Surace continued. “But there’s a reality that these guys are fighting their tails off, and I go into the locker room, and I feel terrible, because everybody is fighting as hard as they can.”
Alex Beverton-Smith is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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