SENIOR MOMENT: Princeton University receiver Isaiah Barnes holds the ball up after scoring a second quarter touchdown last Saturday against Yale, the first score of his career. Senior Barnes ended up with six catches for 151 yards and two touchdowns but it wasn’t enough as Princeton fell 35-28 to the Bulldogs. The Tigers, now 5-4 overall and 2-4 Ivy League, wrap up their season by playing at Dartmouth (8-1 overall, 5-1 Ivy) on November 21. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

After suffering a gruesome ankle injury during his freshman season with the Princeton University football team in 2012, Isaiah Barnes could have given up the sport.

“I had a really rough injury freshman year,” said Barnes. “It took basically all of my sophomore year to recover. I had to get another surgery after the season.”

But last Saturday, Barnes was one of 28 members of the Class of 2016 who was honored in the program’s annual Senior Day ceremony before Princeton hosted Yale in its home finale.

“It has been a long time coming,” said Barnes, a 6’4, 220-pound native of Freeport, N.Y. as he reflected on their pregame ceremony “I am glad that I have been able to contribute to this offense finally. I feel healthy,”

The Princeton offense looked healthy at the outset on Saturday as it produced two long drives in the first quarter that resulted in scores as Trevor Osborne made a seven-yard touchdown reception and DiAndre Atwater scored on a four-yard run as the Tigers jumped out to a 14-0 lead.

“We were definitely clicking, the offense was rolling,” said Barnes. “We were picking them apart but then we stuttered out a few times.”

After Yale responded with 14 unanswered points of its own, Barnes helped Princeton regain the lead as he snared an 18-yard scoring strike, the first touchdown of his college career.

“They called a post and I saw maybe I could get inside of a guy and Chad [Kanoff] threw a good ball and I was able to beat him and make the catch,” recalled Barnes. “It was my first collegiate touchdown. It took a while but it felt really, really good.”

By the end of the afternoon, the Tigers didn’t feel good as they ended up losing 35-28 before a crowd of 11,623 at Princeton Stadium, dropping to 5-4 overall and 2-4 Ivy League.

“It was a one possession game the whole way through,” said Barnes. “I thought we would be able to eke it out. We fought hard but I guess they fought a bit harder. It is tough and it hurts.”

Barnes gave Princeton a 28-24 lead late in the third quarter as he scored on a 53-yard touchdown bomb, leaping to pluck the ball out of the air and then racing to the end zone.

“That was a good play,” said Barnes. “It was man coverage. Chad gave me a good ball and I was able to get it and come down with it and make a play.”

The Tigers took that advantage into the fourth quarter but the Bulldogs got 10 unanswered points on a field goal by Bryan Holmes and a 19-yard touchdown pass from Morgan Roberts to Robert Clemons to pull out the victory, ruining Barnes’ big day as he ended up with six catches for 151 yards and two touchdowns.

“I guess you could say it is the best game of my career,” said Barnes, who now has a team-high 29 receptions for 429 yards after coming into the season with just two career catches.

“But that doesn’t mean much, not winning Senior Day. I really wanted this one really badly for all the seniors. We fought hard each and every week, we just weren’t able to pull it out here.”

While Barnes was disappointed with the outcome in his home finale, he is proud of the fight he waged and to be on the field for the contest.

“I had never been injured before coming into college and I was pretty down,” said Barnes.

“I have been on the up since then and I am glad this year I have been able to do something to show what I have. I didn’t want to go out without a fight. I wanted to contribute to this team. Going through your career, you want to have that satisfaction and gratification from playing and doing something. I was glad that I was finally able to do something.”

While Princeton head coach Bob Surace liked the way his team came out fighting as it built the early 14-0 lead, he acknowledged that it didn’t maximize that early advantage.

“We came out of the chute really well; I thought we executed some really good plays early and got a jump on them,” said Surace.

“It was really what we wanted to do; we wanted them to have to throw. They had struggled throwing it down the field for most of the game until that last TD. We let them back in.”

A frustrated Surace pointed to some defensive lapses and misfortune as the undoing of the Tigers.

“We have to be in better position, we have to execute better, we have to tackle better; those things are really important,” said Surace, whose team was outrushed 260 yards to 201 on the afternoon.

“For the most part, our tackling has been terrific all year. We have done a really good job of it. When we do tackle and cause a fumble, they call the play back (an apparent strip and return for a touchdown by Anthony Gaffney). I don’t know what I have done wrong in my life but that is two weeks in a row that the game changes so that is what it is. Our guy is running down the field for a touchdown, it is what it is. Those things are supposed to even out but they didn’t.”

Surace was hoping for his seniors to have a better ending in their last home game.

“They come out and they work hard and we practice well and everything else,” said Surace, reflecting on the team’s Class of 2016.

“I wish we would execute a little better. It doesn’t have to be a lot better, just a little bit better. That is three losses we have had where the game is tied or we are ahead in the fourth quarter and that is frustrating.”

Seeing Barnes’ hard work pay off was a highlight of the game for Surace.

“We have seen him really emerge this year,” said Surace. “He was certainly coming off a devastating injury freshman year and his sophomore year was ruined with the same thing. Sometimes it takes time. He was a high school quarterback and with missing almost two full years to practice, it takes time to develop that skill. It was really nice to see him make those plays.”

While not using it as an excuse, Surace noted that injuries have hampered the Tigers this fall.

“We are really thinned out, you see the number of linebackers that were out and on the defensive line too,” said Surace.

“I think it was more because of that than anything else. Is that the reason we didn’t play as well, not completely but it is hard to take Luke Catarius out of the game and it is hard to take Nick Fekula out of the game. He was an outside backer the week before and now he has to play inside.”

While Princeton has the chance to be a spoiler in the season finale on Saturday as it plays at Dartmouth (8-1 overall and 5-1 Ivy), who is locked in a three-way tie for first with Harvard and Penn, Surace doesn’t view that as primary motivation.

“We are just going to play the next game,” said Surace. “People ask who is the team you hate the most and it is whoever we play that week. It is who you are preparing for, that is the biggest thing. We will go in tomorrow and be sick to our stomachs watching the film but by six we will be ready to go again. We are 5-4 so let’s win our sixth game. You are 3-0, you worry about being 4-0. Those things don’t really affect me at the end of the day. You either win the Ivy League title or you don’t, that is the main goal.”

Barnes, for his part, is hoping to end things on a high note with his classmates.

“We are all boys, we are all tight, and we are always together,” said Barnes.

“It is a great group of guys. It is tough to go out on our home field like this. We have one more chance against Dartmouth to make up for it and we will be together forever.”