PENNED IN: Princeton University football player James Gales brings down a Penn player last Saturday. Senior defensive back Gales had an interception and six tackles to help the Tigers beat the Quakers 28-0. Princeton, which improved to 6-2 overall and 4-1 Ivy League with the win, plays at Yale (2-6 overall, 2-3 Ivy) on November 12. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Last fall, a blocked field goal on the last play of regulation helped doom the Princeton University football team to a 26-23 overtime loss at Penn.

When the rivals met at Princeton Stadium last Saturday, the Tigers turned the tables on the Quakers as Jesper Horsted blocked a punt on Penn’s fourth play of the game and Jeremiah Tyler scooped it up and rumbled into the end zone to give the Tigers a 6-0 lead.

In reflecting on his big play, Horsted saw it as setting a positive tone for the Tigers.

“Our sideline really lit up,” said Horsted. “We kicked the ball off to them and forced a stop and then got a touchdown without the offense even getting the ball. That is a good way to start a game.”

Building on the start, Princeton clicked in all phases of the game pulling away to a 28-0 win over Penn before a crowd of 7,367.

The triumph improved Princeton to 6-2 overall and 4-1 Ivy League, keeping the Tigers in the thick of the title race with the Quakers dropping to 5-3 overall and 4-1 Ivy as they saw their 10-game league winning streak snapped. Harvard, which sits atop the standings at 7-1 overall and 5-0 Ivy, plays at Penn on November 11.

Princeton head coach Bob Surace praised his team for its superb all-around effort.

“This is one of the most impressive wins, maybe the most impressive win since I have been here because that is a really good football team,” said a hoarse Surace with a smile.

“They are tops in the league or second in just about every category, they are a physical team, all of those things. The players executed a game plan, almost about as well as you could execute a game plan. Kudos to them and the work they put in and the work the assistant coaches put in to get that result.”

Princeton’s methodical execution was most in evidence when it started the second half with a scoring march of 80 yards in 15 plays that took 7:48. Mixing the run and pass to perfection, the Tigers scored on a four-yard pass from John Lovett to James Frusciante to extend their lead to 21-0.

“It went almost eight minutes, that drive to start the second half,” recalled Surace, whose team outgained Penn 407 yards to 324 in the victory.

“When good football is being executed, offense should beat defense, meaning you might only get four or five yards. Both teams were doing that from like the 20 to 30. We just had a few drives where we got all the way into the end zone. We stopped them on those fourth downs fortunately when they got in that fringe red zone.”

The Tiger defense put the pressure on the Quakers all afternoon, coming up with an interception and fumble on the way to recording their first shutout since the 19-0 win over Brown on October 13, 2012.

“The guys have really bought into the responsibilities,” said Surace. “We have to keep it going, this doesn’t just happen overnight. We start 0-0 every week. I just love how in tune they are with the game plan.”

Surace particularly loved the way the Tigers came up big on fourth downs, holding Penn to one of four conversions in those situations.

“I just felt that we were scrappy,” said Surace. “They love, just like we do, to execute these four and five yard plays and they have been doing it all year. We just got a few times where we got them to stop a drive where we fought, clutched, scratched, and clawed and kept them just close. It is a game of inches when two good teams play. We just got the little inches a little better than they did in that fringe red zone. Three times we got a score and their punter dropped a snap and we were able to block it, that is the difference.”

Senior cornerback James Gales, who got the Princeton interception, said the Tigers were determined to scrap for the shutout.

“We really wanted it; when we saw that there was five minutes on the clock, we came together, huddled up and we said we have to get this,” said Gales, reflecting on Princeton’s first shutout against Penn since a 21-0 win in 1978.

“We have to finish this game off right and when they started tempoing us and coming out and gaining yards, we were like let’s make a stand here and then lo and behold, they had the botched snap and Rohan (Hylton) dove on the ball and that was it. We went crazy, it was the best feeling.”

In Gales’ view, the Tigers’ ability to hold the fort on fourth down situations was the product of a group effort.

“We just had to keep our eyes right, the d-line got great push all game and the backers were playing downhill all game,” said the 5’10, 200-pound Gales, who now has interceptions in three straight games.

“We were just trying to make sure that nothing was getting behind us so for fourth down, we were just thinking, this is our stop. We make this stop, we get off the field so we ramped up our intensity a little bit. When the d-line got great push and the backers were able to come downhill clean, the defensive backs always kept our eyes right so we were able to get off the field.”

Leading the push in the trenches, junior defensive end Ty Desire was confident that the Tigers could stymie Penn’s high-powered attack.

“We knew the type of offense that they had, they had two guys (quarterback Alek Torgerson and receiver Justin Watson) being considered by most to be the best offensive players in the Ivy League,” said Desire, who had six tackles in the win, including one for a loss, and knocked down a fourth down pass in Princeton territory.

“We respected their offense and the way we showed that respect was coming out there and playing hard every play. From coach Surace to coach (Jim) Salgado to coach (Steve) Verbit and down the line, we had a great week of preparing.”

The one-two punch of Tigers quarterbacks Chad Kanoff (17-of-24 passing for 160 yards) and John Lovett (6-of-9 passing for 63 yards and a touchdown, 46 yards rushing and a touchdown, and 2 catches for 17 yards) made things hard on the Penn defense.

“It is fantastic; I think of Chad as more of a passer and John as more of a runner but I really don’t know who is throwing me the ball most of the time,” said Horsted, who made five catches for 37 yards on the day.

“I don’t even pay attention to it because the ball is there and it is coming in. We do associate John with the running but when Chad gets open space, he is just as capable as John. I think he had a big run today.”

Surace, for his part, knows his players need to maintain their attention to detail in order to stay in the title hunt, starting with their game at Yale (2-6 overall, 2-3 Ivy) on November 12.

“I was coaching in the NFL and all we had to do is win and we needed three other teams to lose,” said Surace, who served nine years as an assistant coach for the Cincinnati Bengals.

“It is the last week of the season, week 17, the three teams lose and we lost; that is the worst feeling in the world. You don’t have control of anything but taking care of your stuff. The players will celebrate and enjoy this one, the alumni will enjoy this one, I will enjoy this one for another hour or so but I will be in 7 a.m. tomorrow working on Yale. That is how you have to approach it. We have got to be honed in if we are going to be successful.”