ORANGE CRUSHED: Princeton University linebacker Liam Johnson races upfield as he made a 92-yard touchdown return of a fumble recovery to give Princeton a 19-7 lead over Penn last Saturday in its season finale. Johnson’s heroics went to naught as the Quakers rallied for a 20-19 win, dashing Princeton’s hopes for a share of the Ivy League title with Yale, which edged Harvard 19-14 earlier in the day. The Tigers ended the fall at 8-2 overall and 5-2 Ivy. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

As Princeton University linebacker Liam Johnson raced 92 yards down the sideline with a fumble recovery for a touchdown in the third quarter against visiting Penn last Saturday, it felt like a championship moment.

Johnson’s jaunt gave Princeton a 19-7 lead in the season finale with the Tigers needing a win to clinch a share of the Ivy League title with Yale, which edged Harvard 19-14 earlier in the day.

“It comes down to little things; running to the ball, we put our namesake on that,” said junior star Johnson. “Princeton defense runs to the ball, I was just the right man in the spot.”

But over the rest of the game, it was Penn who did the little things, rallying to a 20-19 win as it scored a TD with five seconds left to dash Princeton’s title hopes before a crowd of 6,028 at Princeton Stadium.

The outcome on Saturday left both Princeton and Penn at 8-2 overall and 5-2 Ivy with Yale earning the league crown outright as it ended up 8-2 overall and 6-1 Ivy.

“We lost the big play battle and that is what it comes down to,” said Johnson, who made 11 tackles in the defeat. “You can win the whole game but a blocked punt, an interception, letting down on those fourth downs for us on the defense. It comes down to those big plays. When you don’t win those big plays, you lose the game.”

On Penn’s late scoring march, which saw it drive 72 yards in 17 plays, the Quakers converted three fourth downs, including the winning score which came on a fourth and five when Aidan Sayin hit Trey Flowers for five-yard TD pass.

“We always talk about 2-minute periods, trying to keep them in bounds, the top-down mentality,” said Johnson. “We had a couple of stops, we stayed strong but it came down to the little things.”

While the Tigers didn’t surrender any chunk plays on that drive, it couldn’t get off the field as Penn methodically gained a few yards at a time.

“It was similar to the Yale game (a 24-20 loss on November 12); when you let up those three yard plays, those four yard plays, you let them to third down and short,” said Johnson. “It is just easier for the offense to convert on those downs so getting them to second and long is really important. We failed to do that at the end of the game.”

Princeton quarterback Blake Stenstrom summed up the bitter disappointment felt by the Tigers in the wake of the defeat.

“It is tough for sure; it is probably the toughest moment of my career so far,” said Stenstrom, who connected on 25-of-34 passes for 252 yards with a touchdown and an interception against Penn. “The biggest thing I think about is the seniors on the team, guys who have put their life on hold to come back for a fifth year.”

Being so close to the title made the setback hurt even more.

“You are one play away, one point away; it is really tough,” said Stenstrom. “It is crazy, it is football, it is a game of inches. It is a game of one play, it is a game of seconds. That is the brutal part of this game.”

In the early stages of the contest, it was Princeton who was making the big plays. The Tigers jumped out to a 6-0 lead with 10:24 left in the first quarter as Stenstrom hit Andrei Iosivas with a 23-yard TD pass. Princeton, though, missed the extra point, in the first pivotal special teams lapse of the day by the Tigers.

Early in the second quarter, the Tigers capped an 11-play, 80-yard scoring march as freshman running back Ryan Butler rushed four yards for a TD. Princeton failed on a two-point conversion attempt.

“We had chances to take a bigger lead early and we didn’t — it came back to haunt us,” said Princeton head coach Bob Surace.

In a second quarter sequence that will haunt Surace, the Tigers failed to convert on a fourth and one at the Penn 16-yard line on its next possession after the TD drive and later had a punt blocked which was returned for a touchdown as Penn narrowed the gap to 12-7 at halftime.

“They only had 45 yards at the time, the things that we didn’t get fixed — field goal and punt protection — came back to haunt us,” said Surace, reflecting on the blocked punt. “That is on us as coaches, we have got to be better at that. The players have to tighten up. We worked on it a lot and just didn’t get it fixed.”

In one of the toughest moments of his coaching career, Surace vehemently protested as he believed that Penn got off its final play after the play clock had expired.

“It was on zero, they missed a call, it happens,” said Surace, who drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, sprinting on the field to holler at the officials in the wake of the Quaker TD. “It is not the first one or the only one in the game. It just happened to be in an inopportune time.”

After getting off to an 8-0 start, ending the season with a pair of losses was hard to take.

“Any loss is tough, it sucks,” said a subdued Surace, wincing with his eyes closed at times as he fielded postgame questions. “The guys work really hard, they played hard. We were a little bruised at the end of the year and some young guys stepped up. It is Ivy League football, it is the way this league is. Week in, week out, the margin for error is really, really thin. We won some of those games early and weren’t able to do it at the end of the year.”

In his post mortem on the loss, Surace sought to put things in a larger perspective.

“Life is not fair, right. Disappointment is part of life and so are the celebrations,” said Surace. “You deal with disappointment, you deal with it the best you can. You show up tomorrow for a banquet as a team and you are brothers. One play, one way or another, doesn’t change who they are. It stinks because you want to get your name, your team on a banner. It didn’t happen, it is sad. It is more sad that some guys are going to leave us and you don’t get to coach them again.”

On a day when the program celebrated its seniors, Surace tipped his hat to the squad’s Class of 2023.

“They won 35 games, the guys that took the COVID year,” said Surace. “It is the most in Princeton history, tied with last year’s group. It will sting, losing the last two, but it is just an amazing group of people that was fun to coach.”

Looking ahead, Surace will seek to learn from the stinging defeat to Penn.

“After any game after a win or lose, you are always talking about corrections,” said Surace. “There are certainly things each week that you have to correct. There are plays from this game that we will take into the offseason.”

Johnson, for his part, vowed to take the disappointment from Saturday and use it as inspiration for the 2023 campaign.

“This is the best possible motivation to come back and keep it going,” asserted Johnson. “I think it is just keeping in the back of your head when you are doing those extra reps and when you are pushing yourself to the limit. I know I am going to come back as a different player and a lot of kids on this team are going to come back as different players.”