BLAINE GAME: Princeton University quarterback Blaine McAllister fires a pass last Saturday against Howard. Making his first career start, McAllister passed for one touchdown and ran for another as Princeton topped the Bison 30-13. The Tigers, now 1-1, start their Ivy League campaign by playing at Columbia (1-1) on October 5. (Photo by Steven Wojtowicz)

By Bill Alden

For Blaine McAllister, being patient over the last four seasons was rewarded last Saturday as he made his first start at quarterback for the Princeton University football team.

Toiling on the Princeton junior varsity team in 2021 and 2022 and making one varsity appearance last fall, senior McAllister got the starting nod against visiting Howard with opening day starter Blaine Hipa sidelined by injury.

“I found out on Friday, I have been preparing for it all week in practice,” said McAllister. “I had been taking first team reps. To finally get that confirmation of starting was probably one of the most exciting moments of my life.”

McAllister got off to an exciting start Saturday as he connected with senior star receiver Luke Colella for a 37-yard touchdown pass as the Tigers jumped out to a 7-0 lead 1:46 into the contest.

“My first completion ever was that touchdown,” said a smiling McAllister, a 6’4, 215-pound native of Milton, Ga. “They jumped (offsides) so we had a free play and we know no matter what we do, even if I throw a pick, it doesn’t matter. Our goal on that is just to throw the ball down the field and hopefully one of our guys wins outside. Luke is my boy, we have been together for years. I throw the ball up to him and I know he was going to come down with it.”

That scoring strike set the tone as Princeton built a 20-0 halftime lead and held off a late Howard rally to prevail 30-13 before a crowd of 7,886 on hand at Princeton Stadium for the Tigers’ home opener.

After that auspicious start, McAllister did misfire as he completed just 2-of-13 passes for 46 yards in the first half.

“The passing the ball wasn’t what I wanted it to be in,” said McAllister. “I thought we were running the ball well. The O-line was controlling the line of scrimmage, doing a phenomenal job for us. They really brought that game home for us.”

While he struggled a bit through the air, McAllister excelled on the ground, rushing for a net of 50 yards, including a seven-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter.

“I think if you asked anyone at the start of the day today, I don’t think they would have said that I would have been a good runner,” said McAllister with a chuckle, acknowledging that he was running for his life at times. “It worked out well today. We will see what happens in the future. Hopefully I can keep using my legs a little bit.”

When Howard trimmed the Princeton lead to 23-13 with 8:34 left in the fourth quarter, McAllister engineered a seven-play, 75-yard scoring march as the Tigers went up 30-13 to close the deal.

“We all knew that we needed to respond,” said McAllister. “That drive was huge, to put the game away like that and take away some hope on the other side. We were all banding together. That was the feeling on the sideline, we were all locked in.”

The Tiger defense was locked in all day as it showed a lot of progress after a 35-20 loss to Lehigh a week earlier in the season opener.

“This week, we were running to the ball, making the tackles that we needed and making the plays that we needed,” said junior defensive back Tahj Owens. “Mason Armstead’s interception (that set up a field goal in the first quarter) was a very big momentum play. We were getting turnovers, tackles, and getting off the field.”

Owens made one of the big plays of the game, picking off a Howard pass on a two-point conversion attempt after the Bison made it a 23-13 game.

“I was thinking that it was going to be a pick play beforehand and it turned out to be so,” said 5’11, 205-pound Owens, a native of Chico Hills, Calif., who had three tackles in the win. “We had a press corner, he did a good job of holding the receiver up at the line so I really didn’t get picked off at all. I came free and was able to make a play on the ball.”

Overall, Owens liked the way the Tigers played on both sides of the ball as they bounced back from the loss to Lehigh.

“I feel like we knew had to make a stand there and make a statement with this game,” said Owens. “Everybody knew we can’t take our foot off the gas pedal in the game. I think that is why our offense and defense was able to finish off the game well.”

Princeton head coach Bob Surace concurred, seeing the improvement from week one to week two that he was looking for.

“I thought our discipline was terrific,” said Surace. “That was huge because in the first game we were sloppy. We had bad snaps, missed assignments, and we gave up a lot of big plays. I haven’t seen the stat sheet, but I don’t think we gave up a whole lot of big plays today. I thought our tackling was good. Their running backs are good, they put it on you.”

Although McAllister was a surprise starter, Surace sensed that he would rise to the occasion.

“Blaine executed really well,” said Surace of McAllister, who ended up competing 5 of 19 passes for 80 yards with no interceptions. “We compete during camp so our top three quarterbacks get a ton of reps. I wasn’t worried he wouldn’t be ready.”

Owens took away some of the worry late in the contest with his big play on the Howard two-point attempt.

“It is not a two-score game any more if they get that,” said Surace. “We make that play and now it is a 10-point game. Now we are in four down territory so Mark (offensive coordinator Mark Rosenbaum) can call the offense a little differently.”

The Princeton offense took over from there as running backs John Volker and Dareion Murphy found daylight with several big jaunts. Murphy scored the final TD of the day in a 22-yard sprint to end up with 40 yard rushing on eight carries. Volker, for his part, gained 88 yards on 12 carries.

“Our offensive line played really well,” said Surace. “I thought our running backs ran hard, yards were hard to come by against Howard (now 2-3). I thought we did a great job of opening up enough holes to get some good plays.”

With Princeton starting Ivy League action by playing at Columbia (1-1), Surace knows that the Tigers have to play even better next week to overcome the Lions.

“I told the team it is a new season,” said Surace. “You play these two games, knowing that we were going to be a little bit behind. We hope we can handle it. We got better. Now it is a whole other level, it is a whole other emotion.”

McAllister, for his part, believes that Princeton is primed to build on the effort against Howard as it gets into league play.

“Coach Surace always talks about the biggest jump that a team will make is from week one to week two,” said McAllister. “I felt like we made that jump; the biggest thing was that everyone was bought in focused and energized today. That is pretty exciting, I can’t wait for Columbia.”

McAllister certainly knows something about making things worth the wait.