HIP HIP HOORAY: Princeton University quarterback Blaine Hipa gets ready to unload the ball last Friday night against Brown. Junior Hipa completed 15-of-26 passes for 200 yards and one touchdown and rushed for another score as Princeton held off a late rally by the Bears to prevail 29-17 and improve to 2-3 overall and 1-1 Ivy League. The Tigers play at Harvard (4-1 overall, 1-1 Ivy) on October 26. (Photo by Sideline Photos, provided courtesy of Princeton Athletics)

By Bill Alden

Blaine Hipa struggled in his first three career starts this fall for the Princeton University football team, completing 46 percent of his passes with nine interceptions and three touchdowns as the Tigers lost all three games.

As Princeton hosted Brown last Friday night, Hipa was primed to put that rough stretch behind him.

“I definitely could have played a lot better in the first three games I played in,” said junior Hipa, a 6’2, 195-pound native of Kailua, Hawaii. “As an offense we were just inconsistent, turning the ball over too much. We were super excited to get in here against a really good Brown team that beat Harvard. We are going to fight our hearts out.”

In his fourth start, Hipa showed a lot of heart, completing 15 of 26 passes for 200 yards and one touchdown and rushing for another as Princeton held off a late Brown rally to prevail 29-17 before crowd of 4,173 at Princeton Stadium to improve to 2-3 overall and 1-1 Ivy League.

Getting his first career win as a starter was an exciting breakthrough for Hipa.

“It means everything; I love this team, I love my teammates,” said Hipa. “We work really hard, we have come a long way. This is not the end. We are going to keep going, we are going to keep pushing and getting better and finish this season off.”

The Tigers got going early against the Bears, putting together a pair of scoring marches in the first quarter to jump out to a 12-0 lead. Princeton took the opening kickoff and got on the board as John Volker raced 66 years up the middle on a fourth down and one to score a touchdown. Senior Volker added a second TD later in the quarter with a seven-yard jaunt to culminate an 11-play, 90-yard drive. “That was huge, we have struggled to score early on overall,” said Hipa, reflecting on the early scores. “Starting the game off like that is a real confidence boost, it is what we need as an offense.”

In the second quarter, Hipa helped Princeton cash in an interception by Torian Roberts, sprinting in for a 13-yard touchdown run as the Tigers went up 19-0.

“That play broke down a little bit, they had a weird bracket coverage going on both sides of the field,” said Hipa. “Coach told me to use your legs when needed. That was an opportunity for me to use them. Thankfully I got into the end zone carrying the ball.”

Later in the quarter, Hipa came up big with his arm, hitting senior star receiver Luke Colella for a 60-yard bomb to set up a 28-yard field goal by Sam Mastic as Princeton built a 22-7 halftime lead.

“We had a game plan to attack down the middle of the field,” said Hipa. “We knew we had a one-on-one matchup with Luke right there. I dropped back and I just delivered the ball to a really good receiver and he made a play down the field.”

In the second half, the Brown offense made some plays as the Bears scored 10 unanswered points to trim the Princeton lead to 22-17 midway through the fourth quarter. Hipa threw an interception early in the fourth quarter which led to the Brown field goal that make it a five-point game.

But with the game hanging in the balance, Hipa engineered an 8-play, 73-yard scoring march that culminated with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Colella.

“We know it is not going to be easy, this is team football,” said Hipa. “It is unfortunate that I turned the ball over. It is never over until the clock hits zero. We decided we are going to go finish, we are not going to roll over. We are going to finish the football game and we did that tonight.”

Hipa’s TD pass finished off the Bears. “It is a base call we worked on all week,” said Hipa. “I just kicked it out to Luke. We let our playmakers go and make a play.”

In reflecting on his progress, Hipa attributed it to better decision-making with the ball.

“It was just being smart with the ball, using my legs when I need to be keeping the ball in our hands and delivering the ball well,” said Hipa, who did have two interceptions in the win. “I missed some throws this week, I know I can make. I have made them the whole week. That was a big thing, just stay back there confident and know that I worked on all year and my whole life for this.”

Princeton head coach Bob Surace saw the early drives against Brown as a big confidence builder for his squad.

“Oh my goodness, we haven’t finished drives against some good defenses,” said Surace. “Brown has a really good defense. To finish those was great.

Volker’s first TD run helped set the tone for the Tigers. “I thought we had the first down on the play before and they said fourth down,” said Surace. “I was ‘OK, we need about that much (holding his finger apart), so go for it.’ It wasn’t a long yard. That was a huge play.”

The Tiger defense made several big plays, forcing five turnovers as Roberts, Tyler Morris and Nasir Hill each had interceptions while Tahj Owens recovered two fumbles.

“Brown stresses you every single play, you hold your breath every play and to our guys’ credit, we were in the right responsibilities almost every single time,” said Surace, noting that junior linebacker Marco Scarano was all over the field as he made a game-high 14 tackles.

“It is also to coach [Steve] Verbit’s credit because we spent an entire 30-minute period just lining up and making calls because we knew that they were going to do tempo. Our guys were phenomenal making calls.”

With the Tigers under stress, the fourth quarter TD march closed the deal.

“It was so much fun to finish that drive because the whole third and fourth quarter, we didn’t finish drives, whether it was a turnover or a miss,” said Surace. “It was a four-minute drill where they have everybody in trying to stop it. Ethan Clark ran hard.”

Surace liked the poise Hipa displayed on his TD pass. “It is a high percentage completion,” said Surace. “In the worst case, we want to make an easy timeout, kick a field goal and make it an eight-point lead.”

Although the victory over Brown was encouraging, Surace noted that the Tigers still have plenty of things to clean up.

“We have got to make corrections, we were better than we were last weekend (a 34-7 loss to Mercer) and certainly better than Columbia (a 34-17 defeat on October 5),” said Surace. “But we are not good enough if we are going to have false starts or offsides. It was six penalties, but they were controllable. It wasn’t a guy holding, it was false starts; you cannot have those.”

With Princeton heading up to New England this Saturday to play at Harvard (4-1 overall, 1-1 Ivy), the Tigers will be looking to extend a six-game winning streak against the Crimson.

“Every year is new, they have a new coach (former Princeton offensive coordinator Andrew Aurich),” said Surace. “They always have good players there. Andy is outstanding, just like James (Brown head coach James Perry and former Princeton offensive coordinator). It is back-to-back weeks going against a guy who was with us who I just admire.”

Hipa is confident that Princeton will keep going in the right direction.

“We are going to build on this win,” said Hipa. “Harvard is a good team. We are going to put our heads down and work really hard this week and go out there Saturday up north and keep the momentum going and win another game.”