STRONG START: Princeton University football player Stephen Carlson heads upfield last Saturday as Princeton hosted the University of San Diego in its season opener. Making his first career start, junior receiver Carlson came up big, making six catches for 94 yards and three touchdowns to help the Tigers prevail 27-17. Princeton plays at Lafayette on September 23. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Fireworks exploded over one side of Powers Field as the Princeton University football team ran on the field for its season opener last Saturday against visiting University of San Diego.

Minutes later, Princeton junior receiver Stephen Carlson helped ignite fireworks on the field for the Tigers.

With 6:58 left in the first quarter, Carlson, who was making his first career start, caught a nine-yard touchdown pass from Chad Kanoff as the Tigers took a 7-0 lead.

“After the first catch, it was like alright. I can really play with these guys,” said Carlson.

“We trust our guys. We know we are going to come out there and do better than the other team.”

Early in the second quarter, Carlson gathered in another touchdown catch as Princeton went up 14-0. After San Diego closed the gap to 20-17 midway through the fourth quarter, Carlson came through again, making his third TD catch of the game with 1:36 remaining in regulation as Princeton held for a 27-17 win over the Toreros before a crowd of 10,421.

For Carlson, stepping up in the starting role was sweet. “It feels good; I think the best feeling is just getting a win,” said Carlson, a 6’4, 225-pound native of Jamestown, N.Y. who entered the day with three career catches.

“I am just going to come out and give my best effort and hopefully it comes out with a win.

Carlson was at his best when it looked like the win might be slipping away for Princeton, making third down catches of 17 and 34 yards on the final drive before scoring the insurance TD.

“It was just ‘We are going to score,’ that is all coach was saying, ‘we are going to score on this drive,’” said Carlson, reflecting on the 9-play, 95-yard scoring march.

“We knew in our minds that we were going to go down the field and score and take it to them. On any man-to-man coverage, we feel we are going to be able to win against anybody.”

After making just two catches in his sophomore season, Carlson worked hard to put himself in a position to excel.

“I think just strength in general; I have become a lot more physical. I pride myself on that,” said Carlson, who became the first Princeton receiver to make three touchdown receptions in a game since Michael Lerch ’92 caught four against Brown during the 1991 season. “My speed has gotten a little better, I still need to work a little on that.”

Despite that progress, Carlson’s performance on Saturday far exceeded his expectations coming into the game.

“I was envisioning a couple of plays,” said Carlson, who ended up with six catches for 94 yards. “Chad really put the ball on the money today.”

Kanoff was on the money all day, completing 32-of-43 passes for a career-high 352 yards.

“All the receivers knew it coming into camp, this is going to be a year that Chad would really shine,” said Carlson.

“He was putting in work all summer and then during camp, he was the leader, commanding the offense. He was at another level he had never had before.”

Kanoff, for his part, who moved past both Jeff Terrell ’07 and Jason Garrett ’89 during the game to stand third all-time at Princeton with 4,388 career passing yards, enjoyed himself despite some errant plays.

“That was fun,” said a smiling Kanoff. “I made too many mistakes, I missed too many throws.”

Having taken a backseat to classmate John Lovett in red zone situations last fall, Kanoff has been given the chance to finish drives this season with Lovett injured and seen standing on the sidelines Saturday with his left arm in a sling.

“Today, I was part of the answer and that was great,” said Kanoff. “You play quarterback and you want the ball in your hands every play. I did today and it was great to get a win.”

Princeton head coach Bob Surace wasn’t surprised to see Kanoff produce a great performance.

“You trust your eye and every year Chad has made a big jump in his development and personal growth,” said Surace, whose team has now won five straight games, stretching back to last fall.

“To do this as a fifth senior, he has the confidence and he has the whole offense down. When somebody is a little misaligned, he gets them right. He is putting the ball in these tight zones to big receivers and they are coming up with the ball.”

While Carlson came up big, he was just one of the Tiger recovers who starred on the day. Junior Jesper Horsted made 12 catches for 108 yards, Tiger Bech had three grabs for 62 yards and 35 yards on kick returns with Alex Parkinson coming up with one catch for 26 yards.

“Our coaches were like Stephen has come such a long way to the point where there is a trust level with the receivers,” said Surace. “Alex had that coach and run and Tiger Bech helped with his special teams play.”

Featuring a number of new faces, the Tiger defense stiffened as the day went on, holding the Toreros to 172 yards and seven points over the last 30 minutes of the contest.

“We got a better pass rush, I thought, in the second half,” said Surace. “There was that quality presence, with the Kurt Holubas and the Chance Melancons. I thought Mark Fossati played one heck of a game. They were all over the field, I was really happy with that.”

Noting that San Diego won the Pioneer Football League title in 2016 and featured a battle-tested roster, Surace was happy to see Princeton overcome the Toreros.

“I don’t want to play games that don’t matter and you want to get a test right away,” said Surace, whose team plays at Lafayette (0-3) on September 23.

“I knew we were young on defense and they were experienced on offense. This was going to give us an amazing opportunity to get ourselves ready for the rest of the year.”

While Carlson was excited by the opening day win, he realizes Princeton faces a lot of big tests ahead.

“We wanted to end this week 1-0, which is what we did,” said Carlson. “Now it is just a matter of improving, every week we want to come out and be better. This was a good starting point but we know we have a lot of work to do.”