RUNNING INTO TROUBLE: Princeton University running back John Volker races upfield in a 2021 game. Last Saturday against visiting Bryant, junior star Volker rushed for a career-high 149 yards, his first 100-yard game for the Tigers, and one touchdown, but it wasn’t enough as Princeton squandered a late lead in falling 16-13 to the Bulldogs in overtime. The Tigers, now 1-1, host Columbia (1-1) in their Ivy League opener on September 29 under the lights. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

With John Volker rumbling through the rain and wind last Saturday afternoon, the Princeton University football team built a 13-3 lead early in the fourth quarter against Bryant in a soggy Princeton Stadium.

Junior running back Volker ran for a 49-yard touchdown in the second quarter and went over 100 yards rushing for the first time in his career as Princeton appeared on the verge of going 2-0.

“I saw Jalen Travis get a really good block there, I was just following him,” said Volker, reflecting on his TD jaunt late in the second quarter as the Tigers went ahead 6-0. “I made a good read off of his block and then just sprinted to the end zone.”

Having gained 91 yards in a 23-12 season-opening win over San Diego on September 16, Volker was finding a groove.

“I think a lot of it is credit to our offensive line,” said Volker. “It is really easy when you have a 6-foot-wide hole that you are running through. I am really excited about our run game.”

But last Saturday, it was Bryant that enjoyed an exciting finish. After Dareion Murphy scored a touchdown with 11:37 left in regulation as the Tigers went up 13-3, the Bulldogs went on a scoring march of their own. Driving 65 yards in 11 plays, Bryant narrowed the gap to 13-10 with 6:37 left in the fourth quarter after an 11-yard TD pass from Zevi Eckhaus to Konor Lathrop.

The Bulldogs knotted the game at 13-13 on a 38-yard field goal by Ethan Gettman with 1:37 remaining in regulation for force overtime. In OT, the Bulldogs had the first possession and went ahead 16-13 on a 37-yard field goal by Gettman. Princeton got the ball and Volker rushed for nine yards on two carries. But the Tigers could get no further as quarterback Blake Stenstrom was stopped on two straight QB sneaks for no gain and Princeton ended up losing 16-13 before a drenched crowd of 4,004 at Princeton Stadium.

Princeton senior linebacker and co-captain Liam Johnson didn’t mince words as he assessed the disappointing defeat.

“We just got outplayed,” said Johnson, who had nine tackles and a sack on the day. “It is important to really recognize what we did wrong and come back better from it. That is what losses are — they just teach you lessons.”

The loss snapped a 17-game non-conference winning streak for the Tigers, which may have been the only silver lining on a miserable day.

“In the Ivy League, every game is a championship game,” said Johnson. “So you would rather lose and learn those lessons in a non-league game where it doesn’t matter as much but losing always stinks.”

Princeton head coach Bob Surace realized that inclement weather was going to change the complexion of the contest.

“I knew when we saw the weather conditions it would be a tough offensive game,” said Surace, noting that the game was moved up to  noon from its original starting time of 3 p.m. “You have got to do a good job with ball security. I think we had a couple where we cost ourselves a little bit with that piece. It was hard to sustain drives, especially when either team was starting at the 10 or 15. On the first drive of the second half, we did a really good job of getting to a certain point but one little error hurt us. At the end of the game, we complete a third and whatever and there is a holding call. Any error just really impacted the game.”

The Tigers had a chance to win the game in overtime but fell inches short of keeping their possession going.

“I thought we could get push, it is a hard play to practice,” said Surace of the “tush push” play reminiscent of the Philadelphia Eagles that they ran with Stenstrom. “I don’t think we got it. We did consider doing something else (on fourth down). We only needed a couple of inches there. I don’t know if he (Stenstrom) got the snap completely; we will have to see that piece.”

Surace liked the push Princeton got from Volker as ended up running for a career-high 149 yards on 18 carries.

“He is really finishing the runs well and doing a good job with that,” said Surace. “I felt last year, he had a great camp and then got banged up in the opener. He tried to come back and was just never healthy and had to shut it down.”

Volker, for his part, worked hard to get back to full health.

“The entire offseason I was really making an emphasis that I want to stay healthy,” said Volker. “I rehabbed my body really well. I am feeling great, it is paying off.”

Getting tips from his older brother, Charlie ’19, a former Princeton star running back who rushed for 1,849 yards and 32 touchdowns in his Princeton career, has been paying off for Volker.

“A lot of people think that I have got to be better than my brother and what not,” said Volker. “He is such an amazing resource to have — it is never like I want to be better than him. I am just using advice from him, he has helped me out. It is a lot of mental stuff like how to take care of stress but also more specific football stuff, all types of stuff.”

In reflecting on the loss to Bryant, Surace credited the defense with handling its business.

“We had some plus field positions with the turnovers and we held them to a field goal at the end,” said Surace, who got a game-high 15 tackles from Ozzie Nicholas. “We almost pushed them out of field goal range in overtime. We just missed, we were so close on a couple of things. I  do think we are doing a good job with how we are using the linebackers — Ozzie, Will [Perez], Liam [Johnson], and Marco [Scarano] — those guys did a really good job. There were probably one or two missed tackles, but we tackled really well.”

While Johnson was disappointed by the result, he was proud of how the linebacking unit performed.

“It is a blessing that Will has come back this year, we just move very well together,” said Johnson. “We just love watching film together and feeding off of each other on big plays and stuff. Those guys are the best. Ozzie just took what he gets — he was the best player on the field.”

Looking ahead to starting the Ivy campaign by hosting Columbia (1-1) this Friday night under the lights, Johnson is confident that the Tigers will learn from Saturday to produce a big effort against the Lions.

“We will just focus on watching the film tomorrow and taking each day day-by-day,” said Johnson. “You can’t really look at the opponent, you have to really learn from the loss.”

As the Tigers gird for the clash against Columbia, which is coming off a 30-0 win over Georgetown, Surace will be imploring his players to be more meticulous this week.

“I told them in the locker room that when there are things like this with the conditions, it is the detail that is important,” said Surace. “We are not the oldest team; you probably have to go back a while for when we have been this inexperienced. The level of detail has to be even higher. It is little things that we have to work on. We have an Ivy League game this week and we are going to have to come out with a lot of energy and play well.”