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Princeton Football Falls 27-24 in 2OT to Yale As It Suffers Another Last-Play Heartbreaker
By Bill Alden
While Princeton and Yale have played each other in football 126 times, few installments of their storied rivalry will match last Saturday's epic battle.
In the aftermath of Yale's come-from-behind 27-24 double overtime win over the Tigers before a season-high crowd of 16,369 at Princeton Stadium, both teams were driven to invoke Winston Churchill's famous admonition on persistence, albeit for different reasons.
"Pretty unbelievable," said a jubilant Yale head coach Jack Siedlecki as he contemplated a day in which his 6-3 (4-2 Ivy) team came back from a 17-3 halftime deficit and had marched 92 yards in the final 1:03 of regulation to force overtime. "We always talk about the never, never, never quit and believing in each other. This game had it all."
A glum Princeton head coach Roger Hughes quoted the words of Churchill as he contemplated how to keep his team inspired as it heads into the last week of a season that has seen it lose to Columbia, Harvard, and now Yale on the last play of the game.
"As Churchill said in his famous graduation speech, never, never, never give up, that's what you have to have in this sport," maintained Hughes in a slightly hoarse voice after his team fell to 2-7 overall and 2-4 in Ivy League play. "It's an emotional and violent sport. You have to bring your A-game and you have to work very, very hard to get yourself prepared to do that."
The Tigers had their A-game going for much of the afternoon. Princeton started the contest by taking the kickoff and marching 73 yards in 10 plays, scoring on a 20-yard touchdown gallop by Jon Veach.
After the teams traded field goals in the second quarter, the Tigers struck paydirt again as Matt Verbit found B.J. Szymanski for a 29-yard touchdown pass that gave Princeton a 17-3 edge at the half.
The tide started to turn when Yale put together a clinical 17-play, 97-yard drive that culminated in an 8-yard scoring strike from Alvan Cowan to Ron Benigno. The drive lasted 7:37 and made it clear that the Bulldogs weren't going down without a fight.
Late in the fourth, Princeton appeared to have clinched the game when Verbit scampered for a first down on a fourth and one at the Yale 23. The run was called back due to a holding penalty and Yale eventually got the ball at its own eight, trailing 17-10 with 1:03 remaining.
Playing pitch and catch down the field, Yale made it to the Princeton 22 with :07 remaining and time left for only one play. The Bulldogs made that play count as Cowan lofted a fade to the end zone that was gathered in by Chandler Henley for the game-tying score.
Princeton started overtime with a bang as Verbit hit Veach for a 25-yard touchdown pass on the opening play of the extra session. Yale answered with a touchdown of its own as Cowan hit fullback Alex Flaherty for a 3-yard score.
The Bulldogs added a field goal and then Princeton took over looking to go for the jugular. Verbit hit Szymanski on a slant at the 10 and as the wideout struggled to gain extra yards, the Bulldogs forced a fumble which they pounced on to clinch the win.
There was no use hiding the pain of losing in such a manner to an archrival. "Obviously, we're hugely disappointed," said Hughes, whose club outgained Yale 442 yards to 364, getting a 130-yard rushing day from Veach and 265 yards in the air from Verbit.
"I thought we did the things we needed to do to win the game when you're playing a good team like Yale. They made the plays when the game was on the line and we didn't. I thought you can take 59 minutes of that game and our defense played outstandingly against the No. 2 team in the country in total offense."
Senior free safety Blake Perry sensed no let up in the Tiger defense as Yale was putting together its dramatic rally. "I don't think that they really switched anything, we just didn't make the plays when we needed to," said Perry, who was involved in a team-high 12 tackles on the day.
"What we try to do is to play every down like it's our last snap. We always feel we have momentum on our side. We always believe in each other."
Hughes believes his club will maintain that effort as it looks to end its season with a win when it travels to Dartmouth this Saturday. "This team has been outstanding in putting things behind them – good or bad – and coming out with a great work ethic and getting themselves prepared to go," said Hughes.
"So I expect us to play very well next week. We will continue to work hard. We have a game left and it's as important to us if we were 9-0 or 0-9."
In the midst of the grim post-game atmosphere, Veach sounded a note of optimism as he looked ahead to the finale and next season. "You look at our games and we're one play away," asserted Veach, a junior from Mt. Carmel, Pa. who has rushed for 600 yards and has scored nine touchdowns.
"You take one play the other way in Columbia, Harvard, and Yale and we have one loss in the league and we're battling for a title. I think we should have confidence. We know we can beat every other team, we're just a step away."
Taking that step, however, will require the Tigers to show a persistence that would make Churchill proud.
