Princeton eliminated from Ivy title race
Princeton >> It won’t make the coaches or players feel any better now that Princeton is officially eliminated from the Ivy League title race, but the this Tigers team may be the unluckiest in reason memory.
Zane Dudek’s touchdown run early in the fourth quarter rallied Yale from a 17-point deficit and the visitor’s survived a career day from Princeton quarterback Chad Kanoff to win, 35-31, and remain in sole possession of first place on Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers (5-4, 2-4) dropped their third straight contest and have lost four games by a combined 12 points.
“There is no woe is me,” coach Bob Surace said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to fight our tails off and play an unbelievable game against Dartmouth (next week). Whoever is in there — young guys veteran guys — I know they are going to come together and fight.
“The amazing thing is most teams in our situation are getting blown out. We just can’t find that one play, that one call, or whatever it is to get that
Yale 0 14 14 7—35 Princeton 7 17 7 0—31 First quarter PRIN —
Horsted 88 pass from Kanoff (Rice kick), 4:24.
Second quarter PRIN —
Carlson 18 pass from Kanoff (Rice kick), 8:02.
Dudek 47 run (Galland kick),
YALE —
7:22.
PRIN — PRIN —
FG Rice 21, 3:07.
Bech 58 pass from Kanoff (Rice kick), 1:51.
Graham 58 pass from Rawlings (Galland kick), 1:22.
YALE — Third quarter YALE —
Drwal 33 pass from Rawlings (Galland kick), 12:08.
Dudek 1 run (Galland kick), 3:58. Horsted 12 pass from Kanof (Rice kick), 1:53.
YALE — PRIN — Fourth quarter YALE —
Dudek 4 run (Galland kick), 12:14. YALE PRIN 24 19 45-209 20-73 304 454 26-34-0 23-41-1 74 158 5-38.4 4-33.5 1-0 1-1 4-39 2-24 40:05 19:55 First downs Rushes yds Passing Comp-Att-Int Return yards Punts-Avg. Fumbles-lost Penalty-yards Time of poss.
Rushing —
Yale, Z. Dudek 35-180, M. Rouse II 2-26, K. Rawlings 6-7. Princeton, C. Volker 9-29, C. Eaddy 5-28, R. Quigley 4-12, C. Kanoff 2-4.
Yale, K. Rawlings 26-34-0-304. Princeton, C. Kanoff 23-41-1-454.
Yale, J. Graham 2-87, C. Williams-Lopez 11-73, R. Drwal 2-66, Z. Dudek 6-32, J. Shohfi 3-25, M. Siragusa Jr. 1-13, C. Furey 1-8. Princeton, T. Bech 6-175, J. Horsted 6-128, S. Carlson 4-74, G. Adomitis 3-48, C. Volker 1-16, R. Quigley 3-13.
Passing — Receiving —
good feeling again. We’re going to fight like heck to get it again this week.”
Kanoff continued his assault on the program’s record book. The senior completed 23-of-41 passes for a careerhigh 454 yards and four touchdowns.
His 26 touchdown passes are now a single-season record, surpassing the mark of 25 set by Doug Butler (1983) and Quinn Epperly (2013).
Kanoff needs 225 yard in next Saturday’s finale at Dartmouth to match Butler’s alltime record of 7,291 career yards.
“The kid is so gutsy,” Surace said. “He can barely walk and he’s out there throwing for (454 yards) and we probably dropped 60 or 70 yards worth of passes.”
Kanoff connected with his favorite target Jesper Horsted on scores of 88 and 12 yards. The 88 yard catch-and-run was the fifth longest touchdown pass in program history, while the 12 yard score gave Horsted a single-season record 12 receiving touchdowns.
The Tigers led 31-28 with 1:53 left in the third on the second Kanoff-to-Horsted touchdown, but the Bulldogs (8-1, 5-1) responded with a nineplay, 80-yard drive capped off by Dudek’s four-yard run.
The Ivy League’s leading rusher at 111.1 yards per game, Dudek carried 35 times for 180 yards and three touchdowns.
Quarterback Kurt Rawlings completed 26-of-34 passes for 304 yards and two touchdowns. Yale scored 21 straight points after Princeton went up 24-7 to take a 28-24 lead on Dudek’s second rushing touchdown.
The two teams combined for 1,040 yards of offense.
The Tigers had the ball with 2:40 remaining at their own 24 and Kanoff started the drive by hitting Tiger Bech (6 for 175) on a 31-yard pass to the Yale 45, but on third-and-nine Kanoff tried to scramble up the middle and was stopped for a 1-yard gain. “They play a lot of single-high (safety) man all game and then in 2-minute they go to 2-man,” Surace said. “(Kanoff) obviously thought he saw an opening there (to run) and was going to take it in there. I didn’t think there was a rush on that play that would have made him get out of the pocket.”
On fourth down, he was pressured and intercepted by Foye Oluokun.
Yale can win the Ivy title outright with a victory over rival Harvard.
Princeton, meanwhile, is left with a result that didn’t match the effort.
“I couldn’t be more proud of how they did,” Surace said. “I’m standing there like ‘Holy Cow!’ When you’re playing as hard as we are, you have to be a little more tight, but that was one of the great efforts against a (veteran) team.”