Often, one game is a microcosm of an entire season. At Princeton, a year filled with heartbreaking losses and explosive wins ended with the former, highlighting both sides of the Quakers’ always flipping coin.
On a breezy Saturday afternoon, Penn football fell to Princeton 20-17 to end the season for the second year in a row, leaving the Quakers (4-6, 2-5 Ivy) tied for last in the Ivy League.
Looking to get off to a roaring start, the Quakers did just the opposite. On the first play from scrimmage, Princeton (3-7, 2-5) running back John Volker gashed the Quakers with a 75-yard touchdown run.
“It was disappointing,” coach Ray Priore said. “Our kids came out, and that first play, their kid was out.”
With that electric play to start the game, Princeton had all the momentum. In contrast, Penn’s first drive was a nightmare. Backed up after a botched kickoff return by senior wide receiver Julien Stokes, Penn started inside the five-yard line. As a sign of things to come, the Tigers sacked junior quarterback Liam O’Brien mere feet in front of the goal line.
Despite the tide turning in their favor, the Tigers were unable to sustain that momentum. In fact, both teams would go on an offensive drought that spanned much of the first quarter. With no championship up for grabs for either team, both teams took an aggressive approach to the game — the Quakers kept the offense on the field for fourth downs twice on their final drive of the quarter.
“Well, again where we were in field position on the field,” Priore said. “You’re trying to give any sort of chance to move down the field.”
These attempts all paid off, as Penn went two for two and finished the first quarter with a touchdown pass to Stokes as the clock hit zero.
Senior defensive back Shiloh Means broke up a fourth-down pass attempt by Princeton on the ensuing drive, setting the Quakers up with a short field. While sophomore running back Malachi Hosley brought the Red and Blue inside the 10, Penn couldn’t finish the drive in the end zone and kicked a field goal to make the score 10-7.
The blow-for-blow nature of this game meant that Princeton was going to respond. The Tigers milked the clock down under the two-minute warning to kick a field goal, but Penn wasn’t content with going into the half with a tie game. Thanks to a completion to junior wide receiver Jared Richardson and another run by Hosley, O’Brien was able to find junior wide receiver Bisi Owens in the end zone for six.
Coming out of the locker room, Penn lost all the momentum it entered the break with. A miscue on a snap led to a punt on its first drive, and a fumble by sophomore running back Jamal Bing Jr. set up on the second set Princeton up for a field goal. On the following drive, O’Brien was stripped at the Quaker 10-yard line for an easy scoop and score for Princeton’s defensive lineman Caden Wright.
“It just seemed like every time we had a play, we came up with some sort of mistake,” Priore said. “We had some sort of procedure penalty, holding penalty, illegal man downfield penalty, and we did not do that play.”
After another punt, the Red and Blue were on the ropes, waiting for one last knockout blow to finish their season, when Means picked off a deep ball to give some life to the Quakers. Down by three heading into the fourth quarter, O’Brien’s shot to the end zone was intercepted, again turning the tide against the Quakers.
On the ensuing drive, Penn was met with a fourth and 1 and again kept punter Albert Jang off the field. For the first time all game, the Red and Blue failed to convert. Means once again came to the rescue, nabbing his second interception of the game on a third-down pass to the sideline by the Tigers.
“I had to have fun today,” Means said. “I really feel like I did. I wasn’t in my head, just playing ball … obviously I wish we could have won, but I’ve come to understand over my years here, the game owes you nothing.”
With five minutes left in the game, O’Brien looked to lift the Quakers to an emphatic finish. Instead, after a quarterback scramble, Princeton linebacker Jalen Jones stripped the ball from O’Brien’s hands, delivering the final heartbreaking blow for the Red and Blue.
Although the game’s result was not the end that the Quakers hoped for, they persevered through a season which saw their starting quarterback go down with an injury midway through the year. Not all things may have fairy-tale endings, but the Quakers can feel proud of their fight.
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