Sept. 18, 2004

PRINCETON, N.J. (www.lafayette.edu) - Senior quarterback Matt Verbit completed 18-of-26 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns to lead Princeton to a 35-18 non-league victory over Lafayette on Saturday.

The loss drops Lafayette to 2-1 overall, while Princeton opens 1-0 for the first time since 1998. The Tigers have, however, won three of their past four home openers.

Princeton's offense proved from the outset that it was not intimidated by Lafayette's defense, which ranked second nationally entering the contest. The Tigers' opening drive stalled after they moved the ball 37 yards in seven plays, but Princeton scored on its next two possessions to take a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Following a Leopard three-and-out, Princeton moved 42 yards in four plays. On the first down from the 16, Greg Fields took a misdirection play around left end for the game's first score.

Lafayette moved to the Princeton 14 on the ensuing possession, but Brad Maurer's pass to Justin Lauver in the corner of the end zone was underthrown and intercepted by Abi Fadeyi.

On the second play following the interception, Verbit hit Clinton Wu for 41 yards over the middle to move the Tigers into Lafayette territory. On third-and-seven from the Lafayette 33, Verbit dumped a screen pass to Branden Benson, and a roughing the passer call on the play moved the ball to the 12. Two plays later, Verbit rolled left and hit Joel Mancl in the flat for a four-yard score to cap an eight-play, 80-yard march. Derek Javarone's point-after made it 14-0 just under two minutes into the second stanza.

The teams traded punts, with Princeton's traveling just five yards and setting the Leopard offense up at the Princeton 40. Maurer's one-yard touchdown run, in which he beat Zak Keasey to the right pylon, finished the 13-play drive. Third-down completions to Brandon Stanford for 10 yards and Joe Ort for 12, as well as a Maurer sneak on fourth-and-one from the six, kept the drive alive. A low snap on the PAT, however, forced Maurer to improvise, and his desperation toss into the end zone fell incomplete leaving the score 14-6.

Princeton made it 21-6 on the final play of the first half. The Tigers moved the ball to the four-yard line where, with eight seconds left, Verbit dropped to pass, moved to his left and finally headed upfield, diving across the goal line as the clock expired.

Wu, who caught seven balls for 108 yards in the first half for Princeton, was helped off the field with an apparent knee injury after hauling in a three-yard reception along the sideline late in the final drive of the half.

Princeton put the game away with a nine-play, 37-yard drive that culminated in a two-yard touchdown run by Jon Veach with 48 seconds left in the third quarter. Veach, who led the Tigers in rushing with 642 yards as a junior, carried eight times for 31 yards on the drive.

The Tigers tacked on another score on the first play of the fourth quarter. Verbit faked a reverse to Fields, then hit Eric Walz in stride on a post pattern as Walz crossed the goal line. The play covered 50 yards. Javarone's fifth PAT bumped the lead to 35-6 with 14:51 remaining.

Pat Davis came off the bench to direct a pair of touchdown drives in the final quarter.

Jonathan Hurt's first career touchdown, a two-yard run, with 12:05 remaining cut the margin to 35-12. The Leopards' two-point conversion attempt failed when Davis' pass fell incomplete. Hurt's run was set up by a 37-yard completion from Pat Davis to Joe Ort that moved the ball inside the 20.

Princeton turned the ball over on downs, and the Leopards took over on their own 30. A 39-yard completion to Travis Hutson and a 12-yard toss to Ort set up Hurt's second score, a three-yard run.

Ort was taken off the field on a stretcher following his 12-yard reception. He was alert and responsive to medical personnel on the field and taken to the hospital as a precautionary measue.

Davis finished 5-of-9 passing for 97 yards in a little over a quarter of action.

Lafayette is on the road again next weekend, visiting Atlantic 10 foe Richmond at 1 p.m.