Sept. 25, 2010
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Jordan Culbreath's two-yard touchdown run in the second overtime handed Lafayette its third loss this season by less than a touchdown. Princeton outdueled Lafayette 36-33 on Saturday night at Princeton Stadium.
To start the second overtime, Lafayette had the ball 1st-and-goal at the 10 after Mark Layton drew a pass interference penalty. On 3rd-and-goal at the nine, junior quarterback Ryan O'Neil threw a strike in the end zone to Layton who dropped the pass. Senior Davis Rodriguez came in to boot a 26-yarder (his fourth field goal of the game) to give Lafayette a 33-30 lead.
Princeton (1-1) took over at the 25 on what would be the final possession of the game. QB Tommy Wornham scrambled for 12 yards and was hit late out of bounds by Kyle Simmons, moving Princeton to the seven. Culbreath's five-yard run edged Princeton closer before his game-winning lunge up the gut ended the suspense. Culbreath finished with 11 carries for 61 yards while Wornham had nine carries for 49 yards.
Offensively for the Leopards (0-3), O'Neil was 24-for-36 for 283 yards with two touchdowns and an interception while Wornham was 23-of-43 for 214 with two TD's.
Early on, the Lafayette defense was forced to make plays when the offense turned over the ball deep in Leopard territory. With five minutes left in the first quarter, Weston Palmer picked off an O'Neil pass and gave Princeton the ball at the Lafayette 15-yard line. The resulting Princeton drive covered 10 yards, before the Tigers were forced to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Patrick Jacob.
The Leopards had no problem moving the ball on the ensuing drive and much of that real estate was gobbled up by tailback Alan Elder who carried eight times for 46 yards. The third of three O'Neil completions found Kyle Hayes for a 22-yard scoring catch and a 7-3 Lafayette lead with 11:16 left in the second quarter. The drive covered 78 yards on 12 plays over 6:14. Elder finished the game with 28 carries for 103 yards, his first career 100-yard rushing effort.
Princeton responded with its own lengthy drive, trapsing across 77 yards on 12 plays in just 3:49. Wornham hit Andrew Kerr for a four-yard score and a 10-7 lead. Wornham used a 12-yard pass to convert a 4th-and-8 on the Lafayette 33 to keep the drive alive.
Following a Lafayette stop and Princeton punt, Lafayette took over with fewer than four minutes left in the first half. The Leopards second play from scrimmage found Hayes all alone deep in the Princeton secondary. The reception covered 78 yards, and Lafayette led 14-10 with 3:04 left. Hayes finished the night with five catches for a career-high 136 yards.
The Maroon and White took the ball to start the second half, but a brief drive stalled and the Leopards were forced to punt. After Tom Kondash's kick, Princeton returner Roman Wilson missed the ball and Kyni Scott recovered. Lafayette's offensive efforts resumed at the Princeton 21 and a facemasking penalty, on which the Princeton defender ripped off Vaughn Hebron's helmet, aided the cause.
The Leopards used some smashmouth football to move the chains on the drive and it paid off. Hebron had six carries for 16 yards before he finally hit paydirt, and Lafayette took a 21-10 lead. It marked the third game this season that Lafayette held a double-digit lead.
Princeton responded with a touchdown of its own on a five-play, 70-yard scoring drive .Wornham connected with Matt Zimmerman for a three-yard score. Princeton needed just 1:23 drive it home following a 30-yard run by Culbreath and a 21-yard scamper by Wilson. Wornham's two-point conversion try was picked off by Mike Schmidlein.
The Lafayette offense and Rodriguez gave Lafayette a 24-16 lead, going 10 plays and 66 yards prior to Rodriguez's 27-yard field goal with 1:35 left in the third quarter.
It took Princeton 15 plays to cover 72 yards before the Tigers tied the game 24-24 on a five-yard scoring run by Wornham. Wornham hit Peacock for the two-point conversion to tie the game with 13 minutes left in regulation.
Rodriguez booted the go-ahead score with 5:22 left in the game. The 21-yard field goal followed a 16-play, 68-yard drive that took up 7:34.
Princeton used 14 plays and essentially ran out the clock before Jacob kicked a 24-yard game-tying field goal with 45 seconds left in regulation.
In the first overtime session, Jacob and Rodriguez connected for 39-and 35-yard field goals, respectively, to send the contest to a second overtime.
Defensively, Simmons led the way with 12 tackles followed by nine for Ben Eaton. For Princeton, Jon Oloffson had 16 tackles.
Lafayette returns to action on Oct. 2, hosting Harvard on Family Weekend.
NOTES:
Rodriguez is the first Leopard to kick four field goals since Jim Hodson had four on Sept. 8, 1990.
Freshman Pat Mputu took the start at tailback in place of the ailing Jerome Rudolph.
Ben Eaton served as the special teams' captains after blocking a punt in the Penn game
