Late surge propels Bulldogs by Tigers, 38-7

Princeton, NJ - The Citadel Bulldogs (1-1) took a 10-7 lead over the Princeton Tigers (0-1) with 2:58 remaining in the first half on a 12-yard pass from Bart Blanchard to TE Alex Sellars, and never looked back.  However, a missed field goal and a blocked field goal by The Citadel sandwiched the next Bulldog score with 5:07 remaining. They put the Tigers away with the help of two INTs in the final period to pull away from the Ivy Leaguers, 38-7.  It was a beautiful, fall, football day in Princeton enjoyed by 7,885 fan at Princeton Stadium in what is truly a beautiful venue to watch "small school" football.  The Princeton band toned down their typical, sarcasm-laden halftime monologue to somewhat appease the feathers they ruffled down at The Citadel last year.  Prior to the game, they honored the highest-ranking Army officer among all Princeton alum in the late General John R. Guthrie, class of 1942, who passed away on May 25, 2009.  He graduated from Princeton's ROTC program and saw combat in Korea.  He served as project officer for the launch of Explorer 1, the first successful US satellite according to Princeton Athletic News, the official game program of Tiger football.  Not only was he a Princeton football season-ticket holder since 1981, one fan pointed out that his son, Kevin, was an All-Ivy League WR for the Tigers in 1984.  For CFF, it was our 24th PU game, and the thirteenth time we saw the Black and Orange go down.  Outside of Ivy League and Patriot League competition, we've now seen the Tigers go 0-6 against teams from outside those two conferences.

    The Tigers drove 42 yards on their second possession of the game culminating in a TD pass from Tommy Wornham to a diving Jeb Heavenrich who caught the deflection from a diving Andrew Kerr to take a 7-0 lead in the first period.  The Citadel responded with a scoring drive of their own on Sam Keeler's 40-yard FG. 

    The teams played basically even for the rest of the half with the Tigers taking over on downs at their own two after the Bulldogs had a first-and-goal at the four.  With 2:28 left in the half, Bart Blanchard (16-26-0, 194 yards, 1 TD) connected with Sellars for the visitors' first TD of the day, 10-7.  The half ended that way, and the Princeton band typically silly stuff including a game of "capture the flag", where the announcer pointed out that the blue flag was on the north end of the stadium and the gray in the South.  The game was won by the Blue as one of very few if not the only African-American musicians cart-wheeled down field to win the "game".  We don't think it's The Citadel that's got a problem.  In the second half, Princeton's offense did.  So did Bulldog WR Scott Harward - early in the game any way.

    The first Citadel drive died as probably the fourth drop of the day went through the aforementioned Harward's hands.  Princeton went to the no-huddle and moved the ball into field goal position, but Ben Bologna's attempt for a 31-yarder hit the upright and caromed back on to the field.  The Bulldogs put together an 80-yard drive that continued on a 46-yard pass to Andre Roberts on a third and fifteen.  Van Dyke Jones took it over for six on an option play to the right.  Princeton's no-huddle seemed to be effective again getting the Tigers into FG range once again, but this time Kyle AndeSon got his hand on the attempt to block it, and the Bulldogs maintained a 17-7 lead going into the final period.

    On The Citadel's next possession, Harward no longer had the "dropsies" and caught three passes before Terrell Dallas scored on a one-yard run.  Down 24-7, Princeton had no chance unless they threw the ball.  Wornham (24-41-2, 198 yards, 1TD) fired long over the middle. The ball must have been deflected three times by Bulldog defenders until LB Jonathan Glaspie controlled it and returned it 86 yards to the Tiger two-yard line.  Dallas took it in from there for his second score and the 31-7 lead.  The next PU series ended the same way with a Wornham pass picked off by LB Jeremy Buncum to the PU 26.  QB Miguel Starks took it over on a sweep to the left from three yards away with 2:47 left to end the scoring.  The Tigers stood toe-to-toe with the Bulldogs for most of the game, but a few missed FG attempts and desperation resulting in turnovers late cost them a lopsided defeat.  Luckily, only Ivies and Patriot teams remain ahead of them.  The Citadel meets Presbyterian next before Southern Conference play begins in earnest.

Extra points:  Non-conference teams we've seen the Tigers lose to goes back to 1980 when we saw them lose to Rutgers in the next to last game of that first of all rivalries.  Others losses include Delaware, William & Mary, Navy, Hampton, and now The Citadel.  We like the opportunity to see the Tigers play other FCS schools, but regretfully they haven't been very competitive.

Despite Wornham's two INTs, we're surprised he didn't throw any earlier.  PU seemed to take a lot of risks on long passes in the flat that could have been ripe for the pickings.

Ca-captain Mark Paski, starting offensive tackle, has started every game at that position since his freshman year.  We saw that team win four Ivy League games in 2006 to tie for the Ivy League Championship.  What a memorable year that was!  We saw exciting, close games with Harvard, Penn, and Yale.  QB Jeff Terrell from that team was last ween with the Dallas cowboys

Citadel Head Coach Kevin Higgins was seen by us several times as the HC of Lehigh from 1994 to 200 including several playoff games.  Between Lehigh and The Citadel for the last four seasons, he was an assistant with the Detroit Lions.  That's a good reason to get back into college coaching.

After the game, we stopped for dinner at the Tiger's Tale on Route 206 in Skillman, NJ.  It was much better than expected.  For some reason we assumed it was an upscale place, but instead it turned out to be a good sports bar featuring Tiger Tale Ale and good post game food with big screens to watch all the Saturday college football action.  We'll include it in future plans after Princeton games.

This was our fourth Citadel game.  The first was in 1974 when the Bulldogs played Navy in Annapolis.  In 1995, we saw them edge D-2 Newberry, 21-20, and lose to powerhouse and rival Furman at Hagood Field in Charleston.

We plan to see the Tigers host Colgate on Thursday night October 8.  The firs college football team I ever saw was between those two in 1966 on a bus trip put together by our grade school gym teacher, Mr. Exum.  The Red Raiders, now a Patriot League team, but back then, an Independent, won the game 7-0.  Their fullback, Marv Hubbard, went on to play for the Oakland Raiders.