Football cages Tigers in Homecoming blowout

Analysis: Five-minute Penn flurry buries Tigers For the first 2 1/2 quarters on Saturday, the Penn football team was locked in a defensive struggle with the Princeton Tigers. Midway through the third quarter, the game was knotted at six and neither team had yet found the end zone. But the Quakers changed all that in a five-minute span in the third period, finding their offense and turning a close battle into a blowout. Three Penn touchdowns in less time than it takes to clean up the toast deflated the Tigers and put Penn on its way to its biggest win of the fall, 41-13. "We went into the half and it was a hard-fought battle. Both sides had played well and it was a heavyweight prize fight," said Princeton coach Steve Tosches, who then went on to list his team's three faulty drives which led to Penn's quick scores. "Then all of a sudden we opened the door. The turnovers -- the mishandling of the reverse -- gave them a short field. The shanked punt on the next series gave them another one and then we throw an interception for a touchdown. All of a sudden, from a 6-6 game, before you know it, its 27-6. That's what did us in right there." In 1998, Penn came out bursting with energy at Princeton, taking a 21-0 lead before the first quarter had ended. In '99 a different story emerged early. The first half was low-scoring and marred with missed chances inside the 20 yard-line by both teams. When Penn quarterback Gavin Hoffman was intercepted by Princeton's Gary Beem just three minutes into the third quarter, it seemed that the Tigers might be poised to break free of their scoring drought. But two plays later, Quakers senior lineman Mike Germino forced a fumble on a Princeton reverse and teammate Qurran Rogers fell on the bouncing ball. Penn's offense took over only 34 yards from glory and the home team never looked back. On the fourth play of the ensuing drive, Hoffman hit wide receiver Rob Milanese across the middle for a 22-yard touchdown to make it 13-6 Penn. There was 8:41 left in the third. Princeton's next possession was highlighted by back-to-back sacks by Penn's Jim Hisgen and Jason Maehr that forced the visitors into an ungodly third-and-27. On fourth down, it only got worse for the Tigers -- they shanked a six-yard punt. Taking over on the Princeton 29, Penn wasted no time striking again. On the fourth play of this ensuing drive, Quakers running back Kris Ryan ran in from five yards out to make it 20-6. There was 4:35 left in the third. Think Penn -- and its defense -- were done? Not by a long shot. Princeton shifted its offense and took to the air to try to get back into the game quickly -- but the Quakers were ready. As a result of porous pass protection, Princeton starting quarterback Tommy Crenshaw was knocked out of the game on the drive's second play. Tigers backup Jon Blevins was then handed the reins to the offense. Blevins probably wished he'd stayed on the bench. Seconds later, just as he was releasing his first pass, he was handed a seat courtesy of Germino. In turn, Blevins handed Quakers strong safety Kunle Williams a wobbling pass at the Princeton 41-yard line, which the sophomore returned up the right sideline for a touchdown. Williams' touchdown made it 27-6, bringing the crowd to its feet and broke the Tigers' backs with 3:27 left in the third. Germino was the Quakers defender who laid the particularly vicious smack on Blevins just as he released the ball on Williams' interception. "I heard the crowd roar and you knew what it was right away," Germino said. "It was a great feeling to come off the field after we've made a big play and you were a big part of it." In a span of 5:14, the face of the game had changed dramatically. A 6-6 defensive battle had become a three-touchdown game with 18 minutes remaining. But for all intents and purposes, the game was over. "[Princeton's offensive line] fell apart in the second half," said Germino, who had a sack, a forced fumble and three tackles for a loss in the victory. "You really got a sense that they folded and just said 'Enough is enough, we can't do this.' "Midway through the third quarter you really felt it." Whether the Tigers folded is up to debate, but what is not up for debate is that they were outclassed in a major way for five minutes in the third frame. In the crucial third quarter, the Tigers offense could muster only 19 yards on 22 plays. The visitors were sacked three times and turned the ball over three times as well. The Penn offense, however, took only eight plays to cover 63 yards and tally two offensive scores. Hoffman completed two of three passes for 43 yards, Ryan scored for the 10th time this season and the Quakers offense executed when it needed to. "It's all about making plays, and obviously you like to make big plays, and when you can turn them into touchdowns it's more of a bonus," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "Until we can create some more opportunities in short fields, it's going to prevent us from winning some of those close games and today I thought we did a pretty good job of doing that." For 55 minutes on Saturday, the rivals were even. In fact, the Tigers had more first downs, more passing yards and fewer penalties than Penn. But that became irrelevant, because for one short stretch in the third quarter, the Quakers created opportunities, converted scoring chances and simply outplayed the Tigers.