Princeton, NJ – The Lafayette Leopards (5-1) defense held Princeton’s offense to three rushing yards on the day. The final outcome came due to a late safety and a missed extra point to settle the score, 12-9. In the fourth, Princeton blew their big opportunity to tie. The Lafayette win ended their 12-game losing streak to Princeton (2-2). The Leopard defense stood out limiting the Tiger offense to three first down conversions of 13 for first down attempts. They halted the Tigers twice on fourth down to take over on downs. LB Billy Schaeffer corralled ten tackles , three for losses, and two for sacks while forcing a fumble.

Cats go toe-to-toe

Lafayette opened the game starting from its 25 to take the lead on Jack Simonetti’s 40-yard FG. Princeton countered on its ensuing drive with Jeffrey Sexton’s kick made good from 29. Late in the first, PU QB Blake Senstrom (26 of 35, 310 yards, one TD) connected with WR AJ Barber (son of former NY Giant Tiki) for a 57-yard pass to the LC 10. Sexton next connected with WR Luke Colella on an outstanding, twisting catch with one foot down inside the end zone to grab the Tiger lead, 9-3. The extra point failed.

In the second, the two teams clawed to a standstill as both forced turnovers on downs on consecutive possessions. Late in the period, a Lafayette sack of Senstrom forced a Princeton punt from the 15. Elijah Steward’s six-yard return put the Leopards at the Tiger 46. With :26 left until halftime, a swing pass left to 6’8″ TE Mason Gilbert at the PU 15, put Lafayette up, 10-9.

A quick quarter

In the third period, a long Princeton drive fell short on a fourth and four at the Lafayette 16 with a sack and a fumble. The next Lafayette drive resulted in a punt, and Princeton’s next drive ran over into the final period for a very quick third quarter. Into the fourth, play continued with both teams punting.

Lafayette defense adds to lead

Princeton finally got to the Lafayette 20 for a supposed chip shot. However, Sexton’s 37-yard attempt went wide right. Lafayette got back on offense to consume over six minutes. A sack placed them back on the Princeton 33 with a fourth and 20. QB Dean Denobile (20 of 28, 177 yards, one TD) quick-kicked to back Princeton up at their four. After an incomplete pass, LB Blamassi Meite tackled Senstrom for a safety to extend Lafayette’s lead, 12-9.

With 1:57 remaining and rain beginning to fall, the Tiger onsides kick put Lafayette at their 33. A PU time-out and eventually a Leopard first down allowed Lafayette to run down the clock for a low-scoring , hard-fought victory. The game exemplified the significance of PATs and missed chip shots. Had PU converted one of each, the results could have made for a Tiger victory. Never take the kicking game for granted.

Next!

Princeton 1-0 in the Ivy, plays at Brown next weekend. Lafayette, now 1-0 in the Patriot, has a bye week before facing their most challenging conference foe, FCS No. 11 Holy Cross (4-2, 2-0). This game will probably decide the Patriot League’s champion to play for the FCS title.

Not the best of teams, but…

As for Collegefootballfan.com, we continue into our heavy October schedule consisting of eight games in the month of October. We attend three games alone this week – Louisiana Tech (3-4) at Middle Tennessee (1-5) on Tuesday, SMU (3-2) at East Carolina (1-4) on Thursday, and Navy (2-3) at Charlotte (1-4) on Saturday. No world-beaters here, but teams playing comparable competition and three fighting for a second win. Desperate teams playing for desperate measures half way through the season. Coaches trying to avoid proverbial hot seats! The latter two are American Athletic Conference clashes. We get to add two new FBS venues to our growing list to see as many as we can.