Sept. 20, 2014

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

(San Diego, Calif.) - The USD Toreros earned a hard-fought 39-29 home victory over the Princeton Tigers today before 3,324 fans at Walter J. Zable Field at Torero Stadium. With the win the Toreros improve to 2-1 on the season while Princeton, the 2013 Ivy League champions, fall to 0-1. It was a great Torero team effort from all three phases that got the Toreros back on the winning track. Sophomore QB Keith Williams passed for 277 yards and 4 touchdowns, and senior WR Reggie Bell hauled in 4 passes for 186 yards and two scores.

"Unlike last week, I told our team we were going to be physical on both sides of the ball the whole game," said head coach Dale Lindsey. "And if we do that everything will turn out fine. And that is what the team did. They did a nice job of running the ball when we had to and our line gave us some great protection since Princeton blitzes from all over the place. And on defense I thought all three of our cornerbacks did a great job playing man-to-man against some very good wide receivers. I just think Princeton is a very good football team that we ended up beating.

The Toreros jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter behind a Keith Williams 10-yard pass to senior Brandon White, and a 1-yard rushing score by Williams. USD's first score of the game was helped by a big pass play from Williams to Reggie Bell for 82 yards. Princeton got on the scoreboard just before the end of the first period when QB Quinn Epperly rushed in from 12-yards out untouched. In the second quarter Princeton's Joe Rhattigan rushed in from 12-yards out but Tigers missed on their two-point conversion for the second straight attempt to trail 14-12. For USD, Bell hauled in a 29-yard touchdown pass from Williams to extend their lead to 21-12 with 6:36 to go in the half. Princeton's Nolan Bieck converted on a 34-yard field goal to finish off an 11-play, 58 yard drive for the 21-15 intermission score.

The Tigers opened up the second half with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Epperly to WR Matt Costello just 1:07 into the half to take their first lead of the game at 22-21. Once again Williams and Bell connected for a score, this time for 48-yards with 5:25 left in the third period for a 29-22 advantage. From there USD would hold onto the lead.

"Giving up points to start the second half is not the way we want to play, but I'm proud of the way our guys responded from there," said head coach Dale Lindsey. "We could have gone and chucked it from there, but we regrouped and I really like the way we played the rest of the way. The offense did some good things and the defense came back and played solid the rest of the game."

The fourth quarter saw USD's D'Angelo Barksdale score on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Williams, and David Last kick a 22-yard field goal for a 39-22 advantage. Princeton closed out the game scoring with a 22-yard reception by Seth DeValve that was thrown by Epperly.

For the Toreros Bell finished with 245 all-purpose yards (186 receiving, 59 punt return). Bell's 186 yards receiving came on just 4 receptions. Brandon White had 5 catches for 86 yards and 1 score - it marked White's 8th straight game with a touchdown reception. Williams completed 10-of-24 for 277 yards and his 4 touchdowns.

Defensively USD was paced by CB Toney Sawyer (7 tackles, 1 interception, 3 pass break-ups), LB Una Hamala (6 stops), safety Troy McClelland (6 stops), safety Matt Miller (6 tackles) and CB Jamal Agnew (4 stops, 1 interception, 3 pass break-ups). Princeton's Quinn Epperly was 25-53 for 237 yards and 2 scores. Wide receiver Seth DeValve hauled in 9 passes for 123 yards and 1 score. The Tigers ground attack was paced by DiAndre Atwater with 80 yards on 10 carries.

For the game USD totaled 403 yards of offense while holding Princeton to 370. USD punter Ryan Belden had a busy day punting 11 times for 400 yards (36.4) with 3 inside of the Princeton 20-yard line. This marks USD's third win over an Ivy League team in eleven tries and the first over Princeton in three attempts.

USD continues PFL play next Saturday with a road game at Marist (10am pacific).