Princeton beats Columbia 10-7 with late 10-minute drive in rainy Ivy League opener

PRINCETON, N.J. -- — John Volker scored on a 1-yard run with 2:07 to play and Princeton pulled out a 10-7 win over Columbia in an Ivy League opener on a rainy Friday night.

The Tigers (2-1) started the game with a 15-play, 65-yard, 8-minute drive and Jeffrey Sexton's 28-yard field goal before the rain altered the playing conditions.

They effectively ended it with a 20-play, 81-yard, 10-minute drive with Volker bulling in for the winning touchdown. On the numbing march Princeton converted a pair of third downs before finishing it with three fourth-down conversions, capped by the touchdown.

The last effort for Columbia (1-2) featured fourth down conversions of 13 and 10 yards to get into Princeton territory before Sekou Roland sacked Caden Bell and Ryan Savage recovered a fumble with 16 seconds left.

After Princeton's field goal, both teams put together long drives but missed field goals as the weather turned and it became a punting game except when Columbia defensive end Justin Townsend jumped up an snagged a Blake Stenstrom pass and stepped two yards into the end zone, making it 7-3 early in the second half.

There were 12 punts.

Stenstrom was 26 of 43 for 191 yards. On the winning drive he was 7 of 11. He had a fourth-down completions of eight yards when he needed six and three yards when he needed two. The longest play was a 22-yard run by Jiggie Carr.

Bell was 11 of 26 for 71 yards. His longest completion was 21 yards. The Lions' longest run was 19 yards.

Princeton finished with 271 yards and Columbia had 179. They were a combined 10 of 34 on third down but 6 of 7 on fourth.

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