Iosivas Did What?

There are some moments in sports that make you stop and gasp as you think "What in the world did I just see?"

The beauty is that you never know when such a moment may occur. It can be any time, and it doesn't need to be at a critical moment of a championship game.

It can be, for instance, is the early fourth quarter of a non-league football game that is essentially out of reach, say, the Princeton-Lehigh game this past Saturday. 

Princeton won the game 29-17. It was 10-10 at halftime and then 23-10 at the end of the third after an extraordinary 15 minutes by the Tiger defense. In fact, on any other day, that would have been the whole story of the game.

And that all changed in a blink, courtesy of the extraordinary athletic gifts of Andrei Iosivas.

By now, if you're a Princeton fan, you've probably watched the play several times. If you somehow missed it, you can see it here:

Princeton 29, Lehigh 10 | 11:04 4th@AndreiIosivas goes ✌🏻 for a 65-yard house call!

Tigers stretching their advantage to 19!

🖥 - https://t.co/pKt4GjEBL1#JUICE24 🍊🥤 pic.twitter.com/obUTqtAaXI

— Princeton Football (@PrincetonFTBL) September 24, 2022

Maybe it doesn't look as amazing on video as it did live. Maybe it does. Either way, you'll have to take TigerBlog's word for it that in real time, this was stunning stuff.

For anyone else, this is a 15-yard completion at most. From the moment Iosivas touched the ball, though, it just seemed different. 

Iosivas took the ball on his 38 heading towards the Lehigh sideline and then made an arching turn upfield while shifting into overdrive. At least four Lehigh defenders had an angle on him, and not one of them came within five yards of actually making contact.

For the most extraordinary view, keep on eye on No. 13 for Lehigh, who, by the way, is a transfer from Penn State. He thinks he has the perfect angle on Iosivas. When he comes into the picture, he is on his 45 and Iosivas is on Princeton's 45. That's a 10-yard difference.

The sprint between them ends as Iosivas reaches the end zone and No. 13 is just about at the 10. That means Iosivas covered 55 yards in the same time as the defender covered 35.

And No. 2 for Lehigh? He thought he had time to get to Iosivas if No. 13 didn't. He doesn't appear in the video until Iosivas is already in the end zone.

That's what being a world class-level decathlete can do for a football player. No matter what, though, Iosivas has definitely vaulted into the "don't turn away because you never know what might happen when he touches the ball" category. That's a rare group of athletes whom TB has seen here in all his time at Princeton. 

About 15 seconds after Iosivas scored, Ford Family Director of Athletics John Mack walked past TB and said "Iosivas is pretty fast." As he did that, TB was reading a text message from Zack DiGregorio that said the same exact thing. TB is guessing that similar words were spoken and texted by Princeton fans everywhere. 

TB spoke to Tiger head coach Bob Surace and quarterback Blake Stenstrom after the game, and both were just shaking their heads at the play Iosivas made. There was awe in both of their voices.

As TB said before, the story of the game would have been Princeton's third quarter defense. Tied at 10-10 at the half, Lehigh had four possessions in the third quarter, and they ended this way: two interceptions, one lost fumble and one blocked punt.

The short fields let Princeton build a 23-10 lead. Iosivas made it 29-10 with his 65-yard catch and run.

The win improved Princeton to 2-0 on the young season. Next up is the Ivy opener this coming Saturday at Columbia, who is also 2-0 after dismantling Marist and Georgetown. It will be a big test.

Then again, all league tests will be big ones. Brown, for instance, was 1-6 in the league a year ago with a 49-17 loss to Harvard. After graduating its NFL-level quarterback E.J. Perry, Brown fell 35-28 to the Crimson Saturday and was driving for a potential tying score late in the fourth.

Brown is Princeton's next home game, on Oct. 14, after the trip to Columbia and another to Lafayette. The season is 10 weeks long, and 20 percent of it has already happened.

Blink and you'll miss it. 

Sort of like how it works with Andrei Iosivas.