John Volker ran 75 yards for a touchdown to start his Senior Day and ran six yards for a first down to seal a victory on his Senior Day.
It happened Saturday afternoon on Powers Field, where Princeton defeated Penn 20-17 to wrap up the 2024 season. Volker finished with 130 yards on 15 carries, and then, once it was over, it was time for him to be interviewed on the ESPN+ broadcast.
Or at least after he could be tracked down. He was celebrating, posing for pictures and clearly taking in the moment.
Finally, there he was, his Princeton football uniform with a headset instead of a helmet. And what did he say?
"I Couldn't Be Prouder To Be A Princeton Tiger."
House Call.@JohnVolker3 | #JUICE 🍊🥤 pic.twitter.com/OXvp41SV1C
— Princeton Football (@PrincetonFTBL) November 23, 2024
Wow. That came straight from his heart.
Can anything ever be more genuine and more perfect at the end of a season? When you're standing there knowing that you've played the last game you'll ever play for your college team and you're walking off your home field a winner, does the record really matter at that point?
Besides, more than any other sport, football is the one where you can forget what brought you to this point on the final day of the season, largely because each game is its own mini-season. In Princeton's case this season, that meant one more chance to win a mini-season Saturday against the Quakers.
There were four Ivy League football games Saturday, three of which had a direct impact on who would win the championship. The fourth was Penn-Princeton, though you couldn't tell that by watching.
That's not how it works in football. There's no playing out the string. It's probably the physicality involved, or the fact that there's so many more practice days than game day.
In the end, Princeton and Penn played a championship-level game, in intensity and drama at least.
Volker's big day was a huge part of the win, of course. On this day, though, it was the Princeton defense that was the difference maker.
Consider these two stats: 1) Princeton's defense had allowed 40.3 points per game for the last four games and 2) Penn had averaged scoring 44.7 points per game for its last three.
It was a 17-10 Penn lead at the half, but the second half was a thing of defensive beauty for Princeton. For the final 30 minutes of the game, and the season for that matter, Princeton allowed zero points, forced four turnovers, scored a touchdown of its own (a Caden Wright fumble return) and allowed 108 yards of Quaker offense.
Penn's first half drive chart went punt, punt, touchdown, touchdown, field goal. Penn's second half drive chart went punt, fumble, fumble, punt, interception, turnover on downs, fumble.
That's great defense. And it's really great defense considering it came against an offense that was on fire the last three weeks.
The last day of the Ivy football season saw chaos break out, as Yale's 34-29 win over Harvard came shortly after both Dartmouth (over Brown) and Columbia (over Cornell) had finished off their own wins. The result? A three-way tie for first at 5-2 between Harvard, Columbia and Dartmouth.
It's the second straight year that the league has had tri-champions. For the entire history of the league prior to that, it had only happened three times in all.
It wasn't the 2024 season that Princeton would have wanted, but it ended on a high note. And there was something tangible at stake, since the win pushed the Tigers into a three-way tie for sixth, as opposed to finishing eighth, which would have been the case with a loss.
It is amazing what a win can do for you. When the Tigers left the field Saturday afternoon, they did so in a good place. They did so knowing that they hadn't quit, on the season or on themselves. They knew they had accomplished something together that they will remember long after they forget what place the standings said.
They were able to walk away, knowing that Volker had had spoken for all of them:
"I couldn't be prouder to be a Princeton Tiger."
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