JHS Grad Carlson Scores Three TDs In Princeton Win

Stephen Carlson did something Saturday that no Princeton University receiver has done in a quarter century -- catch three touchdown passes in a single game to help the Tigers to a 27-17 victory over San Diego in the season opener.

The 2015 Jamestown High School graduate, who caught a total of two passes all of last season, grabbed TD aerials of 9, 14 and 3 yards from quarterback Chad Kanoff in front of 10,421 fans at Princeton Stadium.

How rare was Carlson's accomplishment?

No Tiger receiver had caught three TD passes since Michael Lerch hauled in four against Brown during the 1991 season.

"It feels great," Carlson said on PrincetonTigers.TV on the school's football website. "The best feeling is we got the win, obviously, but it feels nice to know I can come out and make some plays, and Chad is going to put it on the money. … (There were) just a couple play calls that got me open and that's a credit to the coaches and the quarterback."

All told, Carlson, a former first-team all-state performer at JHS and The Post-Journal Player of the Year in 2014, had six receptions for 94 yards in a game that wasn't decided until late in the fourth quarter.

San Diego scored a touchdown with 7:10 remaining to cut Princeton's lead to 20-17, but Kanoff, who completed 32-of-43 passes for a career-high 352 yards, engineered a 66-yard drive that featured four third-down attempts, including a pair of third-and-16 completions to Carlson, good for 17 and 34 yards, which put Princeton into the red zone.

"All we have to do is win off the defender and Chad is going to put it in the right place," Carlson said. " … We've really built some trust there and it's really paying off in games like this."

After two rushes burned the final San Diego timeouts, Kanoff used a play-action pass to Carlson for a touchdown along the right side of the end zone to seal the victory.

"On that last drive we knew we had to go down and score," Carlson said. "That's our whole mindset. Just push the ball, keep pushing it. That last drive we weren't going to come up with anything short of a touchdown."

Princeton will make its road debut next Saturday with a 6 p.m. showdown against Lafayette at Fisher Stadium.

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The Alfred University football team, helped by junior quarterback Bryce Morrison (Kennedy/Randolph), posted a 24-17 victory over visiting Utica College at Yunevich Stadium.

In the Empire 8 Conference opener for both teams, 19th-ranked Alfred (2-0, 1-0) piled up more than 400 yards of offense, highlighted by junior wide receiver Jayden Gavidia's school-record 13 receptions for 207 yards.

For his part, Morrison completed 19-of-34 passes for 269 yards and a touchdown. He was picked off twice.

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Finally, Edinboro senior quarterback Jake Sisson (Jamestown/Jamestown) threw four touchdown passes, but the Fighting Scots fell to West Chester, 62-28, on the road in a PSAC crossover game. Both teams are now 2-1 overall.

Sisson completed 29-of-52 passes for 213 yards and four touchdowns. He was intercepted twice. Three of the scoring strikes went to wide receiver James Clark.