The Nov. 17 Big Three bonfire festivities began a few hours after Princeton football lost its season finale to Dartmouth, but that result did little to dampen the mood on Cannon Green, where thousands of students and fans gathered. President Tilghman raved about the team’s “sweet” wins over Yale and Harvard (and gently chided fans who left the stadium before Princeton’s fourth-quarter comeback against the Crimson). Brig Walker ’07, a senior on the last bonfire team, passed the ceremonial torch to 2012 co-captain Mike Catapano ’13. And head coach Bob Surace ’90 shared a bit of history — and hopeful foreshadowing — noting that the year after he lit the bonfire as a player in 1988, the Tigers “took it to the next level and won the Ivy League title” in ’89.