“Mike’s a talented kid who has had some misfortunes with injuries throughout his career, so he’s never really been able to blossom,” Doherty. said “But I always knew that the potential was there. I wouldn’t have put him in there if I didn’t have confidence that he would get the job done.”

“He was a starter coming into the season,” added senior safety James Harvey. “He absolutely had the capability, and he knew the defense as well as anyone did. He’s very vocal, and he knows what he’s doing.”

Finch was pleased to finally step up in a game, but remained critical of his performance.

“I actually thought I played horribly,” he admitted, “until we watched film the next day. I was so nervous, and everything I did just felt wrong. I still have a lot of work to do.”

As important as Finch was on Saturday, he will play an even bigger role this upcoming weekend due to the loss of senior defensive back Sean Tracy. Tracy suffered a contusion and sprain in his knee against Princeton.

After an initial fear that Tracy might miss the rest of the season, he is now expected to miss just that one game. But Finch will be one of the key players who will try to fill the void this weekend.

“We’ll definitely miss Sean,” Harvey said. “But we’re confident that guys will step up.”

“I’ve got extremely big shoes to fill,” Finch added.