by Jeremy Benson, GrandRiverConference.com
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Louis "Bubba" O'Brien took over as head coach of the Princeton Tigers this season when long-time head coach Nathan Powell retired. Unfortunately, the Tigers faced state-ranked teams in their first two weeks, falling to #5 South Holt in Week 1 and #2 Platte Valley in Week 2.
This week, Princeton faced Pattonsburg, who also entered the game at 0-2. However, both of the Panthers' games were within one score, and they came into the game averaging 63 points. Pattonsburg opened the game on offense, and it looked like it would be another high-scoring game for them. Quarterback Camden Griffith found Landon Preston for a 44-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. After a Griffith run for the conversion, Pattonsburg was up 8-0 with 11:51 left in the first quarter. Princeton would answer when Clay Evans connected with Mitchell Walker on a catch and run for a 24-yard touchdown reception. The conversion failed, so Pattonsburg remained in the lead at 8-6 with 10:37 left in the 1st.
Cooper Boxley would intercept Griffith on Pattonsburg's next possession. Princeton would score again on a Clay Evans 16-yard touchdown run. The possession was helped by a Panther offside on a Tiger 4th and 3 from the Pattonsburg 30-yard line. Alex Young intercepted the conversion, but Princeton was now leading 12-8 with 7:05 left in the 1st.
After Pattonsburg turned it over on downs, Mitchell Walker scored a 44-yard touchdown run on the first play for Princeton. Princeton's conversion failed again, but Princeton extended the lead to 18-8 with 5:36 left in the 1st. Pattonsburg would answer when Griffith connected with Gavin Humphrey on a 33-yard touchdown with 1:58 left in the 1st. After the failed conversion, the lead was 18-14 in favor of Princeton, which stood at the end of the quarter.
Princeton struck first in the 2nd quarter when Evans hit a wide-open Kash Holt on the quarter's first play. The 20-yard touchdown catch with 11:55 left in the half gave the Tigers a 24-14 lead. Griffith found Preston again from 14 yards with 6:20 left in the half. Preston completed the "octopus" by catching a Griffith pass for two points to cut the Princeton lead to 24-22.
But that is as close as the Panthers would get. With 4:25 left, Evans found another wide-open Tiger when Chanse Glenn scored from 20 yards. Walker ran in the conversion. Then Walker added a 46-yard touchdown with 2:10 left in the half. The defense also stopped Pattonsburg with a Michael Parsons interception with a minute left in the half and a sack to take a 38-22 lead at the break.
Both Holt and Glenn were wide open, with no Panther defenders close to them. Coach O'Brien said that the strong running game helped set those plays up. "They were both play-action plays. We were having so much success running that dive at them. The run game opened up those two plays."
The third quarter belonged to Mitchell Walker. The Tiger freshman scored three touchdowns. He scored his first touchdown from two yards on a direct snap with 5:57 left. He added runs of 20 yards and 58 yards to end the quarter, with the Tigers leading 58-22.
Coach O'Brien talked about Walker's performance: "For a freshman, he is playing way above his mentality and how he plays physically. We are blessed to have a guy like that for four more years. The biggest thing with him is just keeping him healthy, keeping him fresh, not overusing him, not wearing him out. He is a diverse player for such a young age."
Pattonsburg scored their final touchdown with 10:33 left in the game when Griffith found Preston from 22 yards to cut the deficit to 58-22, but Walker would score his seventh touchdown of the game with 8:03 left when he converted a 4th and 1 from the 30-yard line and outran Panther defenders. After Evans connected with Ethan Rhoades on the conversion, the Tigers led 66-28, where the game ended.
Coach O'Brien recorded his first win as a varsity head coach. Coach O'Brien said he was "nervous all week trying to get ready " regarding his first win. "I knew we were capable of competing with this team and just making sure our guys believed that. I knew it was going to be a tough game. The first half was like I thought. Just fast-paced, them scoring and us trying to maintain the clock. As the game went on, we wore on them, like we got worn the last two weeks. Just crazy how we reversed that role."
Princeton held Pattonsburg to 35 points below its season average. Coach O'Brien talked about how they attacked Pattonsburg on defense. "The big thing that hurt them was not having number three [Wyatt Maize]. Number 11 [Landon Preston] was their main guy, so we put our best cover guy on him. We thought if we could just get pressure on him, keep the quarterback in the pocket, and make him make throws, then we would have a chance at stopping them. Most of his big plays in the previous two games came from him getting outside or getting free and finding someone deep. It worked out. We tried to keep him in front and not let him loose."
Princeton is 1-2 and 1-0 in the GRC West. They will host King City next week. King City is coming off of a win over Stanberry.
Pattonsburg is 0-3 and 0-1 in the GRC West. They will host Stanberry next week.
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