Heading back to Princeton after suspension of play on Friday night at C.F. Russell Stadium in Trenton, the Tigers appeared to be “on the ropes”, with the host Bulldogs, on Homecoming Night, controlling the line of scrimmage with healthy running gains, and a 7-0 lead, courtesy of a 9-yard scoring plunge by senior Jaren Whitney. With 10:21 remaining in the second quarter, the approach of heavy rains and lightning from storms in Livingston and Daviess Counties forced suspension of the Grand River Conference game until Saturday morning at 10 o’clock.
For the first series of downs in the resumption of play, it appeared that Trenton, buoyed by a “3-and-out” defensively, may be able to keep momentum. However, by mid-way through the quarter, the running attack of Princeton began to make progress against the Trenton front-line. With two seconds remaining in the opening half, a six-yard scoring run by Eli Henke, and the converted extra point by Mario Vargas, tied the game at 7.
The second half continued the trend of the running game favoring the Tigers, with Princeton adding two more scores. The first, on a one-yard quarterback sneak by Austin Kelly with 4:41 remaining in the third quarter, gave PHS their first lead of the game, 13-7, as Vargas’ extra point hooked left of the upright. The second score of the half, a 6-yard scamper by Henke to the pylon, gave Princeton, after a two-point catch and stretch to the goal line by Justin Rhoades, a 21-7 lead. The Tigers were able to run the remaining 6:38 off the clock, improving to 4-1 on the season, and 3-0 in the GRC, tied with Gallatin and South Harrison for the conference lead. Trenton is now 0-5 overall, and 0-3 in the GRC.
The Bulldogs were again hurt by fumbles, with one in the first quarter on Friday night short-circuiting a potential scoring drive. Twice more in Saturday’s action Trenton lost fumbles to the Princeton defense.
While not the most ‘explosive’ showing by the Tigers offensively, Princeton showed good balance and depth with its running attack, with Ben Berwanger going for 52 yards, and Henke 50 yards with a pair of touchdowns. For Trenton, the Bulldogs running tandem of Whitney and Mark Trump found yards much more difficult to attain than the prior week at Putnam County, with Whitney carrying 20 times for 87 yards, and Trump 13 times for 37 yards.
Princeton’s next GRC test will be Friday night, October 4th at Putnam County (on KTTN FM 92.3), with Trenton at Milan to battle the Wildcats on Friday night, on Hot Country Z 101.7.
Other scores from the weekend of September 27-30 across the region were:
Putnam County 14, Milan 13 (OT)
Gallatin 41, Polo 0
South Harrison 26, Maysville 21
Lathrop 47, West Platte 0
Mid-Buchanan 35, Penney 0
East Buchanan 36, Plattsburg 7
Lawson 41, North Platte 6
Maryville 61, Cameron 0
Chillicothe 21, St. Pius X 17
Savannah 58, Benton 14
Lafayette 63, Carnahan 0
Lexington 46, Holden 16
Higginsville 26, Richmond 16
Knob Noster 65, Carrollton 7
Marceline 41, Paris 6
Scotland County 46, Salisbury 6
Schuyler County 50, Louisiana 20
Harrisburg 36, Knox County 6
Fayette 21, Westran 18
Moberly 42, Macon 32
Clark County 38, South Shelby 0
Centralia 34, Brookfield 0
Palmyra 23, Highland 0
Monroe City 22, West Hancock 0
Lighthouse Christian 30, SJ Christian 16
8-Man:
Pattonsburg 58, Stanberry 6
Norborne 56, Braymer 6
North Shelby 46, North Andew 36
Albany 70, Platte Valley 42
Worth County 42, King City 6
South Holt 48, DeKalb 18
East Atchison 54, Rock Port 8
Southwest Livingston 48, Stewartsville 0
Mound City 48, Northwest Nodaway 0
