Smith plays starring role as Princeton beats Trenton, 52-32

Princeton High School senior Andrew Smith had seven touchdowns and 457 yards of total offense on Friday night, leading the unbeaten Tigers to a 52-32 victory over the Trenton Bulldogs, in a Grand River Conference Eastern Division battle broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7.

In the heated affair between budding border rivals, PHS opened the scoring with 8:42 remaining in the opening quarter, as Smith took the ball into the end zone on a 5 yard dash.  A two-point conversion catch by Sweetin gave the Tigers an 8-0 advantage, with the Bulldogs the score at that point for the remainder of the quarter.

The second quarter set the stage for a wild, back-and-forth assault on the C.F. Russell Stadium scoreboard, with the Tigers putting four touchdowns on the board to Trenton’s two.  Princeton doubled its lead to 16-0 on a 1 yard Smith scoring run, and two-point conversion carry by Calvin Berwanger with 10:05 to go in the half.

Trenton’s best stretch of football came in the middle stages of the second quarter, as Lathan Croy scored on a 1 yard run, with Carson Radcliff running in the two-point conversion with 5:55 to go in the half, with Croy connecting with senior target Colton Colston on a 71 yard scoring play 3 minutes and 8 seconds later.  Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the two point run by Croy did not tie the score at 16, as Princeton split the Trenton scores with a 54 yard touchdown pass from Smith to Garrett Enright, leaving the score at 22-16 Tigers.

The final 2 1/2 minutes of the half proved critical to the Tigers ultimate success.  Smith scored on a 6 yard scramble, with Enright catching the two-point conversion with 2:39 to go until the break, and after a Bulldog turnover late in the half, Smith hit Berwanger on a 30-yard strike with 6.8 seconds left to go in the half.  Instead of down one score, the mountain for the Bulldogs to climb was 20 points (36-16) as the teams hit the locker room.

Princeton continued its offensive onslaught in the third quarter, as Smith scored on a one-yard keeper at the 7:11 mark, with a two-point pass to Blaine Millburn making the score 44-16.  Trenton struck back on a 34 yard slant pass from Croy to Colston, with the Radcliff two-point run cutting the lead to 44-24 after 3.

Both teams traded touchdowns in the fourth quarter, with Smith, on a three-yard run, adding his fifth touchdown run of the night with 7:49 to go, while Trenton, with its JV offense on the field late, cut the Princeton lead down to the final tally of 52-32, as Sam Schilling scored on a quarterback sneak, with Mark Trump adding the two-point run with 1:38 to go.

The victory for the Tigers pushes Princeton to 4-0 overall, and 2-0 in the Grand River Conference, tied atop the Eastern Division standings with the Gallatin Bulldogs.  Trenton is now 1-3 overall, and 1-1 in GRC East play.  This week, Princeton puts its unbeaten start on the line with a game at Putnam County on KTTN FM 92.3, while the Bulldogs serve as the homecoming opponent for the Milan Wildcats, in a 7 o’clock kick from Cal Hubbard Field on Hot Country Z 101.7.

Other football finals from Friday, September 8, 2017 were:

Putnam County 24, Milan 21

South Harrison 44, Maysville 6

Gallatin 42, Polo 6

North Andrew 58, KC East 6

King City 74, Pattonsburg 58

Stanberry 56, St. Joseph Christian 42

Worth County 64, Albany 14

Braymer 64, North Shelby 24

Chillicothe 60, Cameron 0

Maryville 54, Bishop LeBlond 6

Smithville 42, Benton 0

Lafayette 53, Savannah 0

Penney 54, Mid-Buchanan 21

Lawson 37, North Platte 26

Lathrop 47, West Platte 3

East Buchanan 32, Plattsburg 21

Marceline 48, Fayette 12

Scotland County 31, Schuyler County 8

Carrollton 41, Salisbury 7

Westran 57, Harrisburg 15

Knox County 26, Paris 14

Centralia 48, Brookfield 7

Palmyra 37, South Shelby 6

Macon 50, Highland 6

West Hancock 32, Clark County 28

Monroe City 60, Louisiana 0

Lexington 46, Wellington-Napoleon 8

Holden 45, Lighthouse Christian 36

Higginsville 42, El Dorado Springs 6

Knob Noster 28, Tipton 26

Excelsior Springs 28, Richmond 20

Mound City 86, Southwest Livingston 40

East Atchison 50, DeKalb 0

South Holt / Nodaway-Holt 54, Platte Valley 0

Rock Port 46, North-West Nodaway 0

Sacred Heart 62, Norborne 14