Bluefield at Princeton
Princeton (35) vs. Bluefield (21)
Written: Sep 02, 2011
By TOM BONE
Bluefield Daily Telegraph The Bluefield Daily Telegraph Sat Sep 03, 2011, 05:00 AM EDT
PRINCETON — The white helmets rose high above the victorious huddle of Princeton Senior High School on Friday night at the county seat after the Tigers beat county rival Bluefield 35-21 in the 83rd meeting between the two football teams.
Tahj Sho-Johnson ran for 196 yards on 13 rushes and Princeton’s Ladarius Gravely had five tackles, a pass breakup and a fumble recovery for Princeton (1-1) at Hunnicutt Stadium.
Sho-Johnson said, “Bluefield’s a good team, but we know that we can be better. We worked hard every day in practice.”
Princeton senior Jared Skeens said, “It’s my last year playing them. My first two years we played them, we lost to them ... . It feels good to come up with a win, really good.”
Bluefield (1-1) appeared stunned after Princeton marched the ball downfield on its first two possessions and took a 14-0 lead after the first quarter. The Tigers’ defense bottled up the Beavers for most of the first half.
Skeens said, “It crushed Bluefield’s spirits early. We went out there and hit them in the mouth and they didn’t know what to do.
“For everybody out there that doubted us, this shows ’em, this shows ’em what we’re about this year. We’ve got a different team, a different mentality, and we’re going to do something.”
Princeton head coach Ted Spadaro said, “This team had a purpose tonight, in that they wanted to show the community that they were a better team than they showed last week.” The Tigers opened the season with a 43-16 home loss to Woodrow Wilson.
Skeens said about the Princeton defense, “Everybody was talking about how they were going to run it down our throat, and we took that to heart. This is our house, and we were not going to let that happen.”
The Tigers held Bluefield to three-and-out on the Beavers’ first two possessions, and quarterback D.J. Edwards completed just one of his first six passes.
“They gave us their all,” Edwards said about Princeton. “We didn’t execute when we needed to.”
Meanwhile, Sho-Johnson scored on a 1-yard run and Euneke Diaz busted loose on a 65-yard pass play for the Tigers’ second score.
Spadaro said, “Our objective was to take the ball and drive it down the field, and that’s what we did. We kind of pounded them a little bit.
“I have to give credit to our football team. They didn’t let up. ... You know, any time you beat a Beaver team, you’re doing something.”
He added the two early scores “gives them all the encouragement and it carries from one play to another.”
“That hurt a little bit,” said Bluefield head coach Fred Simon. “They were third-and-longs, too, that’s probably what hurts more than anything. ... That made it tough.”
At halftime Bluefield had 18 net rushing yards and 32 passing yards — coming on one touchdown play when Thaddeus Foley got behind the Princeton coverage for the Beavers’ only score of the half.
Sho-Johnson fumbled twice in the first half and Bluefield recovered both. At halftime he had 30 yards rushing, and a problematic mental state.
Spadaro said, “Tahj got down on himself. The first thing I told him was, a lot of people have come out here to see you fumble, there’s a lot who have come to see you run the ball, the second half. Now, which is it you want?”
“He got his mind straight and did fine.”
Sho-Johnson said, “The second half, my teammates were speaking to me and they pumped me up. I was down, so they just told me to keep my head up, and go out there and calm down and do what the coaches told me to do.”
He said his offensive line “was blocking down the field, all the way, and I give them all the credit. I’ve got nothing to do with it. It was them.”
On Princeton’s second play of the second half, Sho-Johnson exploded through the defense and streaked down the home sideline for an 88-yard touchdown.
Tré Hopkins used the pristine blocking of the left side of the Tigers’ line for an 8-yard score later in the third period and a 28-7 margin.
Edwards sprinted 12 yards around right end to cut the Bluefield deficit to two touchdowns, but on Princeton’s next possession, Sho-Johnson again used his speed to answer with a 31-yard dash to paydirt.
Montel Leggett wrapped up the scoring with a 27-yard scamper with 1:36 left. Bluefield executed a successful on-side kick, but three plays later lost a fumble on a pass play, recovered by Princeton’s Gravely.
Spadaro said about Bluefield’s speed, “You can’t contain them all the time. We tried to contain them inside the tackles, then they started to get outside on us a little bit in the second half.”
McPherson completed five of eight passes for 78 yards. Leggett was Bluefield’s leading rusher with 43 yards on 11 carries.
On defense for Princeton, Skeens had 5 1/2 tackles, including four tackles for loss. Alex Abdelwahed had 4 1/2 tackles and a sack, and Cody Blankenship recorded five tackles.
On the Bluefield side, both Ryan Shorter and Drew Simon had seven tackles. Edwards had six tackles and Nick Lester had five tackles and a fumble recovery. Three of Shorter’s tackles were for loss of yardage, including one sack.
Edwards recovered to complete eight of his last nine passes and ended with 158 passing yards.
Simon said Edwards “showed some poise and some character, and I think the whole team did.”
“I’m proud of our players for not quitting. They didn’t. But you can’t dig yourself a hole against a good football team ... . We lost to a good team tonight.”
“Even though we didn’t come out on top, I’m proud of their effort, proud of the way they try.”
Spadaro said about Simon’s squad, “He’s got a young ball team, and they played hard right down to the end. They’re going to fine over there.”
Skeens said that after last week’s loss, “We didn’t drop our heads. We know we lost on stupid mistakes. ... We just went hard in practice, and used that as motivation to drive and win.”
Simon said going forward, the Beavers “got to work on some things and correct them, and everything will be OK.”
— Contact Tom Bone at
tbone@bdtonline.com
At Anne S. Hunnicutt Stadium
Bluefield............0 7 0 14 — 21
Princeton.........14 0 14 7 — 35
First Quarter
PSHS – Tahj Sho-Johnson 1 run (Brandon Barrett kick), 6:42
PSHS – Euneke Diaz 65 pass from Storm McPherson (Barrett kick), 3:29
Second Quarter
BHS – Thaddeus Foley 32 pass from D.J. Edwards (Justin Mariotti kick), 7:58
Third Quarter
PSHS – Sho-Johnson 88 run (Barrett kick), 10:36
PSHS – Tré Hopkins 8 run (Barrett kick)
Fourth Quarter
BHS – Edwards 12 run (Mariotti kick), 8:03
PSHS – Sho-Johnson 31 run (Barrett kick), 4:33
BHS – Montel Leggett 27 run (Mariotti kick), 1:36
———
Individual Statistics
RUSHING — Bluefield, Leggett 11-43, Edwards 11-21, C.J. Manns 3-5. Princeton, Sho-Johnson 13-196, Hopkins 15-37, Corey Quick 5-22, McPherson 4-(minus-10), Johnny Midkiff 4-29, Aaron Saunders 2-9, Brett Carroll 1-3, team 2-(minus-4).
PASSING — Bluefield, Edwards 13-24-157 yds.-1 TD-0 intc.; Justin Carter 0-1-0-0-1. Princeton, McPherson 5-8-78-1 TD-0 intc.
RECEIVING — Bluefield, Foley 2-36, Carter 4-50, Fox 3-21, Brandon Lilly 4-50. Princeton, Quick 1-13, Diaz 2-73, Hopkins 1-0, Lamont Lee 1-(minus-8).
GAME SCOREBOARD Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 OT SCORE
Princeton 14 0 14 7 0 35
Bluefield 0 7 0 14 0 21
GAME OF THE NIGHT ARCHIVEBluefield at Princeton 9/8/11
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