Princeton seeks season-ending win over East

By JONATHAN GREENE

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON — Princeton has one last chance to snap its losing streak tonight when the Tigers travel to Greenbrier East.

Princeton (3-6) has dropped their last three games, including a 27-3 loss to Cabell Midland last week.

“Cabell Midland came in with an opportunity to get in the playoffs and they knew they had to beat us and Hurricane to get in,” Princeton head coach Ted Spadaro said. “For a while there it was close, then they wore us down. They had an offensive team and defensive team.

“Our guys have to go both ways. In the end, they wore us out with numbers.”

The loss effectively ended all playoff hopes and assured the Tigers of another losing season.

“It's been disappointing,” Spadaro said. “We thought we had an opportunity to win seven or eight games. None of us were thinking of the injuries.

“That's the hand that was dealt. Each team has its own injuries, it's just we don't have enough bodies to go around that other teams have in the MSAC. Our people have to play both ways and after a while it takes a toll on you.”

For a third straight game, Princeton was limited on offense. The Tigers have scored just nine points in those games and haven't had a touchdown since their 41-7 win over Graham on Sept. 30.

“We're still always looking,” said Spadaro, when asked if more changes would come on offense. “I thought we would change around a few positions and go with Corey Quick at quarterback. Corey did a fine job considering he hadn't quarterback since last year.

“We've had to move kids around because of injuries and other reasons. We thought this would be a way of trying to put some new life into our offense.”

Like Princeton, Greenbrier East (3-5) is riding a losing streak. They were shutout 31-0 last week by Huntington as they lost their second straight.

“They want a winning season,” Spadaro said. “Looking in the past, they played Capital tough. They came back and played Woodrow Wilson close and they beat a good Spring Valley team.

“They gave Hurricane all they wanted two weeks ago. Coach (Aaron) Baker has done a great job with those kids. They're hanging in there and they believe they can have a winning season.

“They play pretty tough defense, one of the better pursuing teams that we played against this year.”

The Tigers could be the healthiest they've been in weeks with Tre Hopkins expected back in a limited role, along with Tahj Sho-Johnson and Euneke Diaz playing as well.

Sho-Johnson leads Princeton with 802 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns. Hopkins had 308 before missing much of the season with injury, while Brett Carroll has added 160 yards on the ground.

Diaz, who has also been hampered all season by injuries, has 118 receiving yards, while Quick leads the Tigers with 156. Carroll also has 118 yards.

McPherson has completed 53 percent of his passes this season, along with four touchdowns. Diaz has three of those scores, with Carroll having the other.

Trailing Johnson’s 10 touchdowns for Princeton are Diaz, Hopkins and Carroll, who have scored three apiece.

Sho-Johnson, Hopkins and Diaz will be expected to help out the offense while the Princeton defense will be expected to slow down Greenbrier East's trio of quarterback Isaiah Kinder and running backs Josh Grubbs and Tyler Freeman

“He's (Kinder) done a great job,” Spadaro said. “He'll do some different fakes and keep it himself. Then they have Grubb who gave us a hard time last year and they have Tyler Freeman.

“Those boys are 5-foot-10, 230 pounds. That's some size back there. They have an outstanding line that does a great job on both sides of the ball.”

For the Tigers to come out on the winning end, Spadaro said they need to “execute.”

Princeton does have dependable kicker Brandon Barrett, who has made five field goals this season.

“You have to execute well on offense,” he continued. “You've got to have good field positions and eliminate penalties and turnovers.”

Kickoff for Princeton's season finale is set for 7:30 p.m. at Spartan Stadium.

“Just pride and honor that they went in and had the opportunity to win,” Spadaro said of what's left to play for. “It depends on which team shows up Friday night will determine our fate. I hope it's a good one.”

—Contact Jonathan Greene jgreene@bdtonline.com