Gallery by Greg Barnett
For a program that had advanced past the quarterfinal round just one time, Princeton didn’t look like it wanted to compete in Saturday’s Class AAA quarterfinal matchup with North Marion.
Down 20-7 with just over 15 minutes left, the top-seeded Tigers snapped out of their daze, scoring three fourth-quarter touchdowns to secure a 34-20 victory over the Huskies Saturday evening in Hunnicutt Stadium.
The win sends Princeton (12-0) to the Class AAA semifinals for the second consecutive season where it will host another undefeated team in No. 4 Hebert Hoover next week at a day and time that will be solidified on Sunday.
The Tigers couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start.
Their first four drives yielded a blocked field goal, a punt and back-to-back fumbles in their own territory with a sprinkle of nine penalties that cost them 90 yards. Their following five all ended in touchdowns.
“I think they were saying Murphy’s Law or whatever up there,” Princeton head coach Keith Taylor said. “What could go wrong, went wrong, and buddy did it ever. I’m partially thinking some is our fault and partially thinking that’s on North Marion being a good football team. They kind of got in our face a little bit, making us uncomfortable. We were doing some of the things that we’ve done that have come to bite us there earlier in the season. I thought we were past that, but when you play a game like this you have to be perfect. You have to be ready to go. You saw there in the second half, we had like three drives or four drives. We knew and every team that plays us, they’re going to minimize our opportunities to be on the field offensively.”
Part of keeping Princeton’s explosive offense in check was keeping it on the sideline, a strategy the Huskies utilized effectively.
While the Tigers helped that cause with execution errors, North Marion utilized a run-heavy offense that kept the sticks moving. The visitors finished the night 3-of-16 on third-down conversion attempts but lived in short yardage situations enough that they converted on 6-of-7 fourth down attempts.
“I thought the key was to continue to stay on schedule,” North Marion head coach Daran Hays said. “We had a little bit of aid early on with some penalties defensively and we established the run game well early. They were in a little different front than what we anticipated. They actually ended up playing what we play as nickel and we didn’t rep that all this week. But (Kalum Kiser) is a really good player. They ended up playing him inside. We were a little worried about him on the edge. (Daniel Jennings) is obviously a great athlete and (Brad Mossor) is the one that really jumps at you when you see him live. I thought we did a lot of good things, but the biggest difference to me was that when we got into that fourth quarter, we got off schedule.”
The run game proved fruitful for the visitors who struck first when Toby Michael rumbled 79 yards for the game’s first score just 29 seconds into the second quarter. Noah Hess added to the lead two drives later on a 23-yard jaunt after a Chance Barker fumble was recovered at the Princeton 23.
Needing a spark, Princeton pulled out of neutral, going 90 yards in 10 plays and capping its first scoring drive on a 10-yard pass to Kalum Kiser on fourth-and-5 with under two minutes left in the half.
North Marion’s ground attack, which racked up 119 yards on 15 totes in the first half, strung together its best drive of the game out of the intermission. A 16-play, 53-yard drive that consumed the first 8:25 of the third quarter ended with a 17-yard touchdown run from Hess on a third-and-goal rush.
Trailing 20-7, the Tigers needed just over minute to score the first of four consecutive Daniel Jennings touchdowns. The key play on the 63-yard drive was a 29-yard strike to Kiser who missed last week’s game with an ankle injury.
He finished the game with two catches for 39 yards and a touchdown, adding four tackles for a loss on defense in his first game since moving from edge to linebacker.
“I just think that I started reading my keys,” Kiser said. “From there I just come downhill and try to make the play. I just try to come in where I’m needed on both sides of the ball and make a play.”
“Kalum is the kind of kid you want to build a football program around,” Taylor said. ”If you had a prototypical kid that you wanna hang your hat on and go out there to war with every Friday and Saturday, it’s Kalum Kiser. He’s gonna do all the dirty work and difficult stuff. We look really smart moving him to linebacker, but that was Coach (Eric) McClanahan talking. When he first transferred over here, we thought he was a linebacker. We just didn’t have a defensive end so we moved him. He’s undersized at defensive end but he’s getting stronger and he’s getting bigger. I’m sure they planned all week for two defensive ends and he showed up.”
As Princeton started to claw its way back in, North Marion saw its success in the run game fade. A third-and-4 incompletion early in the fourth led to North’s second punt of the game, one that pinned the hosts at their own 14.
“I thought that was a huge when it was 20-7,” Hays said. “I thought that was huge to pull up to two scores. But they smelled a little blood in the water and scored quick on a couple explosives. That’s what we were trying to limit all night. We did, realistically, a pretty decent job eliminating the explosives until that fourth quarter.”
The field position mattered not as Barker connected with Mossor for a one-handed 34-yard grab, setting up a 40-yard touchdown run by Jennings. Afterwards it was Princeton’s time to shine. Interceptions by Marvi Howard and Garrett Mays set up scoring runs of 5 and 6 yards for Jennings who capped his night with 176 yards on 21 carries.
The Princeton secondary finished the game with three interceptions, allowing just four completions.
“They have two good quarterbacks that can throw the ball but we knew that’s not what they want to hang their hat on, but most teams don’t when it comes this time of the year,” Taylor said. “We got them behind the sticks early, stopping them on first and second down. Coach (Jordan) Jones has done a great job with them. In practice we run, run, run and run and then all of a sudden you’re gonna throw. I think that’s really tough for a kid, especially in the secondary. When they run 30 or 40 times, you have to be ready for your moment. I think our secondary guys did that, you can’t have any lapses in judgment and momentum there towards the end.”
North Marion finished the game with 242 yards of total offense, 208 of which came on the ground. Princeton finished with 365, picking up 199 on the ground.
Barker completed 11 of 12 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown, finding Mossor eight times for 111 yards.
Michael led North Marion with 131 yards rushing.
