Princeton – A month ago the outlook for Princeton was much better.
The Tigers were healthier, undefeated and on pace to host at least one playoff game.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and the outlook is different. They’ve dropped three straight to end the season and are dealing with injuries all over.
“That’s the playoffs,” Pedigo said. “If we take care of business and win one of those games we’re probably playing Greenbrier East right now. And not saying Greenbrier East is a slouch because I think they’re pretty good, but I think there’s a difference between them and the team in front of them that we got in No. 7. That’s no disrespect to Coach (Ray) Lee and their team because I think they have special kids and a good line. East has that and Spring Valley definitely has that.”
Still there is reason for optimism. After finishing the 2017 and 18 seasons with 1-9 records, the Tigers exploded onto the scene last season, securing a Class AAA playoff berth. They ultimately fell to South Charleston but got to experience what the stage was like.
Now they’re hoping that experience translates after clinching their second consecutive playoff berth.
“I think it’s good from the outlook our kids know what to expect,” Princeton head coach Chris Pedigo said. “We’ve got about 20 or so freshmen here so they don’t know entirely what to expect, but I think it shows that our kids buy in that we’re moving in the right direction. We’re just a handful of games away from being 7-1. In the grand scheme of things I think our kids understand what’s at stake and understand probably what the task we have in front of us is and how big it is, so it’s a big deal.”
Big is probably the best descriptor Pedigo could use for Spring Valley, the team the Tigers will face on Saturday.
Nestled just outside of Huntington in Wayne County, the Timberwolves’ program has become a factory for DI prospects, especially in the trenches. Offensive linemen Wyatt Milum and Doug Nester, both now at WVU, were a part of Spring Valley playoff teams that made the Super Six in 2017 and 2018.
The Timberwolves have used a ground-and-pound attack for ages to crush opponents and are the only team in the last six years to defeat Class AAA Martinsburg, doing so in each of the last two seasons. They’ve become more diverse, adding a passing attack this season.
Needless to say the Tigers have their work cut out for them.
“The quarterback is dynamic,” Pedigo sad. “What’s impressive is they can go into their old school wing-t or what we call old red and blue sets where you don’t have two backs in the backfield. You have two wings, kind of like what you see with Oak Hill. But they can go and take those same guys and go spread. They don’t even have to change personnel. They have a 6-foot-5 tight end that’s getting recruited, the (Corbin) Page kid that’s going to West Virginia, but they can take him and put him at wideout and take the (Ty) Bartrum kid and put them at tight end and wing backs and they can go and play in the spread.
“Not only do that not skip a beat, I don’t know if they’re not better in the spread, which is kind of scary. You look at their losses. They lost 9-6 to the No. 1 team in the state and they lost what, 28-19 or something like that to Cabell Midland? And you know that’s a rivalry game and was at the beginning of the year and from what I’ve seen on tape Spring Valley’s only gotten better … They’re kind of like Greenbrier East in that they can run a bunch of different formations. East came out in different formations until they found something that worked. Spring Valley, to be honest with you, they’ll get into these things and do this to ya, they’re just really hard to stop.”
The Tigers will counter with their own balance on offense. All-state QB Grant Cochran leads the charge for the Tigers’ offense. The junior has thrown for 1,619 yards this season to go along with 15 touchdowns and only three interceptions. His top target in the passing game has been receiver Dom Collins, a 5-foot-6 sophomore that’s accumulated 415 yards in the passing game and is coming off his best performance – an eight-catch, 151 yard effort against Parkersburg in which he scored four touchdowns.
Both will be an integral part of the Tigers’ game plan if they hope to pull off the upset.
“They don’t make a lot of mistakes,” Pedigo said of Spring Valley. “We’ve been talking abut their offense but their defense is probably even more impressive. They’ve got linebackers that run like deer everywhere and when they come they bring a load with them. We hope – we felt like we turned the corner last week with some things we did offensively. We really, really focused and put an emphasis on trying to get the ball out on time. I think it showed last Friday and was something I think we were missing in the Greenbrier East game obviously, but we hope we can try to generate some success.
“I’m not saying I think our passing game is crazy complicated, but I do feel like there’s just a couple of teams that throw the ball kind of like we do. We can try to find some plays and put you in some stressful situations. They’re just too good across the board to say we’re going to put them in a ton of stress because I don’t think that’s going to happen. We’re doing some things, not that we haven’t done, but we’re kind of pulling a rabbit out of the hat and saying ‘hey, let’s do this’ to try and put them in some stress, so that’s kind of where we’re at.”
The Tigers will open postseason play on Saturday when they travel to Spring Valley. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
