For the first time Princeton has advanced to the Class AAA semifinals in what is undoubtedly the most successful season in school history.
But the job is only halfway completed.
With playoff wins over Oak Hill and Parkersburg under their belts the Tigers now set their sights on a familiar foe in No. 8 Bridgeport which will invade Hunnicutt Stadium Friday at 7:30.
For Bridgeport this level of success is the norm as the Indians make their 13th state semifinal appearance of the century – four in Class AAA and nine in Class AA.
They’ve earned all of those appearances with the same ground-and-pound philosophy even if the style has changed. Whether it be the pistol, I-formation or the single wing that the Indians currently run, they’ve always kept the ball on the ground and do it well churning out yards, eating clock and putting pressure on opposing offenses to keep up.
So the top challenge for Princeton head coach Keith Taylor and the rest of the gang is to find a way to generate stops.
“I think their offensive line is the heartbeat of their team,” Taylor said. “I was much more impressed with their offensive line this year than last year. I mean, last year they had a couple studs but I think this year, you know, it’s pretty much everybody from the backside tight end and all the way to the wing and even their running backs will hit you in the mouth. They are a really physical football team. They got multiple high-level linemen all over the place. Their tight end (Donovan Williams), I was really impressed with him. The (Wes) Brown kid is a monster. You know, they’re one of the most incredible football teams that we’re gonna play. Yeah, and it’s old school single wing football man. They’re gonna hit you in the mouth. They’re gonna run a bunch of backs at you and then you know, the guys can throw a little bit so if they get a chance you can’t sleep on them because they can throw downfield as well.”
The two teams played a home-and-away series prior to this season with Bridgeport taking the 2021 matchup 42-7 at Hunnicutt Stadium before Princeton retuned the favor last season in a 34-29 victory at Wayne Jamison Field.
The two schools had never met before that series but Mercer County hasn’t been kind to the Indians in the playoffs. Bridgeport played postseason games at Bluefield in 1995, 2017 and 2018, losing all three contests.
None of that matters in this matchup, though, and despite their familiarity Taylor isn’t inclined to believe there’s much to take away from last season’s win.
“I don’t think so just because Bridgeport made a lot of mistakes that they typically don’t make and we capitalized on them,” Taylor said. “Last year they had a couple bad snaps, they fumbled twice and they didn’t capitalize down inside the red zone for a touchdown. So I don’t think you can really take that game for anything and last year was last year. This game is gonna come down to who wins up front and anytime you play Bridgeport it’s a fist fight. You interview their kids and they all talk about how hard their practices are and it makes the games easy, and that’s what kind of environment it’s going to be. They’re going to come in and they’re going to be ready to punch us in the mouth. And we’d better be ready to rise to the challenge.
“If we don’t they’ll take advantage of it and put us down early. I think our kids, we hang our hat on being a physical football team. So I think you could throw records out the window. I think you could throw whatever out the window – history, whatever it may be. It’s going to be two physical football teams out there knocking each other around for four quarters.”
Offensively it’s a contrast in styles for the two teams.
Bridgeport’s run-dominant attack is led by standout running back and Warner Award favorite Zach Rohrig who has 1,714 yards rushing with 23 touchdowns on the season. He’s complemented by Josh Love, another back who has 1,052 yards and 16 scores.
The Indians have thrown the ball just 29 times this year, completing 40 percent of those attempts for 388 yards and four touchdowns with three interceptions.
Passing isn’t something Princeton expects to see much of but still needs to be prepared for it. But the main focus will be on limiting the run game of the Indians spearheaded by Rohrig.
“He uses his blockers extremely well,” Taylor said of Rohrig. “He’s hard to see and he really sets up his blockers well. They run a gap scheme so they’re gonna ball fake and fake kicking out and he does a great job of carrying out his fakes when he doesn’t have the football so hats off to him for being an incredible running back but it’s even more impressive when he doesn’t have the ball. Hats off to coach (Tyler) Phares for getting his kids to buy in even when they don’t have the football. A lot of times you watch teams on tape and you know, when a kid is not getting the football because they’re lazy on the backside or whatever it may but with his team everybody is going 100 miles an hour. So anytime when that kid doesn’t have the ball, he runs like he does have the football. He’s getting some attention of other guys eyes because he does such a good job with and without the football and I think that’s what stands out about his team. His team is very disciplined. And everyone, even a star player, carries out fakes when he doesn’t even get the football.”
Princeton meanwhile likes to score quickly and often.
Quarterback Chance Barker has broken a handful of school records with 2,837 yards and 38 touchdowns with just two interceptions to back up his 72 percent completion percentage. His top target is the Moss Award favorite in Dom Collins who has 67 catches for 1,402 yards and 21 touchdowns. Rounding out the triplets is running back Marquel Lowe, who has 1,593 yards rushing and 21 touchdowns on the ground. Joining the trio is receiver Brad Mossor with 724 yards receiving.
Together they all form an offense that’s been held under 30 points just once this season. They’ll be challenged by a disciplined Bridgeport team.
“I think it’s gonna be the best defensive line across the front that we faced all year,” Taylor said. “You know their secondary does a good job of disguising coverages. They may look like they’re in Cover 2 and then they end up kind of doing like a man match type look. Once again it comes down to discipline because it’s going to be really hard to get them out of their game plan. They’re going to try to, I’m sure, limit our big play ability by giving us some different looks. I’m sure they’re gonna want to try to confuse Chance with him being a sophomore quarterback. Even though he’s having a tremendous year he’s still a young guy. So I think they’re gonna throw everything they have at us.
“I think they’re going to try to take us out of our game plan by first off using their offense and limiting our possessions and then when they get on defense making us earn it and making us turn up some clock. (Cale) Culicerto is a pretty good corner for them and he’s been playing really, really well in the playoffs and I’m sure you probably go see him on Dom’s side if I had to guess. But you know, they are probably the the most disciplined defense that we’ve seen, so we’re probably going to have to really take advantage of any mistake they might give us. They’re not going to jump offsides. They’re not going to do that kind of stuff. So we’ve got to make sure we do what we need to do and make sure we keep possession of the football.”
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
