By Rick Elmore | Gazette-Mail
WINFIELD – Princeton dressed 11 players on each side of the ball on Friday, but the Tigers’ biggest contributions statistically boiled down to three.
Quarterback Chance Barker, running back Marquel Lowe and receiver Daniel Jennings each hit the century mark in their respective offensive categories to lead Princeton to a 55-28 win over Winfield at Generals Stadium.
The Tigers (6-0) used the legs of Lowe for two first-quarter touchdowns and a 14-0 lead before Winfield found the end zone.
Aiden Hernandez had a 3-yard run in the second quarter that got the Generals back in the game briefly, trailing 14-7 with 9:46 to play in the first half.
Then Princeton got a lift from Barker to retake control of the game. Barker connected with Lowe twice through the air and found Mosser for a score from 38 yards for a 35-14 lead at half.
Winfield (3-3) found the end zone again before halftime when Hernandez hauled in a 22-yard catch from Generals quarterback Easton Pinkerton that, at the time, pulled Winfield within 21-14.
But the Generals couldn’t get the defensive stop they needed against Princeton to get back into the game.
“The bottom line is we didn’t play good enough to win,” Winfield coach Eddie Smolder said. “They’ve got a lot of different weapons in a lot of different places. They made plays when they had to.”
Winfield did not score again until the fourth quarter, a 1-yard run by Trevon Tanner that came with 7:39 to play in the game.
Princeton got on the scoreboard once in the third quarter and twice more in the fourth to put the finishing touches on the victory.
Barker added two passing TDs in the second half – once hitting Mossor cutting across the middle of the field for a first down that the receiver turned into a 60-yard catch-and-run for a TD.
The second Tigers’ TD of the second half was a 46-yard TD from Barker to Garrett Mays for six. The PAT failed, but Barker had his fifth passing score of the night.
Running back Daniel Jennings punched one in from 9-yards out with 4:29 to play that put Princeton ahead 55-21.
Despite the one-sided score to the affair, the game became contentious, with the teams combining for eight personal foul penalties. Princeton led the way with six for 135 yards and had two players – Lowe and Mossor – both ejected for allegedly fighting.
Tigers coach Keith Taylor said he would appeal the ejections to the WVSSAC, but if that doesn’t go Princeton’s way, then both players could be lost in the Tigers’ next game against Woodrow Wilson.
“We can’t continue to get penalties,” Taylor said. “We have to understand that you’re going to face adversity, especially when you go on the road.”
PRINCETON 14 21 7 13 — 55
WINFIELD 0 14 0 14 — 28
P – Lowe 35 run (Gunn kick).
P – Lowe 36 run (Gunn kick).
W – Hernandez 3 run (Wissler kick).
P – Lowe 35 pass from Barker (Gunn kick).
W – Hernandez 22 pass from Pinkerton (Wissler kick).
P – Mosser 38 pass from Barker (Gunn kick).
P – Lowe 17 pass from Barker (Gunn kick).
P – Mosser 60 pass from Barker (Gunn kick).
P – Mays 46 pass from Barker (Gunn kick).
W – Tanner 1 run (Wissler kick).
P – Jennings 9 run (Gunn kick).
W – Tanner 13 run (Alexander kick).