Gallery by Greg Barnett
Bluefield – Bluefield’s hope of defeating county foe Princeton rested mostly on the shoulders of a defense that yielded just 10 points in Week 1.
The Tigers promptly crushed those hopes.
Compiling 507 yards of total offense, the Tigers scored on nine of their 12 drives en route to a record-shattering 63-7 pounding of the Beavers Friday night in Mitchell Stadium.
The 63 points scored by Princeton are the most Bluefield has ever allowed to a West Virginia school. Jefferson (Roanoke, Va.) holds the overall record with a 70-0 victory over the Beavers in 1923.
The Tigers moved the ball at will, picking up 314 yards and four scores through the air and another 193 on the ground.
Their opening drive consumed just two-plays as they charged 70 yards to the end zone. Wide receiver Brad Mossor did most of the heavy lifting catching a short pass from QB Chance Barker and reversing field for a 61-yard score. It effectively set the tone for the night, especially for Barker who compiled 278 yards passing in the first half.
“We came in with an attitude,” Princeton head coach Keith Taylor said. “I think all week we talked about that we were going to try to be physical. Bluefield’s always had speed over the years. When I was in high school, the only way to beat Bluefield is go right at them. We thought we could do that. They’ve got a couple really good defensive linemen. I think their D-linemen played well, but their D-linemen got tired. I thought we were in very good condition. We had very few cramps today. You know, really just pounding the rock. Chance did a great job on two bad snaps. When you got a quarterback that’s a first team all-stater, you know you have that. So, you know, what we want to do is we want to run the football. We want to serve our will on people. We want to be able to control it. Listen when you play a high school football game, if you can run the ball and you can mash people, you can win football games.
Princeton’s defense was almost as flawless as its offense, encountering its only real threat two plays after Mossor’s opening score.
Eager to match, Bluefield found its first points of the season with its own two-play drive, knotting the game on a 73-yard touchdown run from Willis Wilson. It was downhill from there with the run accounting for all but 55 yards produced by the Beavers Friday.
“We’ve said it from the beginning, we think that our defense is going to carry us in a lot of football games,” Taylor said. “It did not look like that on the first play of the game. You know, I know coach (Eric) McClanahan was furious about that. And we talked about it – with Bluefield you’ve got to limit the big plays. Those guys were hungry for the end zone. Obviously, it’s a big rivalry game and they pinned us, but I think our defense, they rose to the challenge. We didn’t give up right? Then, you’ve seen some Princeton teams that when something like that happens, we let Bluefield stay in the game. But I thought we did a really good job of just – we dominated them on the front. And I think we rotated a bunch of guys in there. Like I said earlier, I think that was a big deal for us. Our linebackers played a lot better and as long as we were able to not get pinned on the edge, they didn’t have very much success.”
Princeton’s offense never took its foot off the gas either.
The Tigers answered with a four-play 70-yard scoring drive, one that saw Barker save a snap that sailed over his head, roll right and fire a dart down the right sideline for a 44-yard completion to Garrett Mays. One play later Barker scrambled from left to right before hitting Daniel Jennings in the back of the end zone for a five-yard score.
Jennings again registered his name in the scoring column with a 50-yard touchdown run on the next drive ballooning the lead to 21-7 with 5:48 left in the opening quarter.
The fireworks slowed in the second quarter before picking up again in the final four minutes.
Marquel Lowe found the end zone from seven yards out with 3:10 to play in the second quarter and Barker added his third touchdown pass of the half on the following drive, hitting Wyatt Cline on a 70-yard strike.
Jennings and Lowe poured it on in the third, adding a rushing score each.
Bluefield’s lone defensive highlight of the night halted a scoring drive momentarily.
Leading 49-7 after a Jordan Cooper fumble recovery on special teams, Barker was intercepted by Jordan Harris, briefly slowing the avalanche. It resumed shortly after with Barker connecting with Mossor again. Lowe put the finishing touches on the night in the fourth quarter, powering in from a yard out for his third rushing score of the evening.
“We don’t have our outside speed backers, outside linebackers,” Bluefield head coach Fred Simon said. “(Wilson) is pretty quick, and he didn’t get to play. He had to go to safety this week because (Jeff King’s) not in the game, and we didn’t have enough quickness to basically stop that quick stuff. We didn’t tackle well when we did. They’ve got talent out there, and you’ve got to tackle like that. And we had our chances early, if we happened to get a fumble or something on that bad snap, then we got a chance. So we didn’t get the fumble. He makes a nice scramble, we’re not containing and then we don’t stay in our zone coverage or man coverage, whatever we’re doing. (Barker) made a nice play. That’s what hurt us. I mean, it’s hard, man, it sucks.”
As successful as Princeton was, it struggled to quiet one of its concerns from Week 1 – penalties.
A week after they were dinged 14 times for 106 yards, the Tigers were hit 18 times for 134 yards bringing their season count to 32 penalties in two games.
“We’ve got to clean it up,” Taylor said. “That’s been a point of emphasis for us. I think we toned it back a little bit. We tried not to get those kind of 15 yarders and those kind of things. I think we did a good job on that, but we’re holding but you know, a lot of those penalties, you go back and people are gonna say we’re undisciplined or whatever they say, but if you go back and watch the tape, it’s just dudes really just trying to make a play.
“We got our hands inside. We wanted to put dudes on the ground and those outside guys want to get pancakes, just like those guys in the middle. We’re a very physical football team, and I think a lot of times on the edge, we don’t know when to let go. That’s where a lot of our penalties come from – the holding penalties. But what we really have to clean up are those procedure penalties. We’re jumping offsides, you know? We’re gonna clean it in practice. And if they don’t, they’re just gonna get in really good shape.”
Barker led the Tigers with 314 yards passing and four touchdown passes. Mossor hauled in four of those passes, two for scores, for 104 yards. Lowe rounded out the triplets with 145 yards rushing and three scores on 12 carries, adding two catches for 56 yards.
Kalum Kiser, Landyn Moore and Landon Dillon all registered a sack each with Garrett Mays adding an interception.
Wilson led Bluefield with 90 yards on nine carries.
Princeton (2-0) travels to Oak Hill (2-0) in a rematch of last year’s opening round playoff game between the two schools, won by Princeton. Bluefield (0-2) aims to pick up the pieces of its season Thursday when it hosts Class AAA Greenbrier East (1-1).
