Princeton – The first three years of Chris Pedigo’s run of the Princeton football team were rough.
Wins were hard to come by as the Tigers finished with just four during that three-year span.
But he had his eyes on the long-term outlook of the program and it paid off. A pass-first offense that was born out of necessity realized its potential as the Tigers finished with a 6-2 record, returning to the playoffs and advancing to the second round due to a COVID forfeit.
There they ran into the eventual Class AAA champion in South Charleston, falling 57-18.
That was the end of a successful season, but the start of what Pedigo hopes is a successful era.
“It was nice to be at that point last year but we ran into a team with probably the best defensive line in the state,” Pedigo said. “They were good, but I talk about it all the time, we’ve come a long way. We went into the last week of the 2018 season needing a win to avoid going winless and we got it. It’s a lot different around here now.”
If the Tigers are to establish themselves as one of the top programs in Class AAA this season, they’ll need to find a way to mitigate the losses on offense. Gone are Moss Award winner Ethan Parsons, fellow wide receiver Josiah Honaker and running back Amir Powell.
“Those guys did a lot of things last year for us,” Pedigo said. “Probably 90 percent of our offense was what those guys did. But we have a lot of guys stepping up. We have some length and some guys that have paid their dues over the last few years and they’re going to get an opportunity to take advantage of it. We think we have three or four running backs that might give us a committee type of thing and then we’ve got some that could take the job in camp. But we feel like we’ve got some weapons.”
Fortunately for the Tigers, the cupboard isn’t bare. They’ll return junior quarterback Grant Cochran, who is a two-year starter and earned second-team all-state honors following the 2020 campaign.
“He’s really improved in his maturation process,” Pedigo said. “He’s going to keep bringing these guys along and we have some good seniors that are going to be around. We may not have the dynamic guys that can run straight down the field, but we have some guys that are going to catch the football and do some good things. It’s just not going to be a one-man show. You’re going to see a lot of guys on Friday nights that will see an opportunity to run and catch the football. Grant is the key cog in being able to run the offense and what we do.”
While they’re unlikely to produce the same eye-boggling numbers last year’s group did, Pedigo feels comfortable with the group of skill players he has returning this season.
“You’ll see Peyton Clemons who played in the slot for us a little last year before he broke his hand,” Pedigo said. “He played defense at the end of the year but he’ll be in a wide receiver position. Jonathan Wellman is 6-foot-4 and played basketball. He played last year for us but he really came out late and really practiced to see what he could do this year so he’ll get an opportunity. Connor Padgett is going to play in the slot, Carter Meachum is going to play in the slot, Khamrin Proffit is going to be an h-back for us and you’ll see him with his hand in the dirt.”
Pedigo also notes that the offense might be more balanced. Last year the team threw the ball to open up the run, but this year is different. One reason why is he returns his entire starting offensive line. Early in his tenure that unit was one of the team’s weaker ones, but the tides have turned. With the experience in the trenches he anticipates some schematic additions to this year’s team.
“I think you’ll see it change a little bit,” Pedigo said. “There were some things we wanted to do last year but we were so good in 10 personnel that we didn’t change up some things. We were really good with what we were doing with those guys. I think you’ll see some different looks, some different formations, but I think we are who we are. We like to be known as a football team that can throw the ball and now we’ve got more.
“We started this offense four or five years ago because we weren’t very good in the run game. We needed to get the ball out in space because we didn’t have a lot of linemen and now we’ve evolved to where we have a line that can compete with anybody and we have running backs that are going to give us the opportunity to run hard. We feel like we’ve evolved from a passing team to one that’s balanced and can put more emphasis on the run.”
Contact Tyler Jackson at tylerjackson@lootpress.com, call him at 304-731-5542 and follow on Twitter @tjack94
Schedule
1 08/27/21 7:00PM A – LINCOLN COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL –
2 09/03/21 7:00PM H – BLUEFIELD –
3 09/10/21 7:00PM H – OAK HILL –
4 09/17/21 7:00PM H – LINSLY, WV. H.S. –
5 09/24/21 7:00PM H – LORD BOTETOURT ,VA H.S. –
6 10/01/21 7:00PM A – WOODROW WILSON –
7 10/08/21 OPEN –
8 10/15/21 7:00PM A – HEDGESVILLE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL –
9 10/22/21 7:00PM H – BRIDGEPORT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL –
10 10/29/21 7:00PM A – GREENBRIER EAST –
11 11/05/21 7:00PM A – PARKERSBURG SOUTH –
Roster
# Pos. Name Gr Ht Wt
1 RB/LB Brodee Rice 11 5’6 169
5 RB/DB DOMINICK COLLINS 10 5’6 128
7 RB/DB Ta Vahjay Smith 12 6’0 175
9 WR/DB PEYTON CLEMONS 12 5’11 165
10 RB/DB CARTER MEACHUM 11 5’10 177
10 QB/DE GRANT COCHRAN 11 6’6 199
20 WR/DE BRADFORD HURT 11 6’3 190
21 WR/DB Samuel Padgett 12 6’0 140
26 RB/LB KHAMRIN PROFFITT 11 6’1 176
27 RB/LB Caleb Steele 10 5’8 185
28 RB/LB Joseph Spriggs 10 5’6 182
29 QB/LB REECE BURTON 12 6’0 181
30 OL/DT Thomas Trexler 11 5’11 225
34 RB/LB NOAH BASHAM 12 6’1 176
35 K CASEY GESO 11 6’1 185
52 OL JOSHUA PATTON 10 5’10 211
53 OL/DT MASON BROOKMAN 11 6’1 234
55 OL/DT Tyler Dye 12 6’0 235
60 OL/DT HUGH CAMPBELL 10 6’1 258
63 OL/DT ANTHONY LARKIN 10 5’11 245
64 OL/DE LOGAN DAVIS 10 6’2 177
65 OL/DT Brennen Dehart 11 6’1 247
72 OL/DT Blanke Helphenstine 12 6’6 244
74 OL/DT Logan Johnon 12 5’10 228
76 OL/DT MATTHEW LEWIS 12 6’0 298
77 OL/DT CHASE SMITH 10 5’11 228
78 OL/DT Law Timothy 10 5’10 269
79 OL/DE BRIAN RODE 11 5’10 171
88 WR JONATHAN WELLMAN 12 6’4 185