Gallery by Ashley Honaker
Wheeling – Princeton’s offense has been good enough to overcome its miscues all season long.
The margin for error was nonexistent Saturday afternoon in Wheeling.
Drops, overthrows and an inability to run the ball doomed the Tigers who fell behind 28-7 before losing 57-13 to Martinsburg in the Class AAA state championship at Wheeling Island Stadium.
The win clinched the 10th state championship for Martinsburg (13-0) – all of which have come since 2010 and nine of which have come under Dave Walker.
Aside from a trio of throws to Dom Collins, two of them for scores, the Tigers (12-2) never got out of neutral against a relentless Martinsburg front that sacked Princeton QB Chance Barker seven times.
The Tigers, who came in averaging 47 points and over 400 yards of offense a game, were held to 268 yards with 262 of them coming through the air. They netted just six yards on the ground with the seven sacks costing them 56 yards.
“Obviously, we knew it was gonna be tough to run the ball on them,” Princeton head coach Keith Taylor said. “We’re used to being able to run the ball well. They kind of beat us up front. I think that was the biggest thing. Their defensive line really, really dominated us. So it really put us in a bad situation. Our offense, they kept driving and kept driving but we didn’t make the plays we needed to and they were the better football team on the day.”
Collins, who claimed the Most Outstanding Player honors for Princeton, opened the scoring on Princeton’s second drive with a 44-yard touchdown grab from Barker for a 7-0 lead at the 7:34 mark. The Tiger defense responded by keeping the Bulldogs at bay through the first quarter but the dam broke in the second and washed the Tigers away. Murphy Clement rushed for touchdowns of 31 and 48 yards and threw one to Kashez Gedeon from 21 yards out with Koi Fagan adding a 29 yard touchdown run.
Those scoring plays came across four drives that consumed a total of nine plays.
“We had a couple penalties there in the first quarter that killed a couple of drives and we just needed to settle a little bit,” Martinsburg head coach Dave Walker said. “I think once we did that, we started hitting on all cylinders and things just started rolling for us.”
On the mat, Princeton took its final swing with 14 seconds left in the half. On fourth down, Collins blew through the coverage to haul in a 51-yard touchdown pass to quell the bleeding.
It resumed in the third with Clement adding two more rushing touchdowns to go with one from Fagan. Clement, who accounted for six total scores on the afternoon, added his final on a 34-yard toss to Gedeon for the final score.
“I mean, he’s Murphy,” Walker said. “He’s a great player and he really showed it today. He’s been really good all year, but today he really showed up ready to play and I was very happy for him. He’s a great kid and gonna have a really good career somewhere. So I’m looking forward to see what the future holds for him.”
Barker finished with 262 yards passing and two touchdown passes to push his season total to 48 but his two turnovers pushed his interception total to four on the year. Marquel Lowe, who had 1,683 yards rushing coming in, was held to 48 with 42 coming in the second half.
“I don’t know if it’s nerves but it is a big stage man,” Taylor said. “We’ve got a sophomore quarterback and we’ve got a bunch of sophomores out there playing and people forget that. Hats off to our seniors. Those guys have done everything we’ve asked them to do for four years. They’ve laid the foundation but we’re young. I think we lose four or six guys, I can’t remember because it’s crazy right now, but we’re gonna have a lot of guys back and this is what we needed. We needed the opportunity to come to Wheeling Island and see what it was like. The next time we come here, hopefully it won’t be another 100 years, but we’ll be able to come out, get our nerves out of the way and come here to handle business. I think our guys tried to do that early. But it’s a big stage. It was a good experience for our guys, but it’s an even better experience for our underclassmen because now they know what it takes.”
Collins, who finished with seven catches for 169 yards and two scores, tied the single-season touchdown reception record with 27 on the year. He finishes the season with 1,901 yards receiving.
“Hats off to Princeton and Dom Collins is great,” Walker said. “He’s a good player and he made some good plays. I knew he could make a few plays so we wanted to try to minimize them but I wish we would have done a little better job.”
“He’s the best athlete that’s ever come through Princeton High School,” Taylor said of Collins. “I think he’s one of the best athletes in the state of West Virginia. I’m biased. I’m obviously gonna say he is the best but I think he proved it today. And listen Martinsburg’s a really good football team. They had multiple dudes on him. So let’s remember that and I think that’s what Dom does. He’s grown as an individual and that’s what I care most about. Dom has become a selfless player. He’s worried more about his teammates now than he is himself and that, as a coach, is why we’re in the job and why we do what we do Instead of for a timecard.”
Huff Award candidate (annually awarded to the state’s top defensive player) Rashad Reid finished with two sacks and three total tackles for a loss.
Clement rushed for 210 yards on 14 carries, earning Most Outstanding Player honors for Martinsburg. His four rushing touchdowns tied the Class AAA Super Six record and his 15 yards per carry broke the previous Class AAA mark of 14.4 (minimum 10 attempts).
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94