Welcome back to The Deep Post, a weekly column that hits on the rumblings of the week past and ahead. This week’s offering dissects a historic offensive performance in Princeton, the Kennedy front-runner and Ethan Holliday’s performance in West’s win.
Opening Drive
I’ll never forget the lede to former Charleston Gazette-Mail writer Rick Ryan’s story on the 2019 Class AA title game.
“In the latest installment of the tortoise versus the hare, consider a good portion of the state shell-shocked.”
Take a moment to let that sink in.
Not only was it clever but it perfectly summarized the feeling around that game and the contrasting styles of its participants – Bridgeport and Bluefield.
Bluefield was the dynamic, high-scoring team that was crowned after beating Fairmont Senior the week before in what was considered the title game as the two had met in Wheeling in 2017 and ’18. Bridgeport was the slow, methodical, run-first team that didn’t pick up a single yard through the air in the ’19 title game.
Add in Bluefield’s dominant semifinal wins over the Indians in those ’17 (37-14) and ’18 (35-14) campaigns and you can understand why Bridgeport was an underdog.
But the tortoise won out shocking Bluefield 21-14.
Friday the Indians again ran into a dynamic offense and to their credit they held their own. But the hare, Bluefield’s Mercer County rival Princeton, was too much this time.
The Tigers tallied 518 yards on touchdown scoring plays alone in a 73-70 semifinal win. Princeton head coach Keith Taylor was pretty open about his game plan coming in – he wanted a shootout. Rarely do teams ever stop Bridgeport and the Tigers’ success is often contingent on boat racing teams. Still, 143 points isn’t what he planned for. But his team never seemed uncomfortable, scoring touchdowns on nine straight drives. The numbers on those drives are as unbelievable as the 73 points Princeton scored.
Of the Tigers’ 10 touchdown drives, only two lasted at least six plays. Four of them consisted of just one play and two of them required just two plays. Overall it took 29 plays across 10 scoring drives to accumulate 67 of those 73 points (the other six came on a defensive score). The most impressive part was that the two teams kept pace.
There was pressure on Bridgeport to make up a three-score deficit out of the half but that pressure quickly shifted to Princeton when the Indians proved they weren’t going quietly. Princeton never folded and went shot for shot with the Indians. It takes a village to make those plays and a little bit of luck. Princeton QB Chance Barker did a great job moving in the pocket when necessary and getting the ball to his receivers. Plays that stick out were both touchdown passes to Brad Mossor and the one to Lowe. I thought Mossor actually bailed out his QB a couple of times with the balls he caught, making plays after the catch. A select few may get the headlines but that doesn’t mean the contributions don’t go unnoticed.
Collins for Kennedy
I wrote about the Kennedy race earlier in the week but it’s over. I’ve covered three Kennedy winners in the last six seasons so I know what one looks like. Dom Collins should undoubtedly be the winner in my opinion. I hope everyone in attendance can appreciate the historical performance the speedy Princeton receiver put on Friday. It looked like he was playing Madden on rookie mode against the Bridgeport defense.
Lets preface this by saying Bridgeport doesn’t give up those type of performances. It held Martinsburg to 21 points in the playoffs two times over the last two years.
But I have seen one other player do what Collins did against Bridgeport Friday night – Bluefield’s Mookie Collier. Collier rushed for 294 yards and four scores in the 2017 Class AA semifinal against the Indians, the performance that cemented his Kennedy win that year. Collins did him a few better. He caught nine passes for 330 yards and four touchdowns and rushed twice for 19 yards and another score (he had a kneel down that cost him 21 yards as Princeton ran the clock late).
Collins beat the Indians in every way possible. He caught a pass 40 yards down the field in double coverage for his first touchdown and took a pair of screens 80 yards for scores. They couldn’t tackle him in space. They couldn’t tackle him period. He has everything you’d want from a Kennedy winner – the stats (76 catches, 1,1731 yards and 25 receiving scores), the signature performances against good teams and most importantly his team is in the Super Six.
He had two tackles in each of the last two weeks I would argue saved two games for Princeton.
His tackle at the Princeton 9 on a kickoff against Parkersburg saved points with a turnover on downs following four plays later. His tackle at the Princeton 1 Friday night led to a score as the Tigers forced, recovered and returned a fumble 96 yards on the very next play.
Those plays only show up as tackles in the boxscore but in hindsight they’re game-changing plays and season-saving plays.
His senior class is the first in school history to earn four consecutive playoff berths and that’s not a coincidence. That doesn’t factor into the Kennedy discussion but it shows the caliber of player he is.
We received our ballots Friday morning with a Thursday deadline. Collins is at the top of mine, followed by Williamstown’s Maxwell Molessa and Martinsburg’s Murphy Clement.
The Holliday Season
Dom Collins wasn’t the only star to show out Friday. With a trip to Wheeling on the line Greenbrier West’s Ethan Holliday had a signature performance that will long be remembered in Charmco.
He took over at QB for an injured Cole Vandall and scored three times in the fourth quarter, breaking a 7-7 tie and sending West to Wheeling for the first time since 2013. Holliday came into the postseason banged up but has gutted it out and made a difference.
He threw the decisive two-point conversion pass last week against Wahama and added an interception in Friday’s semifinal win. I don’t think Holliday’s a Kennedy Award candidate but he justifies my thought process for holding my ballot until after the semifinals have concluded. The best players show up on the biggest stages and what Holliday did fits that bill.
What adds to his legend is that West was also without Jake Pate and Tucker Lilly. So to recap Holliday scored three touchdowns for a team without its leading passer (Vandall), rusher (Pate) and receiver (Lilly). James Monroe knew where the ball was going late in that game and still couldn’t stop it. It doesn’t get better than that.
Patriot Glow
I was curious as to whether or not Independence could compete Friday at Fairmont. Both teams are physical but in Indy head coach John H. Lilly’s words, his boys were held together by duct tape and bubblegum. This season was not kind to the Patriots who battled injuries all year long but they still made an improbable run to the semis.
Not only that but they were competitive, trailing 28-21 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Fairmont pulled away down the stretch but realistically this was further than most expected the Patriots to make it, myself included. I thought they’d lose a close one at Roane. After winning the way they did in that round I thought the quarterfinal matchup with Winfield would be a tossup and the Patriots pitched a shutout there.
There aren’t many moral victories but considering how young the Patriots are across the board I’d say they’re well ahead of schedule in their reload. Going in I thought this was the year to get them with a talented middle school group coming up to help fill the holes left behind by players such as D Hypes, Tyler Linksweiler and Trey Bowers. It remains to be seen where Indy lands when the new classifications are released but they’ll be a title contender for the foreseeable future regardless.
Final Thoughts
The Princeton community should pat itself on the back for the support it’s shown over the last month. I had three different Bridgeport area writers/photographers comment on the size of the home side crowd, asking if it’s usually like that. Your energy fueled the atmosphere and caused my watch to send two noise notifications throughout the evening.
That doesn’t factor in the support throughout the week from the blue lights across town to the signs and social media support (I’m struggling to figure at who’s who with all the Tiger paw print profile pictures).
We’ve had an area team that’s played for a title every year since I started back in 2017 and I don’t recall seeing support like this. There’s even a petition to move the Christmas parade to another day so more people can travel to Wheeling. Maybe it’s because I live in Princeton and I’m more exposed to it, but it beats anything I’ve seen before.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on twitter @tjack94
