Welcome back to The Deep Post, a notebook/column that dissect the happenings of the week past and ahead. This week’s offering digs into Princeton’s penalty issues which have hit a boiling point, Davon Marion’s brilliant preparation, storylines for the second half, game balls and the first mailbag question.
Princeton’s boiling point
Well, it happened. If you’ve been following along you know I’ve been critical of Princeton’s discipline, or lack thereof.
From the Week 3 Deep Post.
Despite the 3-0 start, the Tigers are still committing penalties at an alarming rate. The 13 they committed for 135 yards Friday against Oak Hill brought their season total to 45 for 375 yards, again unofficially. I do a poor job charting offsetting penalties at times between spotting the ball and making notes amongst other responsibilities during those 40 seconds between plays, so the count may be even higher.
Extrapolate that over 10 games and that’s easily over 1,000 yards in penalties.
If there’s a positive to take away it’s that the 13 were a season low, but the mistakes are still concerning. They may not matter as much now, but they do once you get to the quarterfinals of the playoffs.”
I’ll start with this, In the four Princeton games we’ve staffed the Tigers have committed 58 penalties for 505 yards. That doesn’t count the Pulaski game we weren’t at, but I’m told they were south of 100 yards that night. That’s an objective number, a fact that spans across four separate games with different officiating crews.
Well, those penalties finally caught up to them Friday at Winfield.
In case you hadn’t heard they were hit with six unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in their win over the Generals. If I had to guess I’d imagine they hit the 200 mark with the other penalties they committed. Did they impact the outcome of the game? No.
But they did matter.
Marquel Lowe and Brad Mossor, the top two weapons on offense, were ejected Friday. That means unless they win their appeal, the Tigers will be without their services when they host Beckley in two weeks, a massive rating points game against a quad-A team that could decide if Princeton gets home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
I haven’t seen the video of the penalties that led to those ejections. I don’t need to. I’ve seen 40 other ones they’ve committed. Nothing has changed. It’s clearly gotten worse.
Was the officiating bad? Maybe, but when you’re a championship contender you can’t let a bubble team bring you down to its level. And with a .500 record, No. 16 rating and 27-point home loss, that’s exactly what Winfield is. It’s not mean, it’s true.
My blind guess is the suspensions won’t be overturned. I’ve talked to several neutral observers as well as some pro Princeton folks and the consensus is they won’t be overturned. Most believe they probably weren’t merited but the penalties piled up to a point the officials were sick of it. It’s also worth noting there’s an officiating shortage and a diligent campaign to enlist more. I don’t speak for the WVSSAC but I don’t imagine they want that sort of conflict with their officials.
Princeton has a reputation now which comes into play. As early as Week 3 I got wind of coaches and officials making note of Princeton’s penalty issues. Everyone has been keeping a close eye on them. It’s the underlying reason why I wrote about this in Week 3. Hurricane knows about it. Capital knows about it. Winfield knows about it. Coaches talk. There is no benefit of the doubt when this continues to be an issue.
Princeton is six games into the season. This is who they are.
So is this the wakeup call? Seeing two of your best players who were on an award-worthy path likely forced to sit out one of your biggest matchups of the season? Losing a playoff game because of a penalty wasn’t enough, why would this be any different?
Maybe reality will set in when the ratings come out Tuesday and Princeton sits at No. 2, clearly in control of home-field advantage. A loss to Beckley would likely end those hopes. I wouldn’t say it’s a forgone conclusion. Princeton isn’t great because of two players alone but losing both would hurt.
I still don’t know that the penalties are being taken seriously. All of the feedback I’ve seen on social media this weekend is still shifting blame to the referees (who may have been bad), largely ignoring the fact Princeton lies in a bed it made. The first step in remedying a problem is acknowledging you have one. If my roof is left leaking for weeks, should I be surprised when it collapses? A good example would be when a Princeton fan posted a video of a catch that was ruled incomplete against Tazewell. The post wasn’t malicious and the angle looked arguable but there were malicious comments along the lines of “the refs are screwing Princeton again.” Championship teams know you make your own breaks. But that sort of mentality is a symptom of the problem. It shifts accountability. For what it’s worth the pass was incomplete and another video angle proved as much.
There were two fellow Kennedy voters in attendance to watch that game Friday night. One of them texted me in the first half, before the ejections, and they couldn’t get over the penalties.
My thought? Princeton should consider itself lucky this happened now and not in the playoffs.
This isn’t an attack on head coach Keith Taylor or his religion. He’s very outspoken about his faith, often wearing hoodies and shirts that display bible verses and spread the gospel. I admire that conviction. If I may recommend one for his team, I’d go 1 Corinthians 13:11.
It’s time for the Tigers to put childish things away.
My question moving forward – who’s going to be the leader that holds everyone accountable?
If any of that makes you mad, ask yourself this – is it true?
This will be the last time I address Princeton’s penalties in this column space until the season concludes. The point’s been made.
It’s a shame Princeton went on the road, received standout performances from its best players including a five-touchdown effort from QB Chance Barker and vaulted to No. 2 in the ratings and the story is once again about its inability to get out of its own way.
Marion’s AscensionÂ
We’re 16 games into Davon Marion’s head coaching career and I’m not sure I’ve been this impressed by a young coach’s ability to install an effective game plan.
What does he do well? He makes somebody other than your best player beat him.
- Dom Collins, Princeton (2023 Kennedy Winner) – Four catches for 36 yards (season low).
- Sylas Nelson, Independence – 23 carries for 57 yards (season low) and three rushing touchdowns.
He also makes good script decisions to enhance his team’s chances of winning. Using an onside kick to hold Princeton to three offensive plays in a quarter is an incredibly shrewd tactic when you know you’re overmatched from a personnel perspective. Oak Hill ultimately lost that game but he recognized how to swing the odds.
Friday night’s matchup against Independence was more of the same. Sure there were turnovers and that’s an unreliable statistic with high variance but the focus was clear – hammer Sylas Nelson, the area’s leading rusher and force the freshmen around him to beat you. If they do you shake their hands and tell them good game. But any coach will take those odds. Marion was candid when discussing his strategy.
“I heard somewhere or read somewhere that they had four freshman on the offensive line, so I felt like we could take advantage of it,” Marion said after Friday’s win.
There’s also the freshman QB and any good defensive coach is going to make the rookie beat them instead of the vet.
Nelson still scored three touchdowns but was relegated to an incredibly inefficient role that saw him average just 2.4 yards per carry, well below his season average of 6.3. Speaking of season averages he fell nearly 100 yards short of the 152.3 yards rushing per game average he boasted coming into the contest. To me that’s less of blemish on Nelson and more of an acknowledgment of what Marion’s able to do.
He’s always been a sharp player. My first two years at Concord overlapped with his final two years where I had the chance to watch him, along Jake Lilly, stifle opposing offenses as first team all-conference standouts. He’s proving to be as good of a coach as he was a player.
Stretch StorylinesÂ
We’re either at the halfway point or just past it for all area teams. Here are the storylines I’ll be monitoring down the stretch.
- Westside’s run game – Westside’s run game is extremely productive. The problem is where the production comes from. Quarterback Kadien Vance leads the team with over 500 yards rushing and 12 rushing scores which isn’t too abnormal. The problem is he’s also a brilliant passer that makes the entire offense work. I would argue that there isn’t a single player locally who’s more important to his team’s success than Vance. The entire offense is contingent on him making plays with his arm or legs. That’s not a jab at Westside’s team. He’s just the focal point. With that said the schedule toughens up. Independence, Tug Valley and Shady Spring sit on the back end of the schedule. Exposing the fulcrum of your offense in the running game while remaining healthy is a difficult ordeal. Freshman Noah Ellis might help alleviate that stress. He ran the ball nine times for 91 yards and a touchdown against Liberty, capitalizing on meaningful snaps.
- Who Rebounds? – Bluefield, Greenbrier East and Midland Trail are all below .500 right now but the playoffs are still on the table. East has matchups with Oak Hill, Princeton and Nitro down the stretch, all games that carry massive ratings points if won. Trail has Greenbrier West, Lincoln County and James Monroe on the docket. Bluefield has three Class AAA matchups as well as a showdown with 4-2 James Monroe. Which of those teams, if any, can put their slow start behind them and sneak into the playoffs?
Game Balls
- Dwayne Vance – Westside was consistently penalized for a stretch Friday in its game against Liberty. I was in the visiting side press box and watched as the Westside crowd increasingly voiced its displeasure, getting unruly at one point. Vance was the one that stood up, calmed everyone down and let them know they were making it worse. We need more people taking action and holding peers accountable like that. It really diffused the situation that appeared to be negatively impacting the team as well.
- John H. Lilly – Independnece lost, but it didn’t come to tie. The Patriots went for two to win the game with a minute left, passing on an opportunity to tie the ball game at 21. The conversion attempt never had a chance to succeed but I liked the call to go for it. The football gods don’t reward cowards, just ask Kyle Shanahan. The goal is to maximize your team’s chances of winning. I referenced Davon Marion doing so in a different capacity. Lilly did so as well, it just didn’t work out. You could possibly end the game in regulation or lessen your odds in overtime. Add the fact Independence is heavily beat up and was playing its third Class AAA opponent of the season. He made the decision that gave him the best chance to win and protect the health of his team. An additional 10-plus plays in overtime from two-way players adds up.
- Kaiden Sims, Meadow Bridge – Sims had a Caleb Richmond type performance Friday. He rushed for 400 yards and piled up 17 tackles on defense. If Kadien Vance isn’t the most valuable player to his team, it’s Kaiden Sims.
- J.D. Mauritz, Oak Hill – Mauritz’s instant pressure on Independence’s two-point conversion play Friday blew it up from the snap, never giving anything an opportunity to materialize. He likely saved the game for the Red Devils.
- Wyoming East and PikeView – Losing sucks and Wyoming East and PikeView have endured tough times over the last five years. Both have been close this season but broke through and won their first games on Friday. Wyoming East held off Mount View on homecoming while PikeView spoiled Sissonville’s homecoming with a late interception.
Mailbag
Last week I opened up the mailbag for questions to be answered in this column. A reminder if you have a question you’d like to have answered in this column please send it to tylerjackson@lootpress.com by Thursday evening.
This week’s question comes from Jay.
“What are your thoughts about every team making the playoffs in every class? AAAA will automatically have every team making the playoffs because there are 16 teams in the field. In the other classes it looks like it would simply add another game. Yes some will argue that you will have blow outs but we see those anyway. It will generate revenue. You might have to give the top 1 or 2 seeds a bye but it makes it even across all the classes.”
I believe that the most beneficial part of that proposal would be easing the burden of scheduling in the regular season. There are many teams I believe are more interested in making the playoffs just to say they did as opposed to crafting a schedule that prepares them for winning in the postseason. I would suggest cutting the playoffs down to a field of eight teams per class, just because the quarterfinals are usually more fun but I believe that would force even more teams to turtle up in their regular season scheduling. It’s important to note that when the move to four classifications was approved, the WVSSAC executive directors and competition committee had hoped to make the playoff field in Class AAAA smaller, likely capped at eight teams. It was always supposed to be treated differently before the administrators decided to go in a different direction, creating the current contentious climate.
I think the model of allowing every team in is too inconsistent from a logistical standpoint. You have to account for extra travel expenses, coordinating a way to start all four playoffs at the same time and host all four state championships games on the same weekend and then changing it up every four years based on the amount of teams in a particular class. While making the playoffs isn’t the highest bar to clear, it’s still an achievement to work towards. It’s a no from me, but a good question.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
