Princeton – It took a half but the dam finally broke on the Beavers.
Princeton all-stater Brad Mossor erupted in the second compiling 164 yards of total offense in the third quarter alone, leading the offensive charge as the Tigers rolled to a 51-6 victory over nemesis Bluefield Friday night at Hunnicutt Stadium.
The victory extends Princeton’s (2-0) winning streak against its Mercer County foes to five in a row, a record in the rivalry.
For Mossor it was another standout performance that was needed after the defense held serve for most of the first half. The junior wide out finished with 208 yards of total offense (182 yards receiving and 26 rushing), adding two receiving touchdowns and another rushing.
It was a tale of two halves for the standout senior who had just 44 yards of total offense before the break.
“The first half I was like, ‘Guys, they’re doubling me,'” Mossor said. “They brought a linebacker, another linebacker and a safety over top. So I was like, ‘Guys, it’s not going to be my game tonight, so some somebody’s going to have to step up.’ My guys Wyatt (Cline), JoJo (Campbell), they all stepped up. Came in the second half, they stopped the bracket and it was game time from there.”
Mossor’s eruption helped seal the deal, backing the effort of a Tiger defense that forced five Bluefield turnovers (with a sixth coming on special teams), held Bluefield to 1-of-10 on third down conversion attempts and allowed the visitors in the red zone just twice.
“For us to be successful against great football team the mistakes have got to be limited,” Bluefield head coach Freddy Simon said. “Sometimes you have a bad game. It’s sad but we did.”
Early it was the Beavers who shined on defense, coming away with a fumble and an interception on two of Princeton’s first four possession, forcing a punt and turnover on downs on the other two. But a ball that slipped out of the hands of Bluefield QB Max Simpson was recovered by the Tigers at the Bluefield 20 and four plays later running back Jake Belcher found the end zone form 10 yards out with 8:59 to play in the opening quarter.
Undeterred, the Bluefield offense went right back to work with Simpson engineering a four-play, 57-yard touchdown drive that ended in a 10-yard completion to Tylee Simon.
A blocked extra point by Kalum Kiser was the first highlight for a special teams unit that blocked a punt for a touchdown and recovered a fumble.
Unfortunately for the visitors their opportunity to strike faded.
Five of Princeton’s next seven drives ended in touchdowns with Alex Cox pounding one in from two yards out and Princeton QB Chance Barker connecting with Wyatt Cline for a 27-yard touchdown with 3:30 to go in the half.
Meanwhile Bluefield’s final two drives of the first half ended with a fumble and interception, respectively.
“That’s our defensive philosophy,” Princeton head coach Nate Tanner said. “We talk to our kids about pressure all the time. Not just on defense but all three phases of the game. We have a saying that pressure bursts pipes or it makes diamonds. We’re going to try and apply as much pressure as possible and I feel like defensively on early downs our kids are getting really good with situational awareness and what I mean is they understand when it’s a run down or pass down and what to anticipate what’s coming.
“All week long we worked on their quick screen game because they do a fantastic job getting their kids out in space. So we stalked about that and how to anticipate. I feel like our ids really executed the game plan tonight and holding them to six points, I’m super proud of them and coach (Jordan) Jones too. He’s doing a great job.”
Down just 20-6 at the break, the Beavers had a chance to cobble some positive plays together and committed their biggest negative of the night. A muffed kickoff was recovered by the Tigers and just three plays later Barker found Mossor for the first of his three touchdowns in the frame.
“I get it,” Simon said. “How in the hell – you fumble – maybe we get a drive and maybe score and we’re right in the game. Instead we got a kid back there and he just fumbles the ball. It kills you.”
Bluefield’s last gasp came down 26-6 when the Beavers found themselves facing second-and-goal from the 8. A fade to Pax Calhoun was intercepted by Cox, his second of the night. On the very next play Mossor housed an 80-yard screen pass.
“Alex, him as a kid, he’s aware of what he is,” Tanner said. “He knows he’s 5-foot-7, 5-foot-8 but he is a bulldog man. When I first started coming here last spring I would watch him compete with some of the guys and I didn’t know who Alex Cox was. I saw him compete with Brad Mossor. There’s a difference when kids compete and when they compete and they think they’re better and that’s how Alex plays too. He knows what he is but he has all the confidence in the world. That’s what enables him to make plays at a high level. Tonight he knew they were going to try him with (Calhoun) who’s 6-foot-3, 6-foot-4 and he just capitalized on his opportunities.”
For the Tigers the negatives – two touchdowns lost to holding penalties – were outweighed by the positives, mostly the offensive efficiency. Tanner’s squad finished 9-of-13 on third down conversion attempts.
“I’ll start with our guys up front,” Tanner said. “They protect Chance extremely well. Our receivers do a fantastic job running routes and catching the ball. Chance – I say this with full confidence – I think he’s the best quarterback in the state of West Virginia. Tonight he was playing on one ankle after he hurt it in the first quarter and that skimmed the playbook because we couldn’t run him or sprint him out. He just stayed in there and battled and we saw how they were aligned and everything and our kids do a great job. We have veterans so our kids come over to me and we talk about leverage and space and we go from there.”
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