Princeton to test mettle at VHSL Class 3 Lord Botetourt
Sep. 22—PRINCETON — Coming out of last week's open date, the Princeton Tigers are the fourth-ranked Class AAA football team in West Virginia, boasting a rating of 11.33 in this week's WVSSAC Football Rankings in their classification.
On Friday, the Tigers (3-0) will test their mettle against one of the most high-powered Class 3 football teams in Virginia, traveling to Daleville, Va. to face Lord Botetourt (4-1).
"They're a championship-caliber football team. It's a formidable opponent. They're the equivalent of a Top Four team in West Virginia," said Princeton head coach Chris Pedigo, the balance of whose slate will include the likes of Hurricane, Bridgeport, Parkersburg South, Woodrow Wilson and Greenbrier East.
Parkersburg South (4-0) currently tops the Class AAA ranking followed by Morgantown (3-0) and Spring Valley (3-0).
Pedigo said he hasn't paid much attention to the rankings lately. He has enough on his mind on a weekly basis — Lord Botetourt being exemplary of the Tigers tough schedule.
"They'll probably be fighting for a championship in their division and they beat two really good football teams over the last two weeks," Pedigo said. "They play Big Boy football and we've got to have our heads on right."
The Cavaliers opened the season with 28-14 loss to Lynchburg's E.C. Glass (Class 4) but promptly followed that with a 70-0 gob-smacking of Blacksburg.
Lord Botetourt most recently knocked off perennial Class 2 state contender Appomattox County (1-3), but of far greater historical import was Lord Botetourt's 35-21 win over Riverheads the weak prior.
The Class 1 Gladiators went into that game with the longest active winning streak in the nation (52 games) and were tied with Phoebus for the longest winning streak in VHSL history. Thanks to Lord Botetourt, Riverheads and Phoebus will likely be stuck on that rung together for quite some time.
Quarterback Jakari Nicely had four rushing touchdowns and a scoring strike against Riverheads. In the win versus Appomattox County, Nicely rushed for 218 yards and t hree touchdowns while Zion Woody Ran for 132 yards and one touchdown.
Lineplay has been a major contributor to Princeton's success in recent seasons, but the Cavaliers literally be a big challenge for the Tigers interior. The Cavs have at least three linemen who've been offered by Power 5 programs.
"I see a big, physical football team. They're big, they're physical. They're power football. They're coming straight at you double tight with a wing and doing different things. Their quarterback is pretty much just a running back in that position. They don't throw the ball a whole lot. They come right at you, man," Pedigo said.
"We're trying to prepare the best we can. We told our guys yesterday that I think this is a great opportunity for our program. It's a measuring stick of where we're at and where we want to be. We'll see what happens," he said.
Four-year starting quarterback Grant Cochran leads the Tigers offense, having thus far completed 44-of-69 passing attempts for 522 yards and seven touchdowns. He has allowed three interceptions. Dominick Collins (18 receptions, 260 yards, 4 TDs) and Brad Mosser (11-120, TD) lead the recievers.
Marquell Lowe (28-191, 3 TDs) and Brodee Rice (24-128, 2 TDs) lead the Princeton rushing attack.
The Tigers made use of last week's open date to prepare for the tough stretch ahead.
"We got some guys healed up and some sickness. We didn't play very well offensively against Oak Hill but we tried to use last week to get better there and get some eyes on Lord Botetourt a week early. We knew we had our work cut out there so we just wanted to get a jump on that team," Pedigo said.
"They're very good defensively, too. We feel like we can do some things, but it comes down to execution. We've got our work cut out for us," he said.
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