Prep notebook: Princeton avenges another regular-season loss

By Staff Reports
Published in Sports on November 19, 2012 1:48 PM

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Princeton head football coach Derrick Minor used familiarity to his advantage when preparing for a second meeting with Carolina 1-A Conference foe North Duplin in the first round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1-A (small-school) playoffs.

The Bulldogs won 28-21 and avenged a mid-season loss.

Minor used knowledge of an opponents' tendencies to his benefit once more and devised a well-crafted gameplan for a rematch with rival Rosewood. Minor and his staff largely took away the Eagles' running game and attacked weaknesses in Rosewood's defense.

"Familiarity helped again," Minor said. "We did some different things with our linemen and our linebackers. We've gotten a second chance and you don't get that opportunity very much. We got a second chance to game plan them and to do some different things."

Out of character

WARSAW -- In preparation for his team's game with Red Springs in the NCHSAA Class 1-AA (large school) football playoffs, head coach Ken Avent Jr. stressed getting ahead early and controlling the tempo.

The Tigers did neither, allowed a pair of big plays and fell behind 21-14 after the first quarter.

"I told the guys that (Red Springs) is not the kind of team you want to get behind," Avent Jr. said. "We are not the kind of offense that normally lights up the scoreboard so we knew we had to win the second quarter."

James Kenan responded to the early deficit with 42 unanswered points in the second and third periods, and rolled to 555 yards of offense. The shootout was the Tigers' best showing of the season and ended with 68 points on the board.

These dogs bite

Princeton's rapidly improving defense turned in another impressive performance in a 27-7 win over Rosewood on Friday night.

The Bulldogs held the Eagles to 142 yards of offense and Rosewood failed to score an offensive touchdown. Princeton intercepted Rosewood quarterback Jacob Sasser three times.

After surrendering 34 points a game during the regular season, the Bulldogs' are giving up just 13 points a contest in the playoffs.

"We're getting healthy," first-year Princeton head coach Derrick Minor said. "We're limiting our two-way players so everybody is pretty much on one side of the ball. With a small school if you can do that it keeps everybody fresh so when you go against a team that has multiple two-way players we wear them down at the end."