Football -- Princeton dealt second loss of season

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on September 12, 2004 2:01 AM

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PRINCETON -- Despite losing three fumbles and getting penalized 15 times for a whopping 155 yards, Pinetown Northside ran at will to the tune of 410 yards in a 40-12 rout of Princeton Friday night.

"Give Princeton a lot of credit, its team in really improved. We won five ball games last year, and for some reason we came out overconfident," Northside coach Bing Mitchell said. "I don't know, we just weren't sharp, but give Princeton some credit."

Panther tailback C.J. Wilson rushed for 129 yards, including a 44-yard scoring scamper early in the third quarter that helped Northside (4-0) begin to pull away after leading just 10-0 at halftime.

Bulldog quarterback Bren Hall quickly answered with the first of his two touchdown passes on the next possession, when he found Brooks Moore from nine yards out to make the score 16-6 with 6:51 remaining in the third quarter.

But visiting Northside answered immediately with a 52-yard scoring run by Rico Moore, his second touchdown of the game. The Panthers followed that up with a 35-yard touchdown by Terrance Davis.

As the fourth quarter got underway, the Panthers held a commanding 32-6 lead and never looked back.

"We were still in the ball game there for a while," said Princeton coach Joe Mitchell. "We feel like when we get our linebackers back next week that will help us on the defensive side of the ball. We might be able to play a little better defense."

After failing to complete a pass in his first seven attempts, Hall settled down when his team was relegated to catch-up mode by completing seven of his last 10 passes.

He finished with 132 yards with just one interception late in the game.

"Bren didn't play last week for us, so having him back was a big plus for us this week," Joe Mitchell said. "He's a real smart kid that makes good decisions. We were glad to have him back."

On the other hand, Northside's two quarterbacks only attempted three passes.

In addition to Wilson's exploits, Terrence Davis added 96 yards to the Panthers' dominating ground attack.

Princeton (1-2) travels to South Lenoir on Friday.

Northside 2 8 22 8 -- 40

Princeton 0 0 6 6 -- 12

First quarter

PN -- Safety, ball snapped out of end zone 1:47

Second quarter

PN -- Moore 4 run (R.Moore run) 10:26

Third quarter

PN -- Wilson 44 run (run failed) 10:29

PHS -- Moore 9 pass from B.Hall (pass failed) 6:51

PN -- Moore 52 run (C.Wilson run) 6:32

PN -- Davis 35 run (Palmer pass from Corprew) 2:07

Fourth quarter

PHS -- Johnson 28 pass from B.Hall (kick failed) 10:35

PN -- Palmer 29 pass from J.Corprew (R.Moore run) 7:04

Northside Princeton

First downs 12 13

Rushes-yards 41-410 20-14

Passing yards 29 132

Total yards 439 146

Comp.-att.-yards 1-3-1 9-23-1

Fumbles-lost 5-3 0-0

Penalties-yards 15-155 2-30

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Northside -- C. Wilson 9-129, T. Davis 9-96, Ri. Moore 8-82, M. Boyd 3-33, Ro. Moore 5-25, A. Boyd 2-23, G. Palmer 1-8, J. Corprew 2-6, M. Williams 1-5, D. Dixon 1-3. Princeton -- K.Johnson 10-13, J.Phillips 6-11, B.Hall 4-10.

PASSING -- Northside -- J. Corprew 1-3-29. Princeton -- B.Hall 9-23-132.

RECEIVING -- Northside -- G. Palmer 1-29. Princeton -- M.Johnson 2-44, P.Gatewood 2-34, J.Phillips 1-28, B.Moore 3-25, K.Johnson 1-1.