Panthers win third straight, pop Princeton

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on October 24, 2004 9:43 AM

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PRINCETON -- They say a football season is a marathon, not a sprint.

But chances are, if you were on the North Johnston offensive unit Friday night, you did a lot of sprinting.

With one game to go, the Panthers (8-2, 3-2) have caught their second wind as they won their third straight game Friday night in a 29-0 win over Princeton at the Fred Bartholomew Athletic Complex.

Panther tailback Adrian Briscoe was in full stride on the game's first play, as he went the distance on a 80-yard gallop for a quick 7-0 North Johnston lead. The run was a huge chunk of Briscoe's 149-yard night, as the senior runner got his fourth straight 100 yard game.

North Johnston's defense pitched its first shutout of the year and has not allowed any points in the last six quarters of play.

"I thought we played really good defensively," said North Coach Ken Avent. "I thought other than the turnovers, we did a good job offensively -- the offensive line had a good night."

Briscoe's run was first of a batch of big plays in the first half for the Panthers. Deep in its own territory at the 7-yard line, quarterback Brad Holloman threw a perfect lob to the left sideline to Damien Allen, who caught the ball in stride and went 93 yards with to give North a 14-0 advantage.

The Panthers would go on to score on four possessions in the first half, scoring all of their points in the opening two quarters.

"Brad made a real good throw and Damien made a nice catch, I think that was the big turning point in the game," said Avent.

The Bulldogs (1-7, 0-4) saw some efficiency in the passing game that was to the liking of Coach Joe Mitchell, despite the lean production on the scoreboard. Princeton signal-caller Bren Hall had seven completions for 113 yards.

"Brooks made some good catches and Bren was throwing the ball pretty good," said Mitchell. "We just never were able to break open."

Princeton put together a 16-play, 72-yard drive to open the second quarter to set up a field goal try at the Panther 15-yard line. But the 32-yard field goal try was blocked by defensive end Willie Smith. Princeton got the ball back after recovering a fumble, but North Johnston made a stand to leave the Bulldog side of the scoreboard at zero.

Holloman faked the pitch and kept it himself for a 62-yard scramble into the end zone to make the score 21-0.

"We had two chances right there," said Mitchell. "I think the second one hurt worse than the first one, because we had been able to move the ball and we caused the turnover and got the ball right back and drove it. That would be big if we at least get some kind of points out of it."

North plays its homecoming game against Ayden-Grifton next week, while Princeton will take on Farmville Central.

North Johnston 7 22 0 0 -- 29

Princeton 0 0 0 0 -- 0

First quarter

NJ -- Briscoe 80 run (Stancil kick) 11:49

Second quarter

NJ -- Allen 93 reception (Stancil kick) 8:20

NJ -- Holloman 62 run (Stancil kick) 4:03

NJ -- Safety 2:15

NJ -- Briscoe 38 run (kick fail) 1:45

NJ Prin

First Downs 6 11

Rushing Yards 24-267 30-47

Passing Yards 99 113

Total Yards 366 160

Comp-att-int 2-3-0 7-20-2

Fumbles lost 3-2 1-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- North Johnston -- Briscoe 8-149; Holloman 6-73; Cooper 6-20; Wise 2-23; Britt 1-2. Princeton -- Hall 8-12; Phillips 4-6; Johnson 10-(-5); Gurley 1-21; Scarboro 4-13; Radford 1-2.

PASSING -- North Johnston -- Holloman 2-3-0-1, 99 yards. Princeton -- Hall 7-20-2-0, 113 yards

RECEIVING -- North Johnston -- Allen 2-99, TD. Princeton -- Moore 3-48; Gerrell 1-10; Gatewood 1-16; Johnson 1-19; Scarboro 1-20.