North Johnston runs past Princeton

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on October 28, 2008 1:46 PM

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PRINCETON -- North Johnston's Glenwood Watson certainly turned in a performance worthy of Monday Night Football.

Princeton on the other hand failed to live up to its end of the bargain.

Watson rushed for 264 yards and three touchdowns as the Panthers gained 364 yards on the ground, and bulldozed their way to a 35-13, Class 1-A Carolina Conference victory on Monday evening.

Watson raced 55 yards to the end zone early in the first quarter and after a missed extra point, North Johnston led 6-0. Wayne Johnson added a 3-yard score early in the second quarter and Joe Harned's 17-yard touchdown pass to Charles Pipkin stretched the lead to 21-0.

"They're just so big ... bigger than us and stronger than us," said Bulldogs head coach Russell Williamson. "They ran right at us and we had trouble stopping them. We had trouble with that all night long."

Princeton (3-6 overall, 1-2 Carolina) got on the board late in the first half on Jeremy Carmichael's 90-yard kickoff return for a score.

The Bulldogs had an opportunity to further trim the Panthers' lead before halftime after driving to the North Johnston 4-yard line. The drive stalled and Williamson elected to send out James Drew for a 21-yard field goal, but Drew's kick was no good and the deficit remained 21-7 at the half.

Watson scampered 81 yards for a touchdown just three minutes into the third quarter. Princeton pulled to within 28-13 after Luke Mitchell returned a Panthers fumble 15 yards for a touchdown.

Watson capped his dominating performance with a 30-yard score less than two minutes into the fourth quarter.

North Johnston's clock-melting running game and its ability to maintain the lead throughout all but forced the Bulldogs' offense into a one-dimensional unit.

Princeton managed just 22 rushing yards on 17 carries. Quarterback Dylan Myers completed 12 of 31 passes for 115 yards, but was picked off twice. The Bulldogs also gave the ball away on a fumble and failed to convert on a fourth down.

"We had some penalties that killed us," Williamson said. "We've got to be able to run the football. We need to be able to run when they want us to throw and throw when they want us to run.

"We've played a lot better in every game than we played tonight."