Frasier has six-TD night against Granville Central

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on November 16, 2013 11:43 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

PRINCETON -- Granville Central couldn't find a way to collar Princeton's relentless running game Friday evening.

In fact, the Bulldogs roamed free all night.

Junior Johnny Frasier rushed for 350 yards and six touchdowns -- all in the first half -- during a 59-22, opening-round victory in the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-AA playoffs.

"Our defense has been worried all week because of their potent offense and we know they can throw points on the board quick," PHS head coach Derrick Minor said. "We just decided they were going to have stop us first. Johnny from the beginning scoring on the reverse, that was beautiful and set the tone for the rest of the game."

Set the tone, indeed.

Fourth-seeded Princeton (9-3 overall) converted its first four offensive possessions that ended on Frasier touchdown runs. After the fifth-seeded Panthers recorded their lone defensive stop of the opening half, Frasier added three more TD runs of 76, 5 and 30 yards.

The last two scoring plays occurred within a 60-second span.

"Getting a large lead sets the tone early," Minor said. "Now they're trying to do everything they can to score. When you're coming from behind, it's really hard and whatever momentum you've had coming in is all of a sudden taken away."

Granville Central (7-5) scored on its third offensive possession, but lost two fumbles and turned the ball over on downs as it fell behind 52-8 by halftime.

The Bulldogs' defense logged six stops behind the line of scrimmage and held the fifth-seeded Panthers to 111 yards of total offense in the opening half.

"The motto tonight was a relentless mentality, no big plays, shut down their passing game and we'll be fine," Princeton linebacker Cody Garner said. "In practice, we went through probably 10, 20, 30 different formations that they run, watching who comes out and getting lined up perfectly every time.

"We were just filling holes."

Sophomore linebacker Adrian Whack emerged the Bulldogs' top tackler with six stops. Garner logged 21/2 tackles, including the lone sack on Panthers' quarterback Jay Parker.

Princeton forced three turnovers.

Dillon Pace capped the Bulldogs' playoff-record outburst with a 50-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter, and finished the night with 99 yards on 14 carries. Princeton owned a decisive 574-279 advantage in total offense. Each team ran 53 plays.

The Bulldogs established playoff records for total points in a game (59), points in a half (52), margin of victory (37) and consecutive home postseason wins (3).