Bulldogs trampled in season opener, 55-7
By Andy Britt
NL Staff Writer
27 August 2008 — Princeton was clearly overmatched when it hosted South Johnston Friday night. But despite coming up on the short end of a 55-7 rout at the hands of the defending 3A Cape Fear Valley Conference champs, junior quarterback Dylan Myers predicts better things for the Bulldogs as the season rolls on.
“We’ve got a lot of good things to build on,” said Myers, who is beginning his second year as the team’s starting signal caller.
Suffering through difficulties tackling on defense and passing on offense, Princeton (0-1) finally broke through on the scoreboard with a two-yard touchdown plunge by Myers with 4:32 to go in the third quarter.
But by then the game’s outcome was a foregone conclusion, although Trojans’ coach Joe Salas opted to keep in his starters into the fourth quarter.
After the game, Bulldogs coach Russell Williamson harbored no ill will towards his counterpart for what some may have perceived as running up the score.
“I don’t have any problem with Joe and his staff,” Williamson said. “He’s working on his stuff, and they’ve got to get in shape too. I’ve found out myself you can run them to death in practice, but they don’t really get into game shape until the game.
“I enjoy playing them.”
The Trojans’ one-two punch of quarterback Pat Dunigan and Division I college tailback prospect Tony Davis struck early and often against the undermanned Bulldogs. The explosive tandem, which combined for over 3,000 passing and rushing yards last season to lead the Trojans to the conference title, were on their respective marks again.
Davis, a 5-foot-9, 180-pound senior, who being actively recruited by schools including N.C. State, Rutgers and East Carolina, rushed just 10 times for 185 yards and three touchdowns of 14, 29 and 75 yards.
However, Princeton’s defenders did little to make to going tough on Davis and his backfield teammates.
“We’ve got to tackle,” Williamson said. “I don’t know if we’re going to see another running back like (Davis).”
With Dunigan orchestrating drive after drive, and Davis running roughshod over an undermanned Princeton defense, South managed to get nearly everyone involved offensively.
“All the big dogs on offense looked great,” Salas said.
But the difference this season for the Trojans (1-0) may be their ability to utilize an even more diversified offense than in ’07.
Along with wide receiver Caleb Lucas, who caught four passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns, Dee Williams and tight end Nick Banks were also on the receiving end of Dunigan scoring tosses.
Dimetrius Mannie accounted for the Trojans’ other touchdown – a 26-yard scamper following a fumble recovery that made the score 27-0 with 16 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
“We emphasized spreading the ball around this year, and I think everybody on offense got a touch tonight,” Dunigan said. “The score wasn’t quite as much as we thought it should be.”
Salas noted ample room for improvement and forewarned of tougher opponents to come, including Friday’s upcoming showdown versus chief rival West Johnston – 41-14 winners at Athens Drive.
“We still had a few mistakes, and the big ones are coming,” Salas said. “For the kids, West is the biggest game of the year. We’ve got to get a lot better before we tangle with them. We’ve definitely got to play our ‘A’ game and fix our mistakes.
“We had a fumble, we had some missed assignments and we had some penalties that really bothered me. But we’ll get better – first game jitters,” he said.
South Johnson (1-0) will host its chief rival West Johnston this Friday.
Princeton coaches and players took some solace in 125 yards rushing, but the Bulldogs struggled to get its passing game on track.
“Our receivers were everywhere,” Myers said. “It’s real messy, and our timing is off. We had a lot of dropped passes. But it’s us. It’s a team game, and we’ve got to get better as a team. We had a little of adversity tonight, and it was the first time we’ve been in a game since last November.
“And we’ve got to get our passing game better,” Myers continued. “It seemed like we were running our routes all over the place. We weren’t in the right spots. Our pass blocking has got to get better. The defense was penetrating our offensive line, so we’ve got to keep them out of the quarterback’s face.”
Princeton travels to Robbins next week to face North Moore (0-0) of the 1A Yadkin Valley Conference.
“We’re going to be OK,” Williamson said. “I don’t think this game is a sign of what we’re going to be. This was a tough opener. And while I thought we’d play a little bit better tonight, we’ll find out a little bit more when we play a school that’s about our size.”
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