Princeton shuts out Newman as Casey Etheridge rushes for 170 yards, 2 TDs

STERLING – The Princeton Tigers defeated the Newman Comets 20-0 at Roscoe Eades Stadium on Friday night.

Here are the top takeaways from the Week 3 game:

Casey Etheridge runs wild

Princeton sophomore running back Casey Etheridge racked up 170 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. He had breakaway runs of 60 and 41 yards in a monster first quarter. On the opening drive of the game, Etheridge capped a five-play, 65-yard scoring drive with a 41-yard touchdown run down the right sideline, giving Princeton a 7-0 lead barely three minutes into the game. On the Tigers’ final drive of the game, Etheridge converted two or three first downs with tough runs up the middle and scored the game-clinching touchdown run on a 7-yard counter right with 1:50 to play.

Etheridge took a pitch right on the second drive of the game, then cut it up the middle for a 60-yard gain. Junior running back Ace Christiansen punched in a 5-yard touchdown run on the next play, giving Princeton a 14-0 lead with 2:28 remaining in the first quarter. Etheridge had 104 rushing yards and a touchdown on five carries in the first half.

“All of the credit [to the offensive line] every time. With small formations like that, when we’re close together, the line does the job,” Etheridge said. “When they get the push, it allows me and Ace Christiansen to find a cutback lane or just push forward.”

The Tigers’ defense also impressed in the win. Junior defensive back Noah LaPorte snagged an interception and had a return of about 40 yards, and senior defensive back Carlos Benavidez had another interception for Princeton. Cade Odell, Bennett Williams and Payne Miller each recorded a sack. Miller brought down Newman quarterback Evan Bushman on a big fourth-and-5 with the Comets in the red zone, as they trailed 14-0 with 11:52 remaining in the fourth.

“I would say definitely a lot of effort [from the defense] tonight. We were going out there, we weren’t put in some of the best positions, but I feel like overall we responded really, really well,” Williams said. “We were able to stop them up front and our coverage was able to keep them from getting anything too far.”

Newman defense is for real

The Comets’ defense forced four fumbles and recovered three, giving its offense multiple opportunities to get back in the game, but it just couldn’t capitalize. The Princeton defense was quick to the ball all game.

Defensive linemen Caleb Donna and Dax Snyder each recorded a sack for the Comets. Donna had a sack-fumble for a loss of 12 to put the Tigers in a third-and-23 situation on Newman’s side of the field with 9:20 to play in the first half. The Tigers completed a 20-yard pass play on the next one to set up a fourth-and-3, but missed the next pass high for a turnover on downs.

Newman nearly scored late in the fourth quarter with short field after a fumble recovery when Bushman hit senior wide receiver Mac Hanrahan for a 20-yard gain, down to the Princeton 8. But the next run play resulted in a 1-yard loss, and a near-touchdown pass to the back corner of the end zone was ruled incomplete, as the receiver’s feet were out of bounds. The Tigers forced an incomplete pass on the fourth-down play, as well.

“Our effort, our attention to detail, everything that we’re doing is really good. It’s awesome watching those guys line up, and they just keep going,” Newman coach Mike LeMay said about the defensive effort. “There was a couple of mistakes early on. We gave up two big run plays and that kind of gave them the big lead early going into half, and when we tightened things up, it made it much harder for them. But our guys are gritty, they know how to get the ball out, and that’s what you’re going to see all year out of our defense. And if we don’t give the big play up, it’s going to be a different ballgame.

“It’s how it goes, stuff doesn’t always go your way, but we’ve got another chance next week.”