IHSA Class 3A Playoffs: Princeton blanks Monmouth-Roseville, returns home for quarterfinals

MONMOUTH – The Princeton Tigers are coming home in a big way.

Casey Etheridge rushed for 225 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Tigers to a 35-0 win over Monmouth-Roseville in a Class 3A second-round playoff game Saturday.

The win sends the No. 2-ranked and seeded Tigers (10-1) to the quarterfinals for the fourth straight season, the seventh in school history, to face No. 6 Montini Catholic at 1 p.m. Saturday at Bryant Field, aka the Jungle.

“It feels great. We’re on the road and you know Monmouth’s obviously going to give us their best game so it’s really important. We could have played better, but that’s what it was,” senior DB/kicker Carlos Benavidez said.

“We didn’t come over here and play our best game in any way, shape or form. But at the same time, the nice thing is we survived and advanced and that’s the name of the game at this juncture,” Tiger coach Ryan Pearson said. “I’m blessed to be able to spend another week with these kids. I love being around them and I’m happy to have another week with them.”

It was the Princeton defense’s seventh shutout of the season in 11 games and junior lineman Cade Odell, who had six tackles with two sacks, knows what that means.

“Donuts on Tuesdays, man. That’s all I can think of,” he said with a laugh. “Other than IC Catholic (2021), it was my first road playoff game ever. It was an intense atmosphere. Monmouth fans really made it tough, but it was still so much fun.”

Etheridge had a breakout game with 234 yards rushing and five touchdowns in the season-opening 40-0 win at Monmouth 10 weeks ago and certainly was no longer a secret weapon the second tine around.

He busted a 73-yard romp to pay dirt down the Princeton sideline to get the Tigers on the board on their second possession of the game. Ace Christiansen tacked on the conversion run to give the Tigers a quick 8-0 lead at the 7:25 mark of the first quarter.

Etheridge wasn’t quite done yet, adding touchdown runs of 5 and 2 yards to send the Tigers to a 22-0 halftime lead.

Benavidez set up Etheridge’s last score by recovering his own onside kick like a charm. He gets excited when Pearson calls his number.

“I just did it, I guess. Maybe (try for) three bounces so it hops right up in my arms past the 10-yard line,” said Benavidez, who also recovered an onside kick in the first round of playoffs last year.

“We repped it all week because there was something that we saw on film that we thought we could take advantage of,” Pearson said. “Carlos executed it flawlessly and we were able to go down and get a big score to go up 22-0. It was a great play by Carlos.”

A 1-yard touchdown by senior fullback Preston Arkels at the 8:32 mark and a 3-yard touchdown by Christiansen with 1:09 remaining put the finishing touches on the Tigers’ victory.

The Tigers kept the Titans off the scoreboard for the second time this season, holding them to 174 net yards offensively, 165 rushing.

“It’s the bend but don’t break mentality we have. Just to be able to stone wall everybody,” Odell said.

“Our defense played fantastic. They bent, but they never broke,” Pearson said. “To have a shutout in a second-round playoff game, that’s just a testament to the job our defensive staff is doing and what our kids are doing, buying into our schemes.

“I think we gave up some nickel and dime stuff. At the same time, I’ve got to give credit to Mon-Rose. They came out and played hard.”

Pearson said Mon-Rose, which won its last two games of the season to make the playoffs at 5-4, was a vastly improved team from what they saw 10 weeks ago.

“They had quite a few personnel changes. I think they had seven different starters from what we saw Week 1,” he said. “Credit to them. They made the adjustments and I thought they were playing real good football. For us to come over here for a two-hour drive and get a 35-0 win like that, can’t beat it.”

Next up is Montini Catholic, which scored a 44-20 win at Prairie Central on Saturday. It will be the Tigers second straight home quarterfinal and fourth consecutive dating back to 2019.

“That’s where we wanted, right? It’s going to be a tough task, but I think we can take them,” Odell said.