How Princeton found its tenacity again in blowout of Hall

PRINCETON - Arthur Burden and the Princeton Tigers needed a good pick-up after last week’s stunning upset loss to Monmouth-Roseville.

Burden caught two touchdown passes from quarterback Will Lott as the Tigers bounced back with a 41-0 win over rival Hall in front of their 2024 homecoming crowd at Bryant Field.

“We’ve still got a lot to fix, but it was nice to see guys executing, giving effort, having energy,” Burden said. “We had a lot of guys getting excited for each other. The Princeton tenacity was here tonight. We’ve got to keep building on that. If we do that, we’ll be on the right path.”

Having the rival Red Devils on hand helped light the Tigers’ homecoming fire, senior lineman Cade Odell said.

“We were kind of flat last week. It was good to rehash things and reinvestigate who we are and just play football,” he said. “It was nice having Hall for homecoming, a good rivalry game and then just go smack them in the mouth. Kind helps you get going again.”

Princeton coach Ryan Pearson said it was nice to see the Tigers of old.

“Emotions were running high. Homecoming for us. Big rival coming over to our place. it was just nice to see our kids play with some excitement, some emotion,” he said. “Because I thought we were really, really flat at Monmouth for whatever reason. To see these guys come out and play with the effort and the enthusiasm that this game should be played, that’s a promising sign.”

Senior Ace Christiansen provided a plenty of excitement early with a 47-yard pick-six off an interception to put the Tigers up 7-0 with 8:24 left in the first quarter.

“It felt great to get the team rolling early in the game,” Christiansen said.

With time running down in the first quarter, Lott connected with Burden for the first time for a 36-yard TD strike to put the Tigers up 14-0.

“That was awesome. That was the first time I’ve run that play. Just seeing the back creeping up and the seeing that ‘wow’ on his face, that was exciting. It was a lot of fun. I’m glad he trusted me to throw the ball my way,” said Burden, whose father, Archie, was a member of Hall’s 1995 state champion team.

Casey Etheridge joined the Tiger touchdown party with a 7-yard run with 9:28 left to complete the first staff scoring to put the Tigers up 21-0.

The Lott-to-Burden connection worked so well the first time, they hooked up for another TD reception, this one for 18 yards to give the Tigers a 28-0 lead just over two minutes into the second half. It’s the first time Burden has ever scored two touchdowns in a game.

“I think we ran it three times and Arthur had three really good catches. Will did a great job putting it on him,” Pearson said.

Common Green had a 2-yard dive in the third quarter and Etheridge took in his second score of the night on a 1-yarder to cap the Tigers’ 41-0 win.

Hall coach Logan Larson knew the Red Devils would face an angry Princeton team coming off last week’s loss.

“They’re a 3A perennial 3A powerhouse. The teams they’ve lost to in the playoffs are really, really good football teams. We’re trying to chase that. They’re the kings of the conference a little bit,” he said. “I knew they were going to come ready to play after last week. Any good, well-coached team after the week they had last week, is going to come ready to play.

“I thought we battled. Matched their physicality at times. Still lapses, miscues. Struggled a little bit on offensively at times. Their defense just teed off on us. But we’re going to go back to work. It’s a process. We’ll be all right.”

Princeton racked up 224 yards rushing with Etheridge gaining 118 yards with 2 touchdowns on 14 attempts. Lott completed 6 of 11 passes for 114 yards.

The Tigers defense held Hall to 130 yards rushing with three yards passing

Pearson said the Tigers (5-1, 3-1) went back to the drawing board after last week’s loss and made things a little more simple.

“We simplified things. We kind of wanted to go back to the basics. We made a few adjustments at halftime and I thought our kids came out offensively in the second half and executed really, really well. So that’s a good sign.

Next week, the Tigers will travel to Mendota while the Red Devils will host state-ranked Monmouth-Roseville (6-0), both in Three Rivers East Division games.