The Gallatin Bulldogs, on the strength of two first-half touchdowns and an Adrian Hernandez field goal, were able to head to the locker room on Friday night at Eddie Allen Field trailing the unbeaten Princeton Tigers by a score of 22-16. Leading to thoughts of a Gallatin road win was a successful fake field goal late in the second quarter that led to a 7 yard touchdown run by Caleb Boyd.
The second half, as heard on KTTN FM 92.3, was a different story, as the powerhouse Tigers overwhelmed the Bulldogs with five unanswered touchdowns, in a 58-23 win that improves Princeton to 7-0 overall, and 5-0 in the Grand River Conference, dropping Gallatin to 5-2 overall, and 4-1 in the GRC.
Gallatin opened the Friday night scoring on a 23 yard field goal by Hernandez, but the Tigers responded with a 68 run scoring run by Tanner Coffman, and an Andrew Smith two-point conversion, leaving Princeton up 8-3 after one quarter.
In the second quarter, Smith gashed the Gallatin defense on a 55 yard touchdown run, with a two-point conversion catch by Clayton Sweetin making the score 16-3. Gallatin seized momentum with its opportunistic defense, as a 52 yard “Pick 6” by Cole McBee cut the lead to 16-9. Smith added a two-yard run to make the score 22-9, before the fake field goal success to end the half.
In the second half, Princeton blitzed the Bulldogs with a 73 yard pass from Smith to Garrett Enright, a 41 yard strike from Smith to Blaine Millburn, a 23 yard Smith to Millburn connection, a 17 yard strike from Smith to Millburn, and a 2 yard pass from Smith to Sweetin. Andrew Smith, the likely all-GRC 1st team quarterback, threw for 227 yards on the evening while running for 141.
Gavin Grey finished the scoring for the Bulldogs, with a 49 yard pass from McBee late in the fourth quarter.
Princeton continues its home-stand this Friday (October 6th), with the Tigers homecoming game against the visiting South Harrison Bulldogs. That game will be broadcast on KTTN FM 92.3. South Harrison takes a 3-2 GRC record, including two victories in a row (Trenton, Milan), with Princeton needing one victory to clinch no worse than a tie for the 2017 GRC crown.
Other scores from Friday, September 29, 2017 were:
South Harrison 38, Milan 14
Putnam County 45, Maysville 8
Worth County 62, Pattonsburg 0
North Andrew 70, Albany 20
King City 60, Braymer 24
St. Joseph Christian 52, North-West Nodaway 6
Stanberry 64, North Shelby 6
Chillicothe 48, Savannah 34
Smithville 42, Maryville 6
Benton 42, Bishop LeBlond 13
Lafayette 42, Cameron 6
Penney 49, Lawson 21
Lathrop 51, Plattsburg 21
East Buchanan 52, North Platte 15
Mid-Buchanan 19, West Platte 17
Marceline 59, Salisbury 6
Monroe City 54, Paris 0
Scotland County 28, Knox County 6
Westran 20, Schuyler County 6
Macon 32, Brookfield 21
Palmyra 35, Centralia 0
Clark County 62, Louisiana 0
South Shelby 44, Highland 0
Lexington 55, Carrollton 14
Higginsville 58, Knob Noster 25
Richmond 41, Holden 18
Rock Port 48, Southwest Livingston 0
Mound City 36, South Holt / Nodaway-Holt 30
East Atchison 46, Stewartsville 28
Chilhowee 32, Norborne 22
DeKalb 68, Platte Valley 62
