Princeton football has won 11 games for the first time in 31 years.
With Princeton leading Sycamore 37-21 with under three minutes to go in the Division I, Region 4 quarterfinals, it looked like the Vikings nearly had the game wrapped up. But William Ingle and the Aviators refused to go away.
With 2:08 left in the game, Ingle capped a 10-play, 73-yard touchdown drive with a 14-yard pass to a wide-open Cannon Ray, pulling the Aviators within eight points after the two-point conversion.
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It looked like Princeton had made the right call on the ensuing drive, running three times and forcing Sycamore to burn its timeouts. After that, the Vikings would safely punt the ball and pin the Aviators deep with no timeouts with a minute to go, right?
Wrong.
On fourth down, the punter appeared to peek at the play clock as the ball was snapped, sailing all the way back to Princeton’s seven and setting Sycamore up with a first and goal with under a minute left. Two plays later, Ingle passed to Cairo Ford, who just managed to fall into the end zone with 35 seconds left. Sycamore (6-6) just needed a two-point conversion to tie the game.
Ingle, who ran the ball 31 times, faked a run, backed up and threw a pass over the middle, and senior Chris Gillam caught up in time to break up the play. Princeton recovered the ensuing onside kick and went into victory formation to improve to 11-1 with a 37-35 win, continuing its best season since 1990, when it reached the state championship.
“We made a pretty big mistake, an unforced mistake. We shouldn’t have snapped the ball, but we did and gave them an opportunity,” Princeton coach Andre Parker said. “I’m proud of how our kids responded, though. I thought they had every reason to feel bad about themselves and they went in there and fought.”
Senior quarterback Mekhi Lynn set the tone early for the Vikings. On the first play of Princeton’s second drive of the game, Lynn connected with sophomore T.J. Engleman on a post route for 65 yards, as Engleman caught the ball, cut up field and outran everyone.
“Safety, that was the read,” Lynn said. “If it goes out, we’re going back in. If it goes in, we’re going back out, so whatever he does, that’s what I’m going off of.”
Lynn and Engleman have worked closely together this season. On the first play of the team’s first scrimmage this season, Lynn tore a ligament in his thumb, missing eight weeks of the season while he recovered and did physical therapy to try to regain the ability to grip the ball. He returned to the lineup Oct. 15 against Mason, throwing for 337 yards and four touchdowns in his return.
In Lynn’s absence, Engleman put up 1,182 yards passing and 15 touchdowns.
“I definitely want to thank T.J. Engleman for stepping in for those eight games that I was gone,” Lynn said. “It really hurt to not play my senior year, but for me to watch him shine and step up to the plate and be the big dog at that point, that was really heartwarming.”
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The fourth quarter of Friday’s regional quarterfinal had a similar feel to it. About halfway through the final frame, Lynn took a shot to the ribs on an incomplete pass and was slow to get up. The next drive, Engleman was in the game at quarterback, although Lynn and Parker said that was part of the game plan.
It looked like Engleman had been there before. Three plays after checking in at quarterback, he tossed a 12-yard touchdown to Rodney Harris Jr. on a fade route in the right corner of the end zone to put Princeton ahead 37-21 with 5:12 to go. It was Harris’ 12th touchdown catch of the season and Engleman’s 16th touchdown pass.
Despite missing half of the fourth quarter, Lynn went off, too. The senior ran for 107 yards on 19 carries, including a nice juke to get past a couple of defenders for a 46-yard touchdown run in the final minute of the third quarter, which put Princeton ahead 30-21 at the time.
“It was very, very crowded. So, the outside backer lunged in for me, gave him a little move. The safety came in as well, so I juked him, too, and just tried to use the speed to get back outside,” Lynn said. “Tried not to go back inside to where the rest of the defense was.”
Lynn added 208 passing yards, putting him over 300 all-purpose yards with four total touchdowns. Ingle, the Greater Miami Conference’s leading rusher, put up 219 yards on 31 carries with five total touchdowns, as he eclipsed the 2,000-yard rushing mark this season.
It’s Parker’s first season as Princeton’s head coach, and he has his players in the midst of the best Vikings football season in their lifetimes.
“It means everything to me because of the support from the administration, from the community, from the parents, for the kids,” Parker said. “Let’s be honest, this is about the kids. We’ve got a great senior class with a bunch of really good kids and I’m happy that we can continue to win and extend their season.”
Princeton will face Moeller in the Region 4 semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday.
Sycamore 0 14 7 14 - 35
Princeton 7 7 16 7 - 37
P- Engleman 65 pass from Lynn (Walker kick)
S- Ingle 1 run (run failed)
P- Lynn 11 run (Walker kick)
S- Ingle 23 run (Teuimeh pass from Ingle)
P- Lynn 3 run (Walker kick)
P- Ingle safety
S- Ingle 1 run (Groppe kick)
P- Lynn 46 run (Walker kick)
P- Harris Jr. 12 pass from Engleman (Walker kick)
S- Ray 14 pass from Ingle (Teuimeh pass from Ingle)
S- Ford 7 pass from Ingle (pass fail)
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