High school football preview: Princeton Tigers

MERCER COUNTY, WV (WVNS) – 2023 was a dream season for the Princeton Tigers – the only way it could have been more perfect was by winning the state championship. They ultimately fell just short, falling to Martinsburg in the championship game up at Wheeling Island Stadium, but the year was still historic!

Dom Collins won the Kennedy Award for West Virginia high school football player of the year – that’s now three years in a row a player has won from southern West Virginia (Judah Price in 2022, Atticus Goodson in 2021). Collins then won the Moss Award for the top receiver in the state – the last winner in our region with that award was Ethan Parsons back in 2020, who also played for Princeton. Collins finished the season with more than 500 yards more than any other West Virginia receiver, with an astounding 1,897 yards on 83 catches and 27 touchdowns.

The Tigers won a couple of truly incredible playoff games on the way to the state championship as a 5 seed. They easily beat the 12 seed Oak Hill 37-7 in the 1st round. They narrowly edged 13-seeded Parkersburg in the quarterfinals before a simply historic 73-70 win against 8-seeded Bridgeport to clinch their ticket to Wheeling for the state championship.

Princeton’s only loss in the regular season last year was to Hurricane. They will have to find a way to recreate that magical offense that enabled Collins to thrive. If they can do that, expect the Tigers to be yet another major force to be reckoned with this football season.

Princeton Tigers Football Schedule

• Week 1 (Aug. 29th) : Vs. Capital – THURSDAY
• Week 2 (Sept. 6th) : @ Bluefield
• Week 3 (Sept. 13th) : @ Oak Hill
• Week 4 (Sept. 20th) : @ Pulaski (VA)
• Week 5 (Sept. 27th) : Vs. Tazewell (VA)
• Week 6 (Oct. 4th) : @ Winfield
• Week 7 (Oct. 11th) : BYE
• Week 8 (Oct. 18th) : Vs. Woodrow Wilson
• Week 9 (Oct. 25th) : @ Independence
• Week 10 (Nov. 1st) : @ Greenbrier East
• Week 11 (Nov. 8th) : Vs. Parkersburg South

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