Princeton has enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will square off against The Beddingfield Bruins at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Princeton will be hoping to continue their three-game streak of scoring more points each contest than the last.
Last Friday, Princeton humbled Spring Creek with a 56-8 victory. Given Princeton's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 188th, while Spring Creek is ranked 417th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Princeton found their leader in underclassman Austin Lewallen, who rushed for 272 yards and three touchdowns on only 13 carries. Marty Holland was another major influence, as he rushed for 49 yards and ran in a TD.
Meanwhile, Beddingfield had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 24 points), and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They slipped by Eastern Wayne 21-20. 21 seems to be a good number for Beddingfield as the team scooped up a victory with the same number of points in their previous game.
Desmond Wooten was the offensive standout of the game as he rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns.
Beddingfield's defense stepped up as well, laying out the QB three times. Leading the way was Keyshawn Richardson and his two sacks.
Princeton's win was their fourth straight at home, bumping their overall record up to 5-3. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 0-8 Spring Creek and 0-8 Goldsboro (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 28.1% over those games). Beddingfield has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Princeton has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 326.1 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Beddingfield struggles in that department as they've been averaging 209.2 per game. It's looking like Thursday's match might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Everything came up roses for Princeton against Beddingfield in their previous matchup back in October of 2022 as the squad secured a 47-14 win. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Beddingfield's Malik Woodard, who rushed for 150 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 9.4 yards per carry. Now that he won't be playing on Thursday, will it be that much easier for Princeton to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
