Princeton runs past Raiders

by John Lucas | Aug 25, 2018 | Midway

Midway’s Carsse Lucas makes a touchdown reception.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

Midway played well offensively but was unable to contain the rushing attack of visiting Princeton in a 50-36 varsity football loss Friday night.

“Defense wasn’t what it was last Friday,” said first-year Midway coach Cory Barnes. “But at the same time, you’ve got to give credit to Princeton. They’re a good offensive football team. They’ve got good coaches over there. They’re fundamentally sound in what they do and they do it well. We’re not happy about what we did tonight defensively. When you give up 50 points, nobody’s going to be happy about that.”

Senior Carson Calcutt was 13-of-19 passing for 194 yards and four touchdowns, with one interception, and ran for 49 yards and a touchdown on nine attempts to lead the Raiders (1-1). His leading receivers were seniors Dante Blue, with four receptions for 84 yards and a touchdown, and Carsse Lucas, with six receptions for 75 yards and three touchdowns.

“It took a week to get adjusted to game situations, but we’re getting better in our reads and Carson’s been making better decisions,” Barnes said. “We didn’t run the football real well tonight. We do want to run the football and be somewhat balanced.”

Deantae Byrd ran for 54 yards on 15 carries. Cal Tyndall had two receptions for 18 yards. Jaden Covington had a 17-yard reception. Blue ran for eight yards on three carries. Jam Rich had a three-yard run.

Princeton (2-0) ran for a total of 486 yards. The Bulldogs attempted just one pass, an incompletion, in the game. Senior Lamarr Wilkins ran for 154 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries, senior John Lockamy ran for 144 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries and senior Nathan Ramby ran for 52 yards and four touchdowns on 11 carries to lead Princeton.

The teams traded scores during the first half, with Calcutt connecting with Lucas for an 18-yard score just before the half to cut the Princeton lead to 22-21 going into the break.

Late in the contest, Calcutt ran for a 24-yard touchdown and completed to Blue for the two-point conversion to make it 44-36 with 6:56 left in the fourth quarter.

But a one-yard touchdown run from Ramby with 1:36 left followed by a Seth Blevins interception sealed the win for the Bulldogs.

Midway hosts West Bladen on Friday. A ceremony is planned for the night to officially name the stadium for legendary former coach Tommy Sloan.

“We’ve got West Bladen and they’re dedicating the stadium to Tommy Sloan,” Barnes said. “He’s a legend. He’s the reason why the community around here loves football so good. He set that precedent. I won’t know a whole lot about West Bladen until I see the film, but we’re going to take our same philosophy into West Bladen as we’re going to take into every game. We’re going to play fast and we’re going to play better defense.”