“That’s what we have to do,” said Springfield coach Maurice Douglass. “It’s Springfield. We don’t have any other choice than to find a way.”
Springfield trailed 14-0 in the first quarter, but rallied to take a 16-14 lead before the scrimmage game was stopped at halftime. Wildcats sophomore Deontre Long scored two touchdowns for Springfield, which hosts Cincinnati Winton Woods at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23.
“We got the win,” said senior defensive lineman Jackson Heims. “It wasn’t pretty, but we got the win.”
Junior quarterback Deangelo Birch threw touchdown passes of 48 and 5 yards in the first quarter to give Princeton a 14-0 lead.
In the second quarter, the Wildcats defense pinned the Vikings deep in their own territory and recorded a safety when a snap flew over Birch’s head. He was forced to slap the ball out of the end zone, making it 16-2.
“We were able to show some resilience like we have the last few years, got a safety that kind of got us going a little bit,” Douglass said.
On the ensuing possession, Wildcats senior quarterback Brent Upshaw hit sophomore wide receiver Braylon Keys on a 35-yard pass to set up a TD run by Long.
After getting another stop, Upshaw again found Keys on a deep route, setting up another TD run by Long to make it 16-14.
“It was good for those guys to make some plays and they were playing against a good Princeton team,” Douglass said. “That team is going to win a bunch of games. They’ve got a good defense, a good offense and they caught us off guard a little bit. They threw the ball more than what they did last week, but it was a good test.”
It was a unique environment for the Wildcats, who played a scrimmage on a Thursday night for the first time during Douglass’ tenure as coach. It was also the first day of school and the junior varsity game was also played before the varsity game, which disrupted the program’s pre-game routine, Douglass said.
However, the scrimmage was a perfect fit for the Wildcats, he said, as they were able to find areas of improvement against one of the top returning teams in the state. Princeton advanced to the D-I, Region 24 semifinals last season, falling to Lakota West 19-7. Vikings senior linebacker PJ Nelson, an Indiana University commit, was the D-I Defensive Player of the Year last season.
“Hopefully it will be somebody we get to keep scrimmaging in the future because when you get to prepare for teams like that, it makes you better for the beginning of the season,” Douglass said.
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