By Warren Morrison
Herald Banner staff
PRINCETON - And now there is only one.
In a battle of the two remaining undefeated teams in District 10-3A, the Commerce Tigers relied on its explosive offense and dominating defense to beat the Princeton Panthers, 35-10, Friday night at Panther Stadium.
The win not only leaves Commerce undefeated in district play at 3-0, but for the season as well at 6-0. Princeton falls to 2-1 and 3-3.
Quarterback Chad Anderson, who scored the first two Commerce touchdowns on runs of 3 and 1 yards, said the team knows the other teams in the district have their sights on the six-time defending district champion.
"We have the target on our chests. That is why the coaches wanted us to practice hard all week," Anderson said. "But tonight, we had a lot of adrenalin flowing and we were able to stay positive."
The adrenalin flowed for Commerce on its first two possessions as they scored their two touchdowns in a total elapsed time of slightly more than three minutes.
The big blows were a 41-yard Anderson pass to receiver Odreakus Lewis that put the ball on the Princeton 3 in the first possession. On the second series, it was a 23-yard pass to receiver P.J. Winston, followed by a 18-yard run by fullback Ryan Sienty to the Panthers 1.
Anderson finished completing five of six attempts for 101 yards and one touchdown, while adding six carries for 30 yards and the two touchdowns.
Commerce padded its lead at the half to 21-0 on a picture-perfect draw to Sienty that saw the junior fullback run 20 yards untouched into the end zone, but not before Princeton mounted two lengthy drives that were both ended by costly turnovers.
The first saw Princeton quarterback James Lovelady's pass attempt to wide receiver Cody Newport intercepted by Lewis at the Commerce 20 and returned 25 yards.
The second was an errant Lovelady option pitch miss its intended mark and scooped up by Sienty at the Princeton 45. Sienty raced 45 yards for an apparent touchdown, only to find Commerce penalized for an illegal block.
Penalties hurt Commerce all night as the Tigers were flagged eight times for 83 yards.
Sienty took his game-high performance of 94 yards on six carries and the one touchdown after learning Princeton was gearing some of its defensive gameplan at stopping him.
"They said they would do fine if they could stop the fullback," Sienty said. "But our line opened some holes on the inside and outside."
Commerce expanded its lead on its first possession of the third quarter as a 25-yard Anderson to Winston pass capped off a five-play, 82-yard drive that was aided by runs from Sienty and Avin Johnson.
The Tigers closed out their scoring as senior halfback Brock Turner ran in for the final six yards of six-play, 80-yard drive to start the fourth quarter. Kicker Jordan Hougham completed his perfect night by connecting for his fifth extra point..
Princeton scored twice in 48 seconds in the final minutes of the game to avoid the shutout. The first two points came on a safety when Commerce's Broderick Kelley was tackled in the end zone on a lateral run after intercepting a Lovelady pass at the Tigers 1.
The Panthers needed only one play to score after Brody Veal took the Commerce free kick near midfield and returned it to the Commerce 9. That was followed by a pitch out to Steven Foster for the touchdown and a two-point conversion run by Lovelady.
Throughout the game, the Commerce defense was able regroup quickly after any lengthy gain by a Princeton running back; usually with a quarterback sack for tackle for loss of yards.
Until Foster's run, Princeton had only 22 yards rushing in the second half and 129 for the game.