Football Notebook: Princeton could stay home for duration of playoffs if it continues to win

As long as Princeton keeps winning, it could reach the state finals in Champaign on Nov. 25 and never step away from Bryant Field.

If the seeds hold up, that scenario would play out.

The Tigers (10-0) opened with a 56-28 win over Peotone and now hosts Genoa-Kingston at 1 p.m. Saturday. With a win, the Tigers would draw the winner between No. 4 IC Catholic and No. 5 Stillman Valley on Saturday.

That quarterfinal game would be played at Bryant Field if IC Catholic wins, or the Tigers would travel to Stillman Valley, which has hosted only one of its first two playoff games.

Reed-Custer is favored to reach the semifinals in the bottom portion of the Northern bracket, which would send the Comets to Princeton for that potential matchup. However, should No. 6 Byron get past No. 3 Seneca this week and Reed-Custer in the quarterfinals, it would be the Tigers of Byron hosting the semifinals.

No. 7 Durand-Pecatonica also could throw a curveball into the playoff picture with an upset over Reed-Custer.

Painting a picture: Tom Pearson, father of Princeton coach Ryan Pearson, has made a tradition of painting the end zones at Bryant Field for his son’s playoff games.

When Tom Pearson took a tumble at work recently, the Princeton High School staff took over and prepped Bryant Field for Saturday’s playoff opener vs. Peotone with an end zone makeover of Tiger stripes.

“I can’t say enough about Steve Gray, Steve Morton, Rick Krohn, those guys who come out and paint the end zones and get our stadium looking the way it does,” Ryan Pearson said. “It’s pretty awesome to have faculty members like that.”

The Tigers’ coach said he had a really hard time keeping his dad away from the field.

“He was sending me pictures about what he wanted to paint at midfield,” Ryan joked. “It’s hard to tell Dad no, but I felt like this was in his best interest.”

The coach’s dad made a big splash with his artistic work at Bryant for his son’s first playoff appearance in 2018. He had to sit out the next playoffs in 2019 when he had a horrific fall at work and made a miraculous recovery. The PHS staff took over his painting duties, as they did this year when he took another work-related tumble.

Tom Pearson returned to duty for the 2021 playoffs and even got his son’s permission to paint midfield.

Last ride in Three Rivers: St. Bede lost to Forreston 46-22 in the Class 1A playoffs opener Saturday, which will be the Bruins’ last football game representing the Three Rivers Conference. St. Bede has been unanimously approved to join the Tri-County Conference next year for sports other than football and plans to leave the Three Rivers and join a new football conference.

Record breakers: According to Bureau County Republican records, Princeton senior QB Teegan Davis and Hall senior Mac Resetich have set school records.

Davis has become Princeton’s career passing leader with 3,318 yards, breaking the previous mark held by Brik Wedekind (2010) at 3,189. Davis has passed for 1,479 yards and 19 TDs this year.

Resetich set Hall’s single-season rushing records for both yards (2,227) and touchdowns (30). He also became Hall’s all-time leader with 3,290 yards and 50 TDs.

Gaining playoff experience: Pearson was pleased to be able to again rest his first team for most of the second half Friday and to give his underclassmen invaluable playoff experience that will pay off in the future.

“Not too often freshmen and sophomores get an opportunity to play basically a whole second half in a first-round playoff game. What better reps for those kids against the No. 1 offense of a playoff team?” he said.

Thanks, coach: St. Bede coach Jim Eustice was approached by several Bruins full of emotions after Saturday’s loss, thanking him for all he had done. He told the seniors thank you for their commitment and challenged the returning players to build toward next year.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Eustice said. “Knowing the impact we have on them is tremendous. When you spend so much time with them, it’s extremely rewarding.”

Final rankings: Last week’s final AP rankings for the football season were delayed until Friday. Princeton remained at No. 3 in 3A with 78 points behind IC Catholic, which received nine first-place votes and 99 points, and Reed-Custer (one first-place vote/90 points). Byron was fourth (78) and Prairie Central was fifth (57).

St. Bede climbed back into the Top 10 in 1A at No. 7 behind No. 6 Ottawa Marquette.

Other area ranked teams were Rockridge, No. 5 in 2A, and Sterling, No. 9 in 5A.

Quick counts

• Princeton moved to 10-0 for only the second time in school history with last week’s win over Peotone. The 2015 Tigers won their first 11 games before falling to IC Catholic in the quarterfinals.

• This year’s playoff berth was Hall’s first in 4A in 27 appearances. Hall’s first year of a co-op with Putnam County pushed the Red Devils up to the higher class.

Hall’s first 20 playoff appearances from 1987 to 2008 came in Class 3A. Hall made three straight appearances in 2A (2013-15) before returning to 3A for three straight (2017-19).

• The Red Devils dropped a first-round playoff game for only the eighth time in 27 contests.

• Princeton has won five straight first-round playoff games. Their last opening loss was at Peotone (20-14) in 2003 in Class 4A, which was Joe Ryan’s last game as Princeton coach.

• With Saturday’s 46-22 loss to Forreston, St. Bede is now 6-12 in first round playoff games.