TRENTON — Jonel Lince has been sacrificing his body with more than 200 carries for the past three seasons at Trenton High.
It paid off Friday on Senior Night as Lince had a fitting ending on his home turf, rushing for about 200 yards to eclipsed 1,000 for his career. He also scored two touchdowns to lead Trenton to a huge 27-14 win over Princeton at Bill Harvin Memorial Stadium.
“I’ve been doing a lot of running, but hey, all I want to say is, today that line was pushing,” Lince said. “Oh my god, that was line pushing great today.”
Lince took full advantage, bulldozing for consecutive runs of 2, 8, 6, 8, 12, 7 and 7 (touchdown) yards to give Trenton a 7-0 lead with 4:58 left in the second quarter. He also had a 28-yard run to set up another score before halftime.
“I just try to get what’s open, but I was just following the line,” said Lince, who was particularly effective on outside runs. “I was just following the blocks. Blocks kept pushing downfield. I was just following it all game.”
Trenton improved to 5-3 with its second straight win over a Group IV school, and since Princeton has six wins, that gave the Tornadoes some significant power points.
Trenton came into the week ranked 20th in the United Power Rankings for South Jersey Group V. After this victory, winning next week at Robbinsville is imperative for Trenton to have a chance at moving into the top 16 for state tournament qualification.
“After that Eastern game (two weeks ago), we started preaching discipline,” Lince said. “After we started preaching discipline, we started practicing hard and we stuck to the work and we’re getting it done. We’re finishing strong.”
Trenton totaled about 300 yards with a balanced attack including two passing touchdowns by Keith Williams.
The junior connected with senior Aivaye Ingram for a 6-yard touchdown in the third down that made it 21-0. Then he threw a 5-yard touchdown to Sam Anderson which capped a 65-yard drive with 6:43 left in the fourth quarter to essentially seal the win.
“We just pound, pound, pound, tire them out, and when they tire out, we throw it up,” Lince said.
Princeton, despite being shorthanded, had pulled to within one score thanks to some explosive plays in the second half.
Andrew Foreman rushed for a 35-yard touchdown late in the third quarter, and Ellinton Hinds went 37 yards to the house on a screen pass from Ezra Leman early in the fourth to make it 21-14.
The Tigers lost starting quarterback Quinton de Faria to a dislocated elbow in the first quarter. They were also without starting running back/cornerback/kicker/punter Carmine Carusone because of a suspension stemming from his ejection against Nottingham last weekend.
“We had a senior step up (at quarterback), played really well,” Princeton coach Charlie Gallagher said. “A little shaky at first, but he settled in as we were learning and threw some really nice comebacks for us, which was great — kept us in the game.”
Despite Princeton’s predicament, Trenton still had advantages in the trenches with players like Vincent Kplepo, Ben Kplepo, Zechariah Robeson and Gus Pope flying around.
“Trenton is a good football team,” Gallagher said. “I love Coach (Chris) Franco, he’s a great coach. We coached together at Princeton for a number of years. As a matter of fact, I told him the last time we were out here, him and I were on the same staff. We were on these sidelines in 2012 (as Princeton assistants).”
Trenton has performed inconsistently this year but is putting all the pieces together at the right time for a playoff push.
“I had confidence going into the game,” Lince said. “Last week, this week we were preaching discipline. Discipline is the key word for the rest of the season.”
Princeton (6-2) 0 0 6 8 – 14
Trenton (5-3) 0 14 7 6 – 27
Second Quarter
T – Lince 7 run (Godoy kick)
T – Lince 1 run (Godoy kick)
Third Quarter
T – Ingram 6 pass from Williams (Godoy kick)
P – Foreman 3 run (kick failed)
Fourth Quarter
P – Hinds 37 pass from Leman (Foreman run)
T – Anderson 5 pass from Williams (kick failed)
Originally Published:
