Princeton junior wide receiver Collin Fannin-White had a receiving and a passing touchdown in last week’s 59-35 loss to Plano. Photo by Jerry Winfrey / C&S Media

By David Wolman

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Princeton has done a lot of good things during its inaugural season as a Class 6A school, but the Panthers would like nothing better than to end their winless drought to begin District 6-6A play.

Junior quarterback Marcus Flowers and the Panthers’ offense put up 472 total yards in last week’s 59-35 road loss to Plano. The junior signal-caller was magnificent in defeat, throwing for 362 passing yards on 23-of-34 through the air for 362 yards and four touchdowns, while junior Collin Fannin-White threw for a touchdown and also caught a pass for a score.

Princeton (1-4, 0-3) will look to bounce back this Friday against McKinney (2-2. 1-1) at Jackie Hendricks Stadium. Farmersville (4-1, 1-0) is on a bye week. The Farmers will host Bonham on Friday, Oct. 11 from Farmers Stadium.

Here are the three keys to victory for Princeton: 

1. Limit the mistakes. Princeton outgained Plano 472-463 in total yards and moved the ball at will, but the Panthers had a 23-yard field goal attempt blocked, lost significant yardage on a fake punt attempt, lost two fumbles and had a touchdown pass from Flowers to junior Jordan Mosley negated by an illegal blindside block penalty, with nearly all of those mistakes coming in the first half.

2. Get off the field on defense. Plano never punted and scored on each of their first nine possessions. The Panthers finally got a defensive stop when they recovered a Wildcats fumble at their own 30-yard line in the fourth quarter. Princeton will also look to shore up its run defense after allowing 273 rushing yards, five rushing touchdowns and an average of 5.3 yards per carry to Plano. All eyes will be on Princeton’s rush defense against McKinney running back Gavin Menefee, who has a team-high four rushing touchdowns on the season and 209 rushing yards.

3. Air it out. The biggest strength for Princeton this season has been its passing game, and it was quite evident in its 59-35 loss to Plano. This week’s matchup will be a battle of two prolific aerial attacks. Flowers leads all Dallas-area Class 6A quarterbacks in passing yards (1,519), and he will match up with McKinney signal-caller Jeremiah Daoud, who has amassed 861 yards and seven passing touchdowns against just one interception. His favorite target is wide receiver Khristian Mackintrush, who has a team-high six receiving touchdowns and 334 receiving yards.