Valshun Powe was a little uneasy Saturday morning on game day.

He quickly put his emotions in check, racing 70 yards for a Bloomington Central Catholic touchdown on the first play of Saturday’s Class 3A playoff opener against Princeton .

Powe was just warming up. He scored four more touchdowns, rushing for 243 yards to lead the Saints to a 41-20 victory over the Tigers.

“I had a real emotional moment in the locker room before the game. I don’t know what it was,” said Powe, who will take his talents across town to play for the Illinois State University Redbirds next year. “I just got real emotional. I was like, ‘I got to do something.’ It was all my emotions that came out at one time.”

Princeton senior linebacker Common Green said Powe’s first touchdown was an ominous sign.

“We knew we were going to be in for it after that,” he said. “We gave it our best battle. We made mistakes. We obviously knew that was going to happen. It comes down to it, they out-executed us.”

Princeton bows out at 6-4. It was the Tigers’ first first-round loss in nine playoff appearances dating back to 2003 at Peotone.

“That’s a really good football team we had the opportunity to play today. I’m extremely proud of our kids,” Tiger coach Ryan Pearson said. “Probably the worst day is having to say goodbye to my seniors. Sure going to miss them a lot.”

The Tigers overcame the shock of Powe’s first-play dash with a 17-play drive to use up the remaining 11:42 of the first quarter. They then cashed in on the first play of the second quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by sophomore Lane Goskusky. The PAT kick was blocked and the Tigers settled for a 7-6 game.

BCC and Princeton traded punches again in the second quarter.

Powe scored on a 26-yard run with 5:37 remaining and the PAT put the Saints up 14-6.

The Tigers countered with a 1-yard touchdown on a dive by quarterback Gavin Lanham. They went for the tie, but Brennen Emmett was brought down well short of the end zone after catching a pass on the conversion attempt.

The Saints weren’t done yet. They marched 80 yards on eight plays in just 38 seconds with Powe cashing in on a 24-yard touchdown. BCC failed on the conversion pass attempt, but took a 20-12 lead at halftime.

The game got away from the Tigers in the third quarter with touchdown runs by Powe of 6 and 24 yards in the first seven minutes to give the Saints a 34-12 lead at quarter’s end.

“I thought we lost it in the third quarter. Obviously, you have to play four quarters to win the game,” Princeton senior Casey Etheridge said. “Definitely not the way you want to go out. But everything has to come to an end at some point.

“I don’t think we lived up to the expectations we had for ourselves (this year). But felt like we achieved other people’s expectations. When people set the bar low for you, you can keep raising it.”

Powe had one more touchdown to score with a 3-yard run to put the Saints ahead 41-12 with 7:22 to play.

“Lot of respect to him. He’s very athletic. He’s definitely going places in football. He showed that today to us,” Etheridge said.

Etheridge, who had a record-breaking season and career for the Tigers, scored on a 14-yard touchdown the last time he touched the ball with 1:11 to close out the scoring. Etheridge, who finished with 168 yards rushing on 20 carries, set up the score with a 52-yard romp on the drive.

“I really felt like we had a good game plan coming in. I thought we executed fairly well first half. Going into halftime with a 20-12 deficit, I really liked where we were at,” Pearson said. “We were doing everything that we could to try to limit No. 6 (Powe) touching the ball because we knew the more times he touches the ball the more bad things are going to happen.

“He’s a Division I running back for a reason and he’s just a heck of a football player. He is electric. The crazy thing, you don’t realize how big he is until you stand next to him. He’s every bit of my height. He’s a big, big back.”

BCC (10-0) will play No. 5 Monmouth-Roseville (9-1) next week.

“Big win, but the job’s not finished. On to round 2 and get this all done,” Powe said.

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Princeton football head coach Ryan Pearson hi-fives player Landyn Kendall after making a play during the Class 3A playoffs on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025 at Central Catholic High School in Bloomington. (Scott Anderson)