PHS football players Brian Tien, Jojo Kuranchie, Rory Helstrom, Liam Helstrom. (Staff photo by Samantha Sciarrotta).
Four years ago, the Princeton High School football team was among the best in the county. The Little Tigers finished at the top of their division with a 7-3 record, advancing to the state tournament.
Now, though, it’s a different story. The squad is winless in 2013 and has notched just five victories since 2009.
The junior varsity team folded this year; its players now suit up with the varsity squad. There are fewer than 50 athletes in the entire program, and 20 of them are freshmen.
“Things go in cycles,” athletic director John Miranda said. “We’re just at a down cycle right now.”
Though the school dropped the JV team this year, Miranda said there has never been any talk of dropping the program as a whole.
If that were the case, head coach Charlie Gallagher said he wouldn’t even let that become a thought.
“We’re going to do everything, and I’m going to do everything in my power to not let football fail here in Princeton,” he said. “We will succeed. Football is a great game. I tell them I wouldn’t be their head coach if I didn’t think football was the greatest game.”
He knows his players feel the same way.
“I hope most of the kids see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “This is a rough year. They know that things are going to turn around.”
Gallagher took over this year, inheriting a mostly young, inexperienced team. He said the job requires a little bit of “tough love” and a lot of looking beyond wins and losses.
“I don’t think we’re focused any longer on our record,” he said. “I think we’re focused on each upcoming game and what the practices hold for that week. We’re trying to keep it fun and on a certain level of levity. We’ve got good, solid senior leadership. We don’t have many seniors. They understand. They see the big picture. It’s an opportunity now to for us to bring out some of the younger guys, to grab a hold of what their team’s going to be for the next few years.”
Miranda thinks that’s exactly what can help Princeton football get back on the right end of the cycle.
This year’s batch of freshmen accounts for nearly half of the program, and a number of sophomores and juniors, including quarterback Dave Beamer, will return in 2014.
Three years down the line, this young and inexperienced team becomes an older, veteran squad.
“They’re getting a wealth of experience,” Gallagher said. “They’re understanding how fast the game is. I was new this year, and we only had two other coaches come back this year. Once we’re all on the same page, I think we’ll start faster out of the gate as well.”
Senior wide receiver and middle linebacker Liam Helstrom said that while the underclassmen are often tired and sometimes overmatched, the hours they’ve spent on the varsity field will be invaluable once they are seniors.
“The time they’re getting this year is more than any team is going to have,” he said. “By the time the sophomores are seniors, they’re going to have more varsity time than any other team.”
For now, though, expanding the roster is a priority. Helstrom said re-introducing the Pop Warner program would be ideal, but it takes time they may not have.
He hopes to see athletes from other spring and winter sports add football to their resumes come fall.
“I know with football, there’s a wrestling coach here, and he convinced a lot of kids to wrestle,” he said. “I would say Gallagher doing the same thing with other sports would help. If you wrestle, come play football. If you do lacrosse, come try football.”
The lack of a Princeton-centric youth program is one of the major factors in the school’s dwindling football numbers. Though a flag football league was recently instated.
Gallagher said a tackle program is necessary, and helping one get off the ground is his top offseason priority.
“It’s a feeder program,” he said. “It introduces kids to football. I would imagine they’d run through some rough patches as well, but if we can find the right coaches that really care and have a passion for football, they’ll pick it up off their coaches. The kids are malleable at that time. The kids will keep learning the game. Hopefully we can be those role models, not just football coaches.”
Junior Tommy Moore said learning the game prior to high school is vital to the program’s success in the future. He’s seen several of his peers come out for the team without having played the game in an organized setting before, only to quit, frustrated, after a few practices.
“That’s a reason that most people don’t play,” he said. “I say, ‘That’s not an excuse.’ Once you get out here, if you learn the game and don’t like playing it, I understand. You have to at least try the shoulder pads on one time to tell if you like the game or not. You can’t base it off what you know of the sport.”
Where many teams are focused on further developing skills, many Princeton players are learning the basics, behind from the beginning.
All but five members of this year’s team will be back next season, though, and they’ll be prepared to concentrate on facets of the game beyond the essentials.
Miranda hopes it will give the Little Tigers an edge. “Our concern was just wanting to be able to get competitive,” he said. “We’re committed. The school is fully committed. Just four years ago, we were one of the best. We’re hoping to get back there. We’re proud of the kids, the coaching staff, and the parents.”
For the players’ perspective on their team and the challenges they faced this season, click here.
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