Miller’s improvement helps Panther team

Junior, PDS football face tough challenge Saturday

By: Bob Nuse
   As quickly as Ken Miller has progressed on the football field, he often finds himself wondering what his play would have been like if he had started his career a little sooner.
   "I wish I had gotten into it earlier," said Miller, a Princeton Day School junior who didn’t start playing organized football until he was a freshman in high school. "If I had, maybe I’d be better now. I just go out and try to learn as much as I can each day in practice.
   "I feel like I’m getting better. I still have a lot to learn, but I’m trying."
   As far as PDS head coach Bill Martin is concerned, Miller tries as hard as anybody. His work ethic has helped make up for the fact that he didn’t start playing until signing up for Pop Warner during his freshman year at Hopewell Valley High. He transferred to PDS last year and went out for high school football for the first time.
   "He has a real nose for the football on defense," said Martin, whose 2-4 Panthers will host powerful West Nottingham Academy of Maryland at 1 p.m. on Saturday. "He’s very aggressive. One of the things I like best about him is he’s such a hard worker.
   "This is only his second full year of playing football, but he’s a real asset to our program. He’s athletic and uses his quickness real well."
   A middle linebacker on defense and running back on offense, Miller leads the Panthers in tackles this year. That’s pretty impressive for a guy who is admittedly still learning the sport.
   "I learned a lot from our middle linebacker last year, Mike Fishbein," said Miller, who also plays lacrosse for in the spring for the Panthers. "He really taught me a lot about how to play the sport. I feel like I’ve stepped up this year and I’ve been able to help the team."
   The Panthers opened the season with two wins in their first four games, but have come up short the last two weeks against McCorristin and Midland Park. They have their work cut out for them the next two weeks with West Nottingham and Pennington, two of the toughest teams on the schedule.
   "The program at West Nottingham has done a complete turnaround," Martin said. "They have a couple of defensive tackles that are 6-8, 270 pounds and a running back that has 1,100 yards in six games. They’re real good and it will be a tough game for us. But the kids keep coming to practice and working hard every day, which is what you want.
   "This is such a good group of kids that we have here this year. They work hard and do what we ask. It’s a real good group."
   A group that hopes to continue the development of the PDS football program. There are very few seniors on the roster, which makes Miller and the other returning players optimistic about the future.
   "We’ve got a large freshman class this year and there are some kids that will be good players," said Miller, a Pennington resident. "We’re going to miss some of the people that will be graduating, but we’ll have a lot of good players coming back. A lot of players have stepped up this year."
   One of them is Miller.
   "He’s got a lot of talent and he’s learning how to be a good football player," Martin said. "Once he gets a complete understanding of the game, he’s going to be real good."
   "I know I still have more to do," the 5-foot-11, 170 pound Miller added. "I know I need to get bigger and stronger. I really like to play."
   And Martin and the rest of the PDS coaches like having Miller playing for them.