Little Tigers show no quit in loss to WW-P North
By: Bob Nuse
Even as West Windsor-Plainsboro High North was jumping out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter against his team Saturday, Princeton football coach Steve Everette felt like his team was still in the game.
He was right. The Little Tigers got those 21 points back to draw even before the Knights put together another 21-0 run before halftime on the way to a 42-28 win. But for Everette, the game showed just how far his team has come.
"Two years ago, I don’t know if we fight this hard to get back in this game like this," said Everette, whose team fell to 4-3 with the loss. "We knew if we won today we could have locked up the playoffs. This team has a great deal of character. They returned two interceptions for touchdowns and that was the difference in the game.
"Our offense has gotten 1000 times better and our team has gotten 1000 times better. We moved the ball. If we don’t have those early turnovers, it’s 21-21 and we’re going to overtime."
Unfortunately, Princeton had a rough eight minutes to open the game and dug itself a hole. And even though the Little Tigers eventually got out of that hole once, they couldn’t do it twice.
"It all happened so fast that we knew once we got the ball if we could score some points then we had a chance," said Everette, whose team overcame the 21-point lead with three quick touchdowns. "Our offense keeps getting better and we showed today that we’re capable of scoring points quickly."
Trailing by three touchdowns, Princeton got seven points back when Mike Vieten scored on an 8-yard run and Katie Paxton added the extra point. Two plays later, Vieten recovered a fumble to set up a 13-yard touchdown run by Alexz Henriques to cut the lead to 21-13. On its next possession, Princeton got even when Henriques hauled in a 44-yard touchdown pass from Vinny Giacalone. The Little Tiger quarterback then hit his brother, Frank, with a two-point conversion pass to even the score.
"I think Vinny showed what a good quarterback he is today," said Everette, whose senior signal caller completed 12 of his 27 passes for 198 yards. "He made some mistakes early but he shook them off and he played a great game to help us get back in it."
Princeton found itself down by 21 points again later in the second quarter when North scored three times in five minutes, all on big plays Jeff Torralba. The North quarterback ran for two scores and also returned an interception for a touchdown.
On its first possession of the second half, Princeton scored on a touchdown run by Henriques to get within 42-28, but from that point on the defenses took over and the scoring came to an end.
Now, Princeton must hope it can pull an upset against Hamilton to find a way into the playoffs.
"Hamilton is tough, but if we want to go to the playoffs it’s a game we have to win," Everette said. "They’re the measuring stick for us. We don’t play Notre Dame, so Hamilton is the game we have to point to as out measuring stick."
But regardless of whether the Little Tigers find their way into the playoffs or not, this has been a season that has made their coach proud. And that was proven in defeat on Saturday.