Little Tigers earn sixth win
By: Bob Nuse
The Princeton High football program took another step forward this season.
It just wasn’t as big a step as the Little Tigers would have liked.
With Saturday’s season-ending 42-0 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro North, Princeton finished the season with a 6-4 record. The six wins are the most for the Little Tigers since 1994, when they finished with a 5-4 mark.
The six wins also marks the fourth time in four years the team has increased its win total under head coach Steve Everette.
"We fell a little short of the goal we had set for ourselves at the beginning of the season, which was to make the playoffs," said Everette, whose team was 5-5 last year. "But we got to the point where we went into the eighth week controlling our own destiny for the playoffs. We just came up a little bit short."
After opening the season with two straight losses, Princeton bounced back to win five straight games and come within one win of qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 1993.
"It was nice to finish with a better record that we did last year," Everette said. "There is little bragging rights thing that goes on between the classes where they try to do better than the class before them. We got to six wins this year, which is one more than we had last year.
"It’s a friendly competition that goes on and helps contribute to the family atmosphere that we have on the team."
Princeton’s win on Saturday gave running back Alexz Henriques one last chance to add onto his record-breaking season. With his 250 yards rushing on 13 carries, the junior finished the season with 1,707 yards rushing. Only Paul Miles and Marquis Johnson had over gone over the 1,300 yards mark previously at Princeton.
"When the season started, I don’t think we expected Alexz to run for over 1,700 yards," Everette said. "Last year he split carries with Mike Vieten and he ran for 800 yards, which is a good year. This year our offensive line came together and Alexz is also the kind of running back that can break big plays.
"He does special things with the football. I don’t think any coach can claim they taught him to do some of the things he does. He just has a way of making things happen on the football field."
Henriques will be back again next year, but a solid senior class moves on for the Little Tigers.
"There are five of them that have been with me all four of my years here and it will be sad to see them go," Everette said. "But I’m glad they got to have a good senior year to go out on. We think Ben set the season-season reception record with the 37 he had this year. We’re not sure where he falls with the career record, but he may have that as well. He’s really come a long way as a player and a leader and we’ll miss him.
"Marc Andre, Frankie (Giacalone), Huguens Jean, the rest of the seniors, we’ll miss all of those guys. Marc had a great senior season. Last year he had to sit out for academic reasons, but he worked hard to get back to where he was this year. He practiced all last year, he just couldn’t play in the games. He came in this year and was a captain and an emotional leader for our football team."
Next year, other players will have to step up and become the leaders for Princeton. And they’ll be looking to take that next step.
"Two of our starting linebackers were sophomores this year," Everette said. "We have a lot of other guys back as well. We had a good group of freshmen who have seen what you need to do to be successful. They’ll work hard to become the kinds of player we had with Ben or Marc. I’m sure there are freshmen who are thinking about stepping into those roles.
"They’ll need to work and get bigger and stronger. Success breeds success. We’ve been getting better as a program but we’re still not all the way to where we want to be. We just have to continue to work and get better."
And possibly take that next step again a year from now.

