By: Bob Nuse
Even as the Princeton High football team got off to a rough 0-4 start, the Little Tigers never stopped believing they could turn their season around.
Princeton picked up its first win at Hopewell Valley last week, then followed that win with an impressive 48-24 victory at Ewing on Friday night. With the two wins, the Little Tigers will now take a 2-4 record into Friday night’s game at West Windsor-Plainsboro North.
"The kids are doing very well," said Princeton coach Steve Everette, whose team opened up a 35-6 lead at halftime and never looked back. "I’m quite proud of them. I think our kids got used to the winning thing and they knew those first few weeks it was just a matter of us making mistakes. Once we got those taken care of we were going to be all right. They’ve really elevated their game."
Princeton didn’t make many mistakes against Ewing. The Little Tigers scored 20 points in the first quarter, with David Griffin connecting on a field goal, followed by touchdown passes from Cranbury’s Jon Mitko to Sasha Hopson and Alexz Henriques to Cranbury’s Tyler Moni.
Princeton kept right on rolling in the second quarter as Griffin added another field goal, followed by the Little Tigers blocking a punt that went out of the end zone for a safety. Henriques, who rushed for 167 yards, then added a touchdown run to make it 29-0.
"It was really special teams that got things going for us," Everette said. "It started with Sasha forcing a fumble and we also blocked three punts that led to 15 points. And the defense played tremendously for the second straight week. We got a short field to work with quite a few times and that helped us. It was nice to be on the other end of that for a change."
It was the Cranbury Connection at work later, as Mitko and Moni hooked up another touchdown pass just before halftime. Ewing got as close as 35-18 before Luke LaVoie intercepted a pass and ran it back 77 yards for a score. Mitko finished the day with five completions and a pair of touchdown passes.
"Jon threw the ball well," Everette said. "Sasha not only forced that fumble, but he also caught his first touchdown pass. Tyler Moni caught six balls and just played lights out football. Everyone did their job. The offensive line played real well again and Alexz did his usual job. He had two or three nice kick returns and he also ran the ball well."
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Princeton Day fell to 1-4 with a 47-6 loss at Bound Brook on Friday night. Cranbury’s Clint O’Brien scored on a 70-yard run for the Panthers only score of the night.

