By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
EWING — For Liam Helstrom, Tuesday night’s Sunshine Football Classic was likely his final performance on the football field.
For Diego Cuittino, the game marked the end of his high school playing career but just a stop along the way in a football journey that will now move onto the college level.
But for both players, the end result of the night was the same — a great time playing football and getting to know some new people.
”I don’t get to play in a lot of close games so this was fun,” said Helstrom, a Princeton High graduate who will be attending Clemson University, where he is not planning to play football. “It was a blast. The coaches were great, the kids were great, it was a lot of fun. It was a nice casual practice but at the same time a lot of these kids are so good it makes everyone else better.
”I knew a lot of guys from the papers and also because I talked a lot on the field. I knew some of the Lawrence guys and I blended with the North Hunterdon kids real well. So it was kind of easy. If you play well and you play hard then everyone respects you.”
Cuittino, a West Windsor-Plainsboro High South graduate, is heading to Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, where he plans to continue to play football at the Division 3 level.
”It is a great end to a high school career, even if we lost,” said Cuittino, who was a member of the West team that fell to the East, 14-7, at The College of New Jersey. “The coaches approached me and knew I was being recruited for the defensive line this year so he said if I wanted to sub in I could and I got a few reps in as well as playing some running back.”
Cuittino wound up scoring the only touchdown of the game for the West and added to the fun by also kicking the extra point. His 1-yard touchdown run was his only carry of the game.
”I like to think of it that I scored on 100 percent of the runs I took,” Cuittino said with a laugh. “One run, one yard, one touchdown.”
Cuittino and Helstrom were joined on the West team by WW-P South grads T.J. Lanzetta, Cameron George and Altan Ademir; WW-P North grads Brian Zalma and Kevin Worrall; and Hun School grads J.T. Bucsek and Mo Wainwright. Princeton resident Matt Apuzzi, who attended the Lawrenceville School, played for the East team.
Helstrom caught a pair of passes for 42 yards, while Ademir, Worrall and Bucsek played on the offensive line. Wainwright played tight end, Zalma played linebacker, and Lanzetta and George played defensive back. Bucsek also saw some time on the defensive line.
”It was great playing in a close game and with a team like this,” Helstrom said. “I would not trade any of the experience. I stayed in shape playing some pickup basketball and some soccer. I wasn’t in football playing shape but I was fine playing one way as a receiver and getting in when I did. It was a lot of fun to be part of the experience.”
The game was the 18th annual Sunshine Classic, which has been held annually at TCNJ and now splits players from Mercer County and some other area high schools into an East and a West squad.
The attendance was over 3,000 on Tuesday night and all proceeds go to support the Sunshine Foundation, which is a non-profit organization that looks to make a difference for children whose families are under financial strain due to the child’s illness and bring a ray of “Sunshine” into their lives.
For more information about the Mercer County chapter of the Sunshine Foundation, email [email protected] or visit the Website at www.sunshinefoundation.org.
