By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Jordon DeGroote wasn’t on the field for the most successful stretch of football at West Windsor-Plainsboro High South. But he still feels like he and his Pirate teammates are just as big a part of the school’s football lore.
WW-P South won just once in 20 games over the last two years of DeGroote’s career with the Pirates. But a lack of success on the scoreboard didn’t detract from the experience of being part of the program.
“I think that is why football is such a special sport,” said DeGroote, a senior who will be among those honored on Sunday when the Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Football Foundation holds its annual Scholar Athlete Leader Awards Dinner at the Hyatt Regency in Princeton.
“We had three or four wins in my entire varsity experience. Obviously, I kept coming back day after day, game after game, year after year, because I love the sport and I loved the successes and the failures of every game. And I loved the people that I played with and camaraderie that is developed and the dependence you have on the other 10 guys on the field with you.”
DeGroote will be honored along with other players and coaches from Mercer County and the surrounding area. Along with DeGroote, other Packet-area players to be honored will be Rory Helstrom of the Princeton High, C.J. Markisz of WW-P North and Fred Hansard of the Hun School. In addition, Hun coach Todd Smith was named the Coach of the Year.
DeGroote played three years of varsity football with the Pirates, during which time the team went 4-26. But through the tough times he and his teammates never wavered in the way they approached the game.
“We definitely kept fighting,” DeGroote said. “I think to some extent my four years and the four years of my teammates are only a small part of the South football program and trying to establish a winning program and not just one winning team. I think we are teaching the younger kids and putting in the hard work that is needed to be successful.”
DeGroote played wherever he was needed on the field for the Pirates and his willingness to do whatever was needed to help the team was something head coach Skip Edwards cherished.
“Jordan could play any position we put him at on the field,” Edwards said. “And he is the type of kid that he is going to have fun at that position and give us 100 percent. He played fullback, tailback, caught passes, played middle linebacker, defensive tackle, defensive end and special teams.
“He has a vivacious personality. He is a good kid and a strong leader. He ran for a position on the Board of Education in our district and he got 42 percent of the votes. I have coached a lot of kids in my time as a head coach and you know when somebody is special and you know when they are going to make a difference in society and he is going to be one of those men.”
DeGroote is still deciding where he will attend college and whether or not he will continue to play football. Being honored by the National Football Foundation is something he takes great pride in.
“Awards in general that celebrate the well-roundness of students, I think are incredibly important,” DeGroote said. “It’s great if a student has perfect SAT scores or if they are a standout citizen or a great athlete. But being able to recognize the ability of an individual to achieve in all of those categories really shows what it means to be a great citizen.
“It’s always nice being around football guys. It is an incredibly strong community. And that is why these awards exist. They are created by football guys for football guys because there is something about the game that just connects people.”
For DeGroote, the football experience was worthwhile no matter what the Pirates record was on the field.
“He comes from a good family,” Edwards said. “His mom and dad are really supportive with everything he does and they have been very supportive to our program.”
