MHS, PHS football eye first-round foes
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Both Chris Chick and Brian Tien have been part of building something successful for their respective football teams.
Chick, a senior captain at Montgomery High, has been a solid force on the offensive line for a Cougar team that has averaged 37 points a game during an 8-1 start that earned them the No. 4 seed in the Central Jersey Group V playoffs.
Tien, a senior captain at Princeton High, has been solid at tight end and middle linebacker for a Little Tigers team that has bounced back from a winless season in 2013 to go 8-1 and earn a spot as the No. 7 seed in the Central Jersey Group IV playoffs.
For Chick, the playoff appearance is bittersweet. He suffered an ankle injury in last week’s regular-season finale against Watchung Hills and will be on the sidelines when the Cougars host fifth-seeded Trenton tonight at 7 p.m. While he won’t be able to play, he’ll still be doing what he can to help get Montgomery its first playoff win since 2007.
”I’m just trying to encourage the guys and make sure they know where they are supposed to be and what they need to do,” Chick said. “It is about them. I can’t help them on the field but I can still help. I will get over by our offensive coordinator and our offensive line coach and help watch the offensive line for him.”
Montgomery comes into tonight’s game off its best regular season since 2007, when the Cougars were 7-1 and then beat a South Brunswick team that included current NFL star Mohamed Sanu in the opening round of the playoffs.
”Since I have been in high school we have not had a home playoff game,” Chick said. “We’ve worked so hard the past four years to get here. We’re excited to get Trenton. My freshman year was the last time we played them. Their coach (Tarig Holman) was a coach here and was a great coach for us.
”We feel really good about this week. We know we have to be ready to work and it won’t be easy. We have to be focused.”
All this season the Cougars have been putting up big numbers in the passing game, led by senior quarterback Chris Chugunov who has thrown for 2,627 yards and 25 touchdowns. And the past few games, a strong running game has been added to the mix led by the combination of Trevor Schmidt and Wyatt Colangelo.
”We have been putting in time in practice trying to run the ball well and be more balanced,” Chick said. “We’ve done that well.”
For Chick, being part of the atmosphere at a home playoff game will be something special. He’s been around the Montgomery football program for as long as he can remember. His older brother, Connor, was a quarterback for the Cougars.
”I have enjoyed it a lot,” Chick said of his career with the Cougars. “It is something I have wanted since Connor was playing. I always felt like I wanted to be a captain and be able to walk out to midfield with those guys and be a leader for the team.
”When I was in third grade me and my dad would go to almost every practice. We filmed the 7 on 7. I was always at every home and away game. So I have been around the program forever. I played Pop Warner. This is something I have always wanted and now is finally here.”
Tien has not been around the Princeton program forever but he is part of the biggest turnaround season in school history. After moving to Princeton from Hillsborough, Tien became part of the football program as a sophomore and has become one of the leaders for a team that shook off last year’s winless season to capture a division title in the West Jersey Football League.
”We’re really grateful,” said Tien, who along with his teammates will play at second-seeded and defending champion Brick Township tonight. “I think we see that with every game. We won the first game of the season and not everyone believed in us. And then we proved it again with second game and the third and just kept going.
”We took it one at a time and that is what we’re going to have to do this week. Coach (Charlie) Gallagher always says you don’t win just by showing up. You have to keep working for it every week.”
The Little Tigers have the same small roster they have had in the past, but this year’s group has proven to be special. Princeton’s eight wins are the most since 2009, when they went 7-3 and earned their last playoff appearance.
”At Monday workouts everyone is banged up and the JV guys are gone and I think almost every Monday we look around and say, ‘this is our team.’” Tien said. “I guess that is Princeton football.”
It’s a Princeton team that grew from the experience of going 0-10 and made itself tougher in the process.
”Last year I would say we can call a good year of practice,” Tien said. “Almost all the guys came back this year a year better and we know things we didn’t know last year. We have some new guys like Jack (Cook) and Joe (Hawes) and they are doing a great job and have gained experience.
”Our coaches did a great job installing workouts earlier this year. We started having weight room three times a week in the winter and Saturdays and then it all led to preseason and we have just kept going from there.”
In Brick Township, the Little Tigers face a team that is 8-1 and just a double-overtime loss to Wall away from being a perfect 9-0. The Green Dragons won the sectional title last year.
”We know they are a good team,” Tien said. “It is the same thing as going into the Winslow game. We don’t really know them. We know they are a good program. But we are a good program too. We will go play Princeton football and we’ll play every down and play our hearts out.”