Every successful program must start somewhere. Coach Joe Gargione believes 2011 would be a good time for Princeton High Football to get on the right path.
The team is coming off a 0-10 season. That could be powerful motivation.
"We dont want to dwell on last year, but we're not going to totally forget it," Gargione said. "We're not totally putting it out of our minds because we don't want it to repeat."
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Gargione and his players may not concentrate on the team's record, but do need to find out why it happened and how to avoid a repeat this season.
For starters, the local Pop Warner is trying to build a program and feed the varsity team. Unfortunately, there was not a 7th-8th grade team last year.
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Even so, that didn't keep 14 freshmen for trying out for football. In total, 49 players are in the football program.
Princeton has 15 seniors and 11 more juniors on the team.
"The kids did a good job of working out in the off-season," Gargione said. "These guys are working hard. Even in a 0-10 season, we gained a lot of experience. All of the sophomores and juniors are now juniors and seniors."
The senior captains are Fernando Silva, Alex Mitko and Jeff Barsamian. Mitko is the team's quarterback. Silva (OL/LB) and Barsamian (OL/DL) are two of the offensive linemen.
"Our offensive line is definitely improved," Gargione said. "We're hoping we'll have a lot more time to throw."
Other upperclassmen on the line are Nick Gillette (senior), Andrew Ochoa (senior), Andrew Wensler (senior) Will Harrison (junior), Bobby Wright (junior), Jack Persico (junior) and Carl Helstrom (junior).
These guys will be trying to open up holes for Collin Bell (a senior RB/LB), Morris Cardona (a senior RB/LB), Dwayne Williamson (a senior RB/LB), Ben Smallzman (a junior RB/LB), Javon Pannell (a junior RB/DB) and Grant Schaefer (a junior RB/LB).
The offensive line also needs to keep the defense off of Mitko and give him a chance to connect with Kevin White (a senior WR/DB), Eric Shorter (a senior WR/DB), Ben Harrison (a senior WR/DE), Abe Meisel (a senior WR/DB), Timmy Miranda (a senior WR/DB), E. J. Morgan (a senior WR/DB), Will Xu (a junior WR/DB), Jamyl Williams (a junior WR/DB) or David Linges (a junior WR/DB) down the field.
Zach DiGregorio, a junior, plays quarterback and defensive back.
The sophomores on the team are Taisim Bullock (RB/DB), Tom Forrey (OL/DL), Ethan Gumpert (OL/DL), Will Harrison (RB/DB), Liam Helstrom (TE/DL), JoJo Kuranchie (OL/DL), Peter Mahotiere (OL/DL), Will Meisel (WR/DB) and Cal O'Meara (TE/LB).
The freshmen on the team are Elias Abilheira (OL/DL), Ian Alloway (OL/DL), Victor Bell (OL/DL), James Cacciola (RB/DB), Ben Danis (WR/LB), Elliot Dolan (TE/LB), Kyle Froehlick (WR/DB), Amiyr Harris (RB/LB), Zac Meisel (WR/DB), Tad Moore (OL/DL), Thomas Moore (OL/DL), Sam Smaltzman (QB/LB), Carlos Velaz (WR/DB) and Zach Yonish (OL/DL).
Princeton will be trying to get that first win of the season out of the way quickly when it plays at Northern Burlington at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10.
"I think that's a winnable game," Gargione said.
Actually, Gargione hopes to convince his players that every game is winnable.
"I can't put a number of wins that we're hoping for," Gargione said. "We just want to be ready to play and work hard. We just want to be more successful than last year."
