STORMING THROUGH: Princeton High running back Rory Helstrom runs to daylight in recent action. Last Saturday, senior star Helstrom rushed for 87 yards and a touchdown to help PHS top Lawrence 20-6. The Little Tigers, now 2-2, play at Steinert (2-1) on October 10. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Rory Helstrom sensed that the ground game would be critical as the Princeton High football team played at Lawrence High last Saturday.

“We knew it was going to be messy; we wanted to just keep driving down the field,” said senior running back Helstrom.

Coming off a disappointing 35-21 loss to Hightstown on September 25, Helstrom and the Little Tigers weren’t going to let a sloppy field slow them down.

“We worked really hard in practice this week; we had three really good practices,” said Helstrom. “We were uptempo all week. We wanted to win and get back on track.”

With Helstrom carrying the load, contributing 20 carries for 87 yards and a touchdown, PHS got back on track, slogging its way through the mud to defeat Lawrence 20-6.

The hard-charging Helstorm got PHS on the board first, dashing 18 yards to the goal line pylon for a first quarter touchdown as the Little Tigers took a 7-0 lead.

“I just like to go outside,” said Helstrom, who also made five receptions for 32 yards in the win. “We wanted to receive first and get the ball and get on top. In the last couple of games, the other teams have been scoring first on us.”

PHS produced a pivotal scoring march, driving 62 yards late in the second quarter and going up 14-6 after a six-yard TD pass from Dave Beamer to Kyle Angelucci with 43 seconds left in the half.

“It definitely gave us momentum at halftime,” said Helstrom, reflecting on the drive.

Seeing action in the secondary, Helstrom helped key a superb defensive effort as PHS built on that momentum to stifle the Cardinals in the second half.

“With them only scoring six points, it was huge,” said Helstrom. “We had a shutout in the second half. We knew their formations. We just checked to the right formation in order to stop them. We made interceptions and we have been dropping them lately.”

PHS delivered the knockout blow with a 71-yard scoring march midway  through the fourth quarter that culminated on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Beamer to Matt Ochoa.

“We just knew we had to punch in another one in to put them away,” said Helstrom, who had a 25-yard run on the play before the touchdown.

PHS head coach Charlie Gallagher liked the way his defense punched back after a subpar performance in the Hightstown loss. “We were able to stuff the run for the most part,” said Gallagher.

“They got a couple of outside perimeter runs that hurt us a little bit but overall I thought we did a nice job. We needed them to step up. The thought process is that people are scoring a lot of points against us so this was a big game. I think, for the most part, we kept them in the middle of the field.”

The Little Tiger offense kept Lawrence on its heels with a diversified approach. Beamer hit on 16-of-27 passes for 139 yards to augment Helstrom’s work on the ground.

“We are able to mix it up, we did a nice job with the run and the pass,” added Gallagher.

“In conditions like this, you are nervous, you can become one-dimensional and they start stacking the line and Rory is not much of a factor. Ryan Angelucci had a string of catches, Jakob Green and Matt Ochoa did well. We kept those guys off balance which frees up Rory to be able to run the ball.”

Crucially, PHS took better care of the ball, cutting down on its turnovers.

“We talked about that in the first half, we didn’t turn the ball over,” said Gallagher.

“In the second half, we did have two turnovers. We dropped a punt and we overthrew a snap but we were 0-4 on turnovers last week so that was key.”

This Saturday, PHS faces a key Valley Division contest as it plays at Steinert (2-1).

“I think we are right back in the thick of things,” said Gallagher. “Obviously we have a little bit of momentum coming off of a victory. We will have a little bit more confidence. At the same time, I don’t think we are good enough yet to beat Steinert. We have to have a good week of practice. We have got to start on Monday.”

In Helstrom’s view, topping Lawrence is a good step forward. “It will definitely get us better for next week,” said Helstrom.