COMING THROUGH: Princeton High running back Carson Giles heads through a hole in recent action. Last Friday at WW/P-N, sophomore Giles rushed for 36 yards and touchdown in a losing cause as PHS fell 28-10 to the Northern Knights. The Little Tigers, now 1-2, host Lawrence High (3-0) on October 1. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Coming into its game last Friday night at WW/P-N, the Princeton High football team was concentrating on slowing down the high-powered offense of the Northern Knights.

Getting an early test when WW/P-N got the ball at the PHS 14-yard line in its first possession, the Little Tiger defense passed with flying colors, stopping the Northern Knights on downs.

In the view of PHS head coach Charlie Gallagher, that early stand gave PHS a boost. “We had some momentum going in our direction,” said Gallagher.

The PHS offense kept things going in the right direction as it marched 86 yards and took a 7-0 lead after sophomore running back Christian Giles bulled into the end zone for a three-yard touchdown run with 5:01 left in the first quarter.

But the Little Tigers shot themselves in the foot after that, making a number of miscues, including some key penalties, two fumbles, and two interceptions as WW/P-N built a 15-7 lead. PHS answered with a 25-yard field goal by Jakob Green to narrow the gap to 15-10 at halftime.

Green’s boot turned out to be the high water mark for the Little Tigers, however, as the Northern Knights reeled off 13 unanswered points in the second half to pull away to a 28-10 win.

“It just fell apart here in the second half,” lamented Gallagher, whose team dropped to 1-2 with the setback.

“We didn’t do what we wanted to do. It is the amount of mistakes, it is the turnovers, it is just a slew of things that we don’t really see in practice. We had our opportunities to be in the game, we just didn’t get it done.”

Gallagher was proud of how his team kept fighting, particularly in the wake of losing sophomore star receiver Isaac Webb, who was injured early in the fourth quarter, and was taken off the field in a stretcher and left the stadium in an ambulance.

“We were a little bit out of the game at the end but we were still down inside their 10 twice,” noted Gallagher.

“We could have put some points on the board and make it look more respectable. At the same time, you get in there, you never know, you get an onside kick or something like that. There are good things that can happen.”

Despite the loss, Gallagher believes his team can do plenty of good things this fall.

“We have a great bunch of guys; I really do love this team,” asserted Gallagher.

“They do work real hard; it is a matter of youth. They do everything they can to get a win. It is a little bit of ironman football. We have to persevere and get the job done and we just didn’t do it today.”

With PHS hosting undefeated Lawrence High on October 1, Gallagher will have no trouble getting his players to work hard for that challenge.

“It will be more motivation for our guys to knock off a team that is 3-0,” said Gallagher.

“We were there at one time a few years ago and teams were trying to knock us off so we are excited for them to come in undefeated.”