By Bill Alden

Even though the Princeton High football team went 1-19 in his two seasons as a starting offensive lineman, Adam Musa doesn’t dwell on the steady diet of losing when he looks back on the experience.

“I think of the teammates and the game and all of the fun hanging out with the guys,” said Musa.

“You forget about the scores and all of that stuff. You just had a great time on the field playing with the guys. It is the memories you had together, the jokes you made and the Saturday morning breakfasts. We would have cheesy potatoes come in and everybody would be fighting each other for those cheesy potatoes. We had a lot of fun with our line coach. We had a great time.”

This Friday evening, Musa will make one more football memory as he plays for the West squad in the 22nd Sunshine Football Classic at The College of New Jersey.

“It means a lot; I am really excited,” said the 6’0, 225-pound Musa, who will be joined on the West roster by PHS teammates Vince Doran, Marqui McBride, and Moses Mahiri with Little Tiger head coach Charlie Gallagher serving as offensive coordinator.

“It is going to be a lot of fun for me. I am just happy to get one more game to play.”

When Musa broke into the PHS starting lineup as a junior in the fall of 2016, he was excited for the challenge.

“At the beginning of the year, I thought this was going to be hard, it was going to be intense,” said Musa.

“Once the first couple of games went past, I got adjusted to to it and I realized it wasn’t too bad. It was a lot of fun; you are going up against good opponents.”

After a 1-9 campaign that fall, Musa and his classmates were primed for a big final season in 2017.

“I knew it was going to be a challenge but I was ready for it,” said Musa.

“We were all ready, we were excited. We saw the schedule and we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy season. We were excited, motivated, and ready.”

Unfortunately, the Little Tigers got hit with a string of injuries, starting with losing quarterback Doran for the season on his first play, and struggled to a 0-10 season.

Musa and his fellow offensive linemen tried to hold things together for freshman quarterback Jake Renda as he took his lumps.

“Although we may not have had as experienced a quarterback back there, we were still going to do our job,” said Musa.

“We were still going to work hard to protect him and give him the time he needs to throw the ball. Renda has a lot of potential.”

Musa is looking to have a good time as he takes the football field for the last time in the Sunshine game.

“I have been going since my freshman year, watching my buddies out there, the upperclassmen,” said Musa, who was the PHS recipient of the Scholar-Athlete Award from the Del Val Chapter of the National Football Foundation and is headed to TCNJ.

“It looked like a lot of fun, I wanted to be in their shoes. It is unbelievable, you don’t get many opportunities like this. I played with coach Gallagher for four years. I am excited to play with Vince, he is one of my best friends. It is going to be crazy, it is ‘let’s get this win.’”