 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction)
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Frank Giacalone cracked the starting lineup of the Princeton High varsity team as a freshman in 2002 but he didn't have too much fun that fall.
Giacalone took his lumps in his debut campaign, learning some hard lessons as PHS struggled to a 1-9 mark that season.
With Giacalone emerging as a star tight end and defensive end, the Little Tigers have turned the tables on their foes the last two seasons.
Last Saturday, Giacalone had loads of fun as he ended his high school career in style by helping PHS cruise to a 42-0 rout over visiting WW/P-N.
In the aftermath of the win, which left the Little Tigers with a final record of 6-4, Giacalone acknowledged that he had mixed emotions.
"I can't believe it's over; there's no more high school football for me," said Giacalone, who caught two passes for 40 yards last Saturday and contributed a sack and several tackles on defense. "I'm actually kind of sad but I'm happy about this game."
With PHS coming into the game with a two game losing streak, having fallen 27-0 to WW/P-S and then 61-36 at Monroe, Giacalone and his classmates were determined to write a happy ending to their careers.
"We had lost two games after a five-game winning streak and I was thinking what's going on here," said Giacalone. "We had to find a way to end that streak; we had to come out with a win."
Using the team's tried-and-true formula in its emergence, the Little Tigers relied on a bruising defensive effort.
"We knew coming into the game that we had to be much more physical," said a grinning Giacalone, who helped PHS hold WW/P-N to a measly 141 yards of total offense as the Little Tigers recorded their third shutout of the fall.
"We put in a new defense for the North option; it seemed to work well because we were coming in strong on them. Today we really got upfield on them."
For Giacalone, ending his career on such a high note would have seemed improbable if not impossible during those dark days in 2002.
"Ben [Guervil] and I were the only freshmen on varsity that season," recalled Giacalone, whose older brother, Vinny, helped trigger the PHS renaissance as the team's star quarterback.
"We would be celebrating and dumping water for winning one game. I thought we would maybe win three or four games by the time I was a senior. It's totally different now. We just missed the playoffs by one game. The aspirations are so much higher now. It's such a different atmosphere around the team."
The architect of that transformation, PHS head coach Steve Everette, enjoyed the atmosphere after PHS's season-ending triumph.
A beaming Everette gathered his charges in the end zone and lauded them on their effort. He cited the fact that junior running back Alex Henriques had just finished the season with the second most rushing yards ever in a season for a CVC back (1,707 yards) and challenged the returning players to keep working to make the playoff dream a reality.
For Everette, the win was particularly sweet considering the lumps PHS had taken in its last two outings. "The loss to South two weeks ago took a lot out of our sails and then last week playing at a tough Monroe team," said Everette. "It's real nice to end up on a positive note, especially to play at home and play well."
The PHS offense clicked on all cylinders as Henriques rushed for 250 yards with junior quarterback John Mitko passing for 185 yards and three touchdowns and senior star receiver Ben Guervil making six receptions for 127 yards and two scores.
Everette, though, had some mixed emotions himself as he contemplated how close PHS came to making the playoffs.
"It's bittersweet," said Everette. "I thought we were good enough to win our division and make the playoffs. We didn't end up exactly where we wanted to be. But we've improved three years in a row and it allows us to go out and reset those goals and see what we can do."
That process produces more than just wins on a football field. "There's a lesson in life for our kids,' asserted Everette. "You work hard and you may or may not get exactly what you want but things feel good anyway."
Everette feels good about what Giacalone and his classmates have learned in their time with the program. "Our seniors were huge," said Everette, whose Class of 2006 included Huguens Jean, Marc Andre, Adam Brunner, Katy Paxton, Kenny Bullock, J.P. Henrichsen, Alfred Stephens, Tuwmaa Parker, and Anthony Brown in addition to Giacalone and Guervil.
"Four years ago, they got thrown into the fire because we didn't have a freshman team then. Frank and Ben started on varsity and took their lumps, especially against Hamilton and Ewing. They came back and worked in the offseason and helped us get to the point where we could contend with those teams."
The impact of this year's senior class should be felt well past this fall. "They helped raise our program another notch," added Everette. "Every class has done it for us. It's going to be tough next year but we have younger kids and they are ready to step up. Our younger guys look up to those guys and they want to be the next Frank, the next Ben. That is what a program is all about."
Giacalone, for his part, thinks the legacy of success will continue under the guidance of Everette.
"Coach Everette has made it a different mentality for the kids," asserted Giacalone. "We've got to hope for more and better. The kids that are younger look up to the older guys. I'm pretty sure the younger guys will step it up next year."
If the returning players can step up like Giacalone did during his PHS career, the Little Tigers should keep on the winning track.
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