(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption: FOR THE RECORD: Princeton Day School senior running back Mike Shimkin eludes a tackler in action earlier this season. Last Saturday in PDS’ 34-12 win at Red Lion Christian (Del.), Shimkin became the school’s all-time leading rusher as he ran for 144 yards to give him 2,583 in his career. Shimkin passed the old mark of 2,490 yards set by Bill Martin in 1976.

Shimkin Sets Career Rushing Mark as PDS Football Rolls to Victory

Bill Alden

Mike Shimkin came into last Saturday needing 49 yards on the ground to become the all-time leading career rusher in the history of Princeton Day School football.

It didn’t take long for PDS head coach Bruce Devlin to realize that senior tailback Shimkin was going to get the record as the Panthers played at Red Lion Christian (Del.)

“On the first play we ran an option with Clint [O’Brien] and Mike and we could see that they couldn’t match up with them,” said Devlin.

“We spread them out and they kept bringing pressure up the middle. We knew we could do things on the perimeter.”

The hard-running Shimkin took advantage, easily breaking the record as he rambled to 144 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries to help PDS to a 34-12 romp.

Senior quarterback O’Brien also had a memorable day as PDS improved to 4-1 on the season, rushing for 121 yards and passing for 120 more.

In Devlin’s view, Shimkin’s record is just as much the product of his fighting spirit as his talent.

“Mike is not the biggest kid but he has a big heart,” said Devlin of Shimkin who now has 2,583 yards rushing as he moved past the old mark of 2,490 set by Bill Martin in 1976. “He’s tough to bring down; he doesn’t go down on the first contact. He’s a team player; he’ll do the little things to make his teammates do better.”

O’Brien certainly makes the PDS team better as well. “He has done everything for us,” asserted Devlin. “On Saturday, he passed for two touchdowns, ran for two touchdowns and caught a touchdown. He returns kicks for us. He doesn’t play a lot of defense but he has two sacks.”

In assessing his team’s turnaround from last year’s nightmarish 1-6 season, Devlin said everything starts with the improved play along the offensive line.

“What’s happening is that we are getting good protection and good blocking up front,” said Devlin, citing the play of lineman Patrick Murphy, Brian Fishbein, Nick Vik, and Aidan Epply Schmitt.

“The kids got thrown into the fire last year and had to play a lot. Now they are doing really well. We have eight or nine offensive linemen who we are rotating in. With as hot as it has been, it has been good to rotate people. We have never been able to do that before.”

The team’s depth in the trenches played a major role two weeks ago as PDS pulled away from the George School to earn a 17-6 win.

“We made a couple of bad mistakes on holding penalties but we kept grinding away,” recalled Devlin.

“We have also been playing good defense, getting into the backfield and making people change direction.”

The Panthers are off this Saturday, returning to action when they host Perkiomen on October 20.

“We don’t have a lot of injuries but it’s a good chance to regroup,” said Devlin. “We can work on some fundamental stuff.”

With his team off to a hot start, Devlin is seeing parallels to the 2005 campaign when a senior-laden PDS team finished at 7-1. “The seniors now were helped by the older kids when they were freshmen,” said Devlin.

“The seniors now are helping the younger kids along. We have some good sophomores who have played a lot.”

The younger kids on the PDS squad have an outstanding role model in the record-breaking Shimkin.

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