IHSA football preview: Princeton reloaded for another deep postseason run

Princeton has won six straight Three Rivers Mississippi division championships and made three straight Class 3A quarterfinal appearances.

And even though they sent two players off to the Division I ranks, there are no signs for the Tigers to be slowing down anytime soon with eight starters returning on offense and seven on defense.

“We’ve lost some big-name kids. It’s really kind of become the mindset of our program that it’s truly the next-man-up mentality.”

—  Ryan Pearson, Princeton coach

“We lost some really good kids, but you know, we’ve done that every year, seems like,” eighth-year Tigers coach Ryan Pearson said. “We’ve lost some big-name kids. It’s really kind of become the mindset of our program that it’s truly the next-man-up mentality. We’ve got so many kids that are sitting there waiting their turn having those really good kids in front of them. And now it’s kind of their time to shine, and they’re really relishing that role.

“I truly don’t feel that we’re going to have a dropoff. I really don’t. I think as a staff, we do a great job of trying to figure out what our kids do well, instead of fitting the square peg into a round hole. I’ve always believed that you have to try to adjust to the talent of your kids.”

The Tigers return most of their offensive weapons that put up 35.6 points per game, 42.7 in the regular season.

Running backs Casey Etheridge (1,897/29 TDs), a junior, and Ace Christiansen (738/8), a senior, combined for 2,635 yards rushing and 37 touchdowns last season.

Senior Noah LaPorte, who has committed to Northwestern University, is a force at tight end with his receiving (34-517, 8 TDs) and blocking talents.

Senior quarterback Will Lott held his own after facing the unenviable task of succeeding all-state quarterback Teegan Davis, now playing for the University of Iowa, throwing for 1,024 yards and 11 TDs.

Pearson said Etheridge and Lott will only be better with a year under their belt. Etheridge, however, will no longer be a surprise as he was last year when he had a breakout season opener against Monmouth-Roseville when he rushed for 234 yards and four touchdowns.

“They are light years ahead of where we were at this point last year. I think a lot of that’s maturity,” Pearson said. “Now they kind of know what to expect. At the same time, they’re also much more confident than what they were. They hadn’t had (much) game experience. Well, now Will’s got, what, 12 games under his belt, and same thing with Casey.”

The offensive line will have a bit of a makeover beyond seniors Cade Odell, a three-year starter at tackle, and Anthony Vujanov at guard, who return on the left side, along with junior center Rhett Pearson.

The Tigers opened summer camp with five players vying to fill the slots on the right side of the O-line with senior Ian Morris, who’s played defensively exclusively so far, and juniors Grady Cox, Matthew Lord, Owen Hartman and Damien Dalrymple all in the mix.

The Tigers defense is stacked with the likes of seniors Morris (83 tackles) and Arthur Burden (84 tackles) and junior Common Green (73 tackles) and Etheridge at linebacker and LaPorte, Christiansen (48 tackles) and Lott in the defensive backfield with junior Gavin Lanham and senior Kaydin Gibson looking to break in.

Odell anchors the defensive line, joined by Cox, Hartman and Jase Stuckey.

While there will be no breakout surprises in personnel like Etheridge was last year, and all of the Tigers skill players are well-known commodities, Pearson will have a few surprises up his sleeve.

“We have some some wrinkles, offensively and defensively, that we have not run in the past. So we’re we’re going to break those out, and hopefully it catches people by surprise,” he said.

Pearson sets high goals for his team every year and those remain.

“I mean, I think we’ve won conference, what, six years in a row now? Obviously adding to that to go to No. 7 I think would be a huge goal for us,” Pearson said. “It just comes back to we’re not preparing for just a playoff entry. We want to do some damage once we get to the playoffs. And we’ve been so close last three years, losing the quarters.”

To achieve those goals, the Tigers coach said everyone will have to pull together for a common goal.

“The biggest thing is everybody’s got to come together and believe in the bigger goal rather than just what role I’m in or the position that I’m playing or maybe how much I’m playing,” he said. “Everybody has an important role. If we can get all of our kids to buy into accepting that role, relishing in that role and understanding that that’s what it’s going to take for our team to have the most success, to me that’s when you have a chance to be special.

“When you get kids to buy into that – and right now I truly feel we’ve got a great group of unselfish kids that they don’t care how many yards they get. They don’t care how many passes they complete or how many receptions they get in a game, they just want to win – and whatever they have to do to help our team be successful and win, that’s what they want to do. And that as a coach, you can’t put a price tag on that.

“When you get kids that buy into team above self, man, you’ve got a chance. And that’s what we have.”