Tigers eye better results with revamped offense
PRINCETON >> For Charlie Gallagher and his Princeton High football staff, the challenge these days is finding a way to compensate for a lack of numbers.
The Tigers are in the low 40s this year, which means many players will again line up on both sides of the ball for the majority of snaps.
The key for Princeton is coaching continuity. Jim Meert, the longtime head coach at Hunterdon Central, was promoted from offensive line coach to defensive coordinator. Gallagher also brought in Jason Petrone from West Windsor to help coach the running backs and defensive ends.
“One of the great things about Princeton is I think Princeton just produces great athletes,” said Gallagher, who’s now in his seventh season. “I don’t know about great football players, and what I mean by that is, we don’t have a lot of kids coming up through the system — Pop Warner and that kind of stuff. But when we get the athletes, we’re able to turn them into really good football players. It takes a little extra special coaching I think in Princeton, but I think we’ve got the coaching staff that is more than capable of doing that, so I’m happy about that.”
After losing 21 straight games from 2016-18, Princeton finally got back in the win column with two wins last fall.
The plan this fall is to tackle better defensively and score more consistently with a tweaked offensive system that runs through promising sophomore quarterback Jaxon Petrone.
“He can throw the ball really well, so we’ve kind of changed our offense up a little bit to kind of reap those benefits,” Gallagher said. “We were a Wing-T team last year, which obviously relied heavily on the run. But now we’ve kind of backed our quarterback up in a pistol and a shotgun type of situation, which automatically presents the threat of throwing the ball. So I think the goal here is just to be a little bit more balanced on offense.”
Jaxon Petrone is recovering from a minor injury suffered earlier this summer and questionable to play in the season opener Sept. 13 at Hightstown. But Gallagher said if he isn’t cleared to play in time, “we’ll definitely get it game two.”
In the meantime, Jaxon’s older cousin, Judd, is playing quarterback before the senior presumably moves out to wide receiver.
Gallagher likes his depth at running back with senior Stephen Avis, junior Dylan Angelucci and junior Moses Santizo.
Blocking up front are senior center Fred Otte, junior guard Kevin Davila, senior guard Alexis Thomas and sophomore tackle Giancarlo Momo. The right tackle spot is an ongoing battle between juniors Leo Alexandroff and Andreas Lambros.
Senior Matt Perello is the top receiving option.
“He’s a real phenomenal track kid, Group 4 state 100-yard dash,” Gallagher said. “He was one of the top finishers, so we’ve got a lot of speed on the outside. We’re real happy with that.”
Defensively, Avis and junior Mike Spadea are expected to anchor the edges of the line. Davila will be an every-down defensive tackle. Angelucci and Santizo play inside linebacker. And in the secondary, Judd Petrone will man strong safety and junior Dora Servil is one of the standouts at cornerback.
“We’ve kind of focused our attention on just being a good tackling team and getting all 11 guys to the balls, which I think obviously is big,” Gallagher said.
Being that Princeton is a young team, Gallagher anticipates that an extra week of practice by virtue of not playing in Week Zero will help. And as far as promoting the game and building the program up again, he sees promise in the fact that there are close to 30 kids between the sophomore and junior classes.
“I think that’ll pay dividends for the future, but at the same time we want to win some games this year,” Gallagher said. “We want to be competitive.”