Cruising past Robbinsville 43-0 last Thursday evening, the Princeton High football team posted its second rout in a matter of days.

The previous Saturday, PHS rolled to a 50-0 victory over WW/P-S, posting its first win over the Pirates since 2009.

While the two laughers could seem ho-hum to some programs, David Beamer and his Little Tiger teammates savored the one-sided victories.

“Last year we went 0-10 so we never had games like this,” said junior quarterback Beamer. “We didn’t really expect to come out this big but it happened and it’s great.”

While things went smoothly for PHS as it jumped out to a 29-0 first half lead over the Ravens and never looked back on the way to improving to 7-1, there is room for improvement.

“There are still some things we have got to fix, penalties especially and turnovers,” acknowledged Beamer.

Although PHS didn’t need to pass much with such a large cushion, Beamer had some good hook-ups with senior Joe Hawes, who just took up football this fall after previously playing soccer.

“Joe Hawes was big,” said Beamer, who went 4-of-6 passing for 60 yards and three touchdowns with each of the scoring strikes going to Hawes. “When we were throwing it, it was pretty good. Joe is a great addition, he really transitioned well to playing receiver.”

This fall, Beamer has been transitioning into one of the top quarterbacks in the area.

“I think mostly my decision-making and just with completing the passes,” said Beamer, when assessing his progress from last season.

“Last year most of my yards came on big plays. I am working on just getting the ball to the receivers. I definitely feel more confident with everything with one year of experience.”

The team’s offensive
balance, which was reflected by junior star Rory Helstrom’s 176 yards rushing in the win over Robbinsville, has helped increase Beamer’s confidence.

“Last year we didn’t have much of a running game,” said Beamer. “This year, we have got the running game and a pretty good passing game. Not many teams can say that and we can rely on either one to get the job done.”

After not getting the job done in 2013, PHS has applied the lessons it learned from the winless campaign.

“Most of the guys who played last year are still starting this year so a lot of us had a lot of experience,” said Beamer.

“Last year was a train wreck. This year we got to really focus and use the experience to our benefit.”

For PHS head coach Charlie Gallagher, seeing his team bounce back from last year has been an enjoyable experience.

“I think the confidence level for everybody is good,” said Gallagher. “It was less than a year ago that we were trying to get our first win. It was really, really hard, we had a rough year. I have a lot of confidence in our guys; they play great football, try to be humble, and enjoy the wins.”

Gallagher liked the defensive effort he got from his squad against Robbinsville.

“They made a couple of big plays but for the most part the defense bottled them up,” said Gallagher. “It made some big sacks. We had some picks and a
fumble recovery. It is definitely good for these guys. We are trying to build momentum for the next two weeks.”

PHS is trying to build up Beamer’s passing efficiency all over the field.

“We are trying to give Dave an opportunity to throw the ball even down close,” said Gallagher.

“We know that there are people keying on [Colin] Buckley and that people will be looking at Rory. We have a lot of talented guys on the outside. We have got to be able to make those throws in tight quarters and score some points besides just running the football.”

Despite the 7-1 record, Gallagher knows that his team has to clean up some things as it plays at WW/P-N (5-3) on November 7.

“I think we still have to limit the penalties,” said Gallagher. “We are making some turnovers. We can’t get away with that next week and the week after.”

In order to get a win over the Northern Knights, PHS will need another big defensive effort.

“They put up some points, they have a great rusher (C.J. Markisz) and a really talented QB (Kevin Murphy), everybody knows about him so we are going to have to try to bottle him up,” said Gallagher.

“The running back is good too. He is a shifty kid and he is quick and fast, he has a lot of intangibles. We will have to have a great week of practice.”

Beamer, for his part, is confident that the Little Tigers will put together another superb performance.

“They are a pretty good team and their quarterback is good,” said Beamer. “It is going to be a big test but I think we can pull it off.”