Taking up wrestling helped Omar Moustafa reach new heights as a football player in his senior season at Princeton High.

“I joined the wrestling team as a junior and that helped with leverage, being in control when blocking or tackling a guy,” said Moustafa.

“Wrestling made me a better athlete. Rashone (PHS wrestling head coach Rashone Johnson) put us through tough workouts.”

With the PHS football coming off a 0-10 season in 2013, Moustafa and his teammates were determined to make themselves tougher last fall.

“The thing about my junior year is that we knew we had potential but we had so many inexperienced players,” said Moustafa.

“What turned around from my junior year to senior was the effort that everyone put in, we really worked hard. We were confident going into the season. We had gone through adversity and had worked so hard.”

That confidence proved justified as the Little Tigers roared out of the gate with a 5-0 start on the way to an 8-2 campaign.

“Beating Hamilton West meant everything,” said Moustafa, reflecting on the team’s 28-7 win over Hamilton in the season opener, which snapped a 10-game losing streak and was the program’s first win since topping New Brunswick 22-14 on November 16, 2012.

“It set the tone and helped us do well. We knew we were going to do better but there were some unknowns. Starting 5-0 was great.”

Playing at guard and tackle on the offensive line and at defensive tackle, Moustafa was a mainstay in the trenches for PHS. “I showed versatility, I played well where I was put,” said Moustafa.

Moustafa’s versatility and good play was rewarded as he was chosen to play for the West Squad in the 19th Sunshine Football Classic sponsored by Fisher Capital LLC on July 1 along with Little Tiger teammates Sam Smallzman, Ben Danis, Tad Moore, Tommy Moore, Colin Buckley, Brian Lemus-Camey, and Joe Hawes.

As he looks forward to playing in the all star game, which is taking place at The College of New Jersey with a 7:00 p.m. kickoff, Moustafa points to a night game this past September as a high point of the season for the Little Tigers.

“Shutting out Ewing for homecoming was great, there was a crowd of 3,000  under the lights,” said Moustafa, referring to PHS’ 7-0 win over the Blue Devils.

“It was a feeling like no other, it felt like football was back in Princeton. I glanced up after warmup and looked around and said that is a lot of people.”

Moustafa and his teammates felt great after their regular season finale when they topped WW/P-N 47-21 to earn West Jersey Football League’s Valley Division title outright.

“We knew we were going to have at least a tie for the title no matter what happened but we didn’t want to share it with North,” said Moustafa.

“They had two good running backs and their quarterback, Kevin Murphy, was a good scrambler. We had a game plan, we wanted to move with him and contain him. We wanted to be undisputed champions.”

A much-improved PHS defense helped pave the way to the title. “One thing I noticed is that we were more hard-nosed,” said Moustafa, reflecting on the campaign which ended with a 48-12 loss to Brick Township in the state playoffs. “We hit harder, we played faster, we tackled better.”

Playing football helped Moustafa do better in other areas of his life. “It was the first sport I was actually passionate about,” said Moustafa, who is heading to Monmouth University and is thinking about walking on to the school’s football team.

“I was not the best student as a freshman but when I started playing as a sophomore, it helped me with time management. I started doing better in school, I had a 3.6 GPA in my junior year. It taught me so many lessons, discipline, being respectful.”

Getting the chance to play in the Sunshine Classic is a windfall for Moustafa.

“When I learned I had been picked, it was great,” said Moustafa. “I was disappointed that I might not get to play another football game and now I get to play with the best of the best.”

The best part of the game for Moustafa is the opportunity to take the field again with some of his PHS teammates.

“I am really good friends with all of those guys, we didn’t just hang out at school and say hi in the halls, we would go out to Chinese buffets and things like that,” said Moustafa. “The chance to play with them again is special, they are brothers to me.”