Princeton coach Jason Smith feels pain of season-ending loss

Losing in the postseason always hurts.

It means the sudden end and all the promises and hope that go with it.

And if you’re a coach that’s as passionate as Princeton’s Jason Smith, who puts his heart and soul into it, it hurts. Really hurts.

The Tiger coach became emotional following Friday’’s 49-43 loss to Rock Falls, which marked the third straight year the Tigers reached the sectional final only to lose.

“Yes (they’re hard), because that’s three years in a row. I felt like I let my team down. Let the kids down. That’s where it hurts the most,” he said.

PHS senior all-stater Noah LaPorte, for one, is not hearing anything about their coach letting them down in any way. He picked him up just how he’s picked them all up.

“I told him that I wouldn’t have wanted another coach for my high school career no matter the outside noise. He taught us more about being better men than anything,” he said. “He was always there for any situations and we went through a lot together as a team. All coaches will put the blame on themselves but it never is. They lose sleep trying to get us the best look, spend money on the team and pray for our success.

“At the end of the day we are the ones out on the court and didn’t get the job finished, but that doesn’t take away from the life lessons all the coaches gave us and the memories.”

Smith is not only the first Princeton coach in school history to coach the Tigers to four straight regional championships, he’s the first to take them to three straight sectional final appearances. When Princeton last won four straight regionals, Roger Lowe led the Tigers to the first in 1992 with Bruce Placek guiding them in 1993-95.

In this four-year stretch, Smith’s Tigers had records of 20-10, 32-3, 17-16 and 21-13, good for an overall mark of 90-42 and a .682 winning percentage.

What Smith said he’ll remember the most about this year’s team is the love and the heart they have for one another.

“They fight for each other. They play well with each other. Starts with the leadership at top with Noah and Jordan (Reinhardt) and filters all the way down,” he said. “They’re unselfish. Very unselfish. Just great kids.”

Looking past the heartbreak of the sudden-ending, there were a lot of memorable moments after overcoming injuries and sorrow with the deaths of Tiger dad Pat Mason and Smith’s brother, Dave Camp.

“Proud of those kids how they fought the whole year through adversity. Not too many teams face two deaths in the family either. They’ve just been through a lot and battle tested,” Smith said. “I told them it doesn’t matter the basketball player or athlete you were on the court, they were better human beings. I would go to war with those guys any time, any where, any place and they know that. I just appreciate them so much for their hard work and blood, sweat and tears into the program.”

Reinhardt and LaPorte will take a lot of this season with them.

“It was rough at the start. Me, Jayden and Noah all got an ankle injury, but once we got healthy our coaches really believed in us and we knew they did and we worked hard for them,” Reinhardt said. “Not many people can say they went to the sectional three straight years. Obviously, we want to win, but you can’t take it for granted.”

“I’m just so proud of this team. People were looking at us. What, we were 9-12? Nobody gave us a chance to be playing for the sectional championship. There again, we go against odds,” LaPorte said. “We shouldn’t have been here in all the other people’s eyes. The only people that believed was in our huddle. It’s a great feeling to have a team like this. It’s one of the best seasons I’ve had and that says a lot considering I’ve been a part of successful teams.

“There were so many ups and downs to the season. We really picked it up once everyone was starting to play together.”

Kevin Hieronymus has been the BCR Sports Editor since 1986. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com