Princeton aims to get past quarterfinal hurdle, but it wouldn’t mean season was a failure if it doesn’t

Three straight years Princeton has reached the Class 3A quarterfinals.

Three years in a row the Tigers have fallen in quarterfinal play.

The first two years, the Tigers fell to Elmhurst IC Catholic, 31-7 in 2021 and 27-20 in overtime in 2022.

Last year, Lombard Montini Catholic knocked the Tigers out at home, 27-9.

The Tigers are taking full aim to get past the quarterfinal hurdle this year. Should they not, however, PHS coach Ryan Pearson would not necessarily consider the season a failure.

“We say this to our kids, all the time, ‘God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.’ If they can take these lessons and now hopefully, maybe pass those on to their kids, or, you know, their families. To me, that’s, what it’s really all about.”

—  Ryan Pearson, Princeton coach

He said there’s much more at stake when handling and shaping a group of young men.

“Those that know me probably understand I’m probably one of the most competitive people you’ll ever meet in your life. And that’s just the way I was raised,” he said. “My dad says if you’re gonna do something, you’re gonna give 100%. No less, no more. And if our kids do that, and they truly give 100% of themselves and do that for the betterment of the team and not for individual accolades. I don’t think it’s going to be a disappointment, because what else can you ask for your kids?

“Obviously, we would love to get over that hurdle, but that’s not going to be the end of the world for our kids because again, it comes back to what we want when our kids leave this program. We want them to number one to have a great experience. We want these kids to take the discipline, the never giving up, the perseverance, the humility.

“We say this to our kids, all the time, ‘God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.’ If they can take these lessons and now hopefully, maybe pass those on to their kids, or, you know, their families. To me, that’s, what it’s really all about.”

Business, as they say, is booming in the Tiger camp in more ways than one.

When Pearson arrived in Tiger town eight years ago, he had about 38 kids in the whole program. Now he has that many at the varsity level alone with about 70 overall.

While everyone wants to play for a winner, Pearson believes the program’s numbers growth goes well beyond the wins and losses.

“I think the success (helps), but I also think that that we provide more to our kids than just playing time, if that makes sense,” he said. “I mean, we’re big on making sure that we use football as a tool to build men, because we want our kids to leave our program and go on to be successful members of society. And so we really preach our four pillars, which is hard work, discipline, perseverance, and the big one for me is humility.

“In this day and age, it’s a ‘Me, me, me’ society. ‘What can you do for me?’ And I just think the world is backwards. It’s about servant leadership. It’s about doing something nice for others. That’s what makes me feel good. It’s not a selfish thing. So I think we just provide more to our kids than just playing time and I think the parents and the community kind of knows that now.

“You look down our PYFL our numbers are through the roof right now. I mean, we’re talking about being over 120 kids down there in fifth grade to eighth grade. It must be contagious somehow.”

Pearson guesses there were between only 70-80 youth players in grades fifth through eighth in 2018.

“That’s pretty awesome to see. So obviously the excitement is building for the younger kids, too,” he said. “I would like to think that it’s because we do more for kids than just worry about winning. We want kids to feel like they want to be a part of something special.”

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