Former Bureau Valley players now on the other side as Princeton coaches

Patrick Smith and Nathan Black used to wear the Columbia Blue and Navy for the Bureau Valley Storm football team.

Both were members of the Storm’s 2005 state champions and 2004 state runners-up. Smith was the area’s top receiver while Black, a year younger, was a standout running back and linebacker for the Storm.

For the past two seasons, as they will Friday night, they’ve been wearing a different shade of blue looking across the field at the Storm as members of the Princeton Tiger coaching staff.

While neither played against Princeton, Smith said Friday’s Princeton at Bureau Valley game is a little different for him than the Tigers’ other high-energy rivalry games with Hall and Kewanee.

“Personally, I always enjoy going back to BV and seeing some of my old coaches and teammates,” said Smith, who is the defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach for PHS. “I’ve known Coach (Mat) Pistole and his family my whole life and I played with a couple other members of his coaching staff. I think they’re doing a great job over there, and I cheer for them to be successful eight out of nine weeks every year.

“From my perspective, that adds a little more to the rivalry, but we still have to prepare and practice like we do any other week to try and win a game.”

I think they’re doing a great job over there, and I cheer for them to be successful eight out of nine weeks every year.”

—  Patrick Smith

Black, who coaches the inside linebackers, said he looks forward to returning home.

“This week’s always fun. The kids really enjoy it. It always feels a little different going back to a place where such great memories were made, but to now be coaching on the visitors’ sideline,” he said. “I think it’s kinda cool that Pat and I together get to now coach against two great coaches (Pistole and Craig Johnson) that played a huge role in our personal success when we were at BV. Extremely grateful for those guys.”

The Tiger coaches will take part in what will be the fifth and final meeting Friday night of the Bureau County neighbors located just 19 miles apart. The Storm will be moving to the Lincoln Trail-Prairieland Conference next year.

“It’s a little disappointing this will be the last time we get to play BV,” Smith said. “Conferences change, and this is a relatively new rivalry on the football field. I’m just glad that we get to play them one more time, especially in Coach J’s (Craig Johnson) final year. He’s been a staple at BV since it began, so it definitely would have seemed a little weird to play them next year and beyond without him on the sidelines.”

In Week 9, another PHS assistant, Nick Lower, the F/S defensive coordinator/outside linebackers coach, will go up against his alma mater when the Tigers meet rival Hall. He is a 2009 Hall grad, playing linebacker in Gary Vicini’s last season as the Red Devils head coach.

• Williams to have surgery: Princeton senior Bennett Williams, who sustained a season-ending injury during the Tigers’ Week 5 victory over Sterling, will have surgery Friday at the University of Iowa.

He will be in the well-known Stead Family Children’s Hospital on the Iowa campus that overlooks Kinnick Stadium.