Young Tigers Try To Find Footing

There were two things pretty obvious about the Princeton Tigers at a jamboree in Milan on Friday. The team is pretty young and inexperienced. The team also played with an energy and will that have become hallmarks of third-year head coach Nathan Powell’s teams.
Princeton scrimmaged with conference-mates Milan and Putnam County as well as Salisbury at the event.
“As always there was a lot to take away from competing against other teams for the first time,” Powell said. “Our youth and inexperience were pretty obvious throughout, but the effort and ‘want-to’ was there.”
Princeton was breaking in a team that boasts 17 freshmen and sophomores, several of which will be varsity starters this year. While the group didn’t look like a team coming off back-to-back shares of the Grand River Conference title, the Tigers aren’t expecting to be at their best early.
“As we move forward and the team’s confidence grows, execution and the level of play will only get better,” Powell said. “Right now there is still too much thinking going on out on the field and we just need to continue to work in practice to get those things established as second nature.”
Princeton will open the season on the road in Faucett, traveling to face Mid-Buchanan — a team that finished as the state runner-up at the Class 1 level last season. Kickoff between the Tigers and Dragons on Friday night is set for 7 p.m.