 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction)
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David Blitzer took plenty of lumps in his first two years playing for the Princeton Day School football team.
PDS went a combined 3-13 in the 2002-2003 seasons and absorbed several lopsided defeats along the way. Blitzer, a starter at linebacker from his freshman year, was thrown into the fire and had some lessons shoved down his throat.
But with Blitzer and his classmates sticking with the program, PDS turned the corner in 2004, posting a 4-4 record and recording four shutouts.
The PDS renaissance came full circle last fall as the Panthers went 7-1, tying the 1983 team's program-best mark.
As a reward for helping spark the team's turnaround, Blitzer and classmate Alex Kowalski were selected to play for the West squad in the Sunshine Classic All-Star Game this Thursday at The College of New Jersey.
For Blitzer, the struggles of his first two seasons made last fall all the more sweeter. "It looked like the program was going down the drain," said Blitzer reflecting on the early stages of his PDS career. "Last fall was a really redemptive season. We worked hard to get the program where it is now. To see the emotion and spirit we had this past season was really great."
In looking back on last fall, Blitzer views the team's 26-14 opening night win over Morrisville as a turning point. "We had lost to Morrisville 28-21 the year before," said Blitzer.
"They got ahead of us 7-0 this season; in past years we might've folded. We had confidence we could come back and win. We did and it was great to have the whole school there to see that we had changed. That set the tone for the season."
Blitzer helped set the tone for the team as he was in the middle of the action on both sides of the ball, playing middle linebacker on defense and center on offense.
"It was very rewarding to be the middle linebacker," said Blitzer, who jokes that due to his last name he was destined to play the position. "I called the signals for the defense and I really enjoyed that. I was moved to center from running back and that wasn't hard. As Coach Devlin said, I was like a guard playing running back. Getting in the trenches helped me at linebacker. I like being in the center of the action."
The qualities Blitzer developed in football helped him become a standout at lacrosse for PDS and helped pave his way to Williams College, where he heads this fall as a lacrosse recruit.
"Football is a fast game; it gives you a sense of field vision," said Blitzer, who currently plans to walk on to the Williams football team. "There is a toughness on every play in football. The things that I am good at in lacrosse — faceoffs, ground balls, and defense — take more determination than skill."
Blitzer is looking forward to testing his skills against the all stars he will face this week in the Sunshine Bowl. "It's an honor to play in this game; I'm proud to play in it," asserted Blitzer. "Justin Revelle (a former PDS player now at Brown) told me that it's a great way to warm up for college football. It will be a transition from PDS and a chance to see what you are expected to do at the college level."
As Blitzer heads to the next level, he will look to apply the lessons he learned from helping to spark the football team's reveral of fortune.
"The biggest thing is to give yourself to a team," maintained Blitzer. "We would run with the younger kids last summer and then go out to dinner with them. We really developed a bond. On defense we knew each other so well and that helped us work well together."
Nobody gave himself more to the PDS program over the last four years than Blitzer.
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