IN THE ZONE: Princeton High football player Ellinton Hinds races into the end zone last Friday to score the first touchdown of the season for PHS as it defeated Lawrence High 20-7 in the season opener. The Tigers will look to keep on the winning track as they play at Allentown on September 4. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
Ellinton Hinds believed that strength in numbers would make a difference for the Princeton High football team as they played at Lawrence High last Friday night in its season opener.
“I think we had a great mindset coming in; for the first time in forever we had 75 registered players,” said senior wide receiver/safety Hinds. “People were actually excited to play football and that’s big because freshmen year when I came in, I think we had 45 kids. It shows the growth of the program.”
As a team captain along with classmate Carmine Carusone, Hinds has looked to be a source of inspiration for the squad.
“I learned that there are different captains and I don’t always have to be the super vocal guy,” said Hinds. “Carmine can be the vocal person but I can talk to kids one-on-one and show them what to do and lead by how I play.”
Hinds led by example against Lawrence, making several big plays to help PHS pull away to a 20-7 win over the Cardinals. Hinds scored the first touchdown on the game on 27-yard end around, made a key interception to end a Lawrence drive late in the first quarter, and then grabbed a big reception in a third quarter scoring drive as the Tigers took a 14-7 lead.
Hinds credited fellow captain Carusone with setting the tone for the evening as he sprinted for a 68-yard run on the first play from scrimmage for the Tigers.
“Carmine’s run started everything for us, that opened doors for us,” said Hinds of Carusone who ended up with 106 yards on 11 carries.
While the Tigers didn’t score on that possession, Hinds got them on the board later in the quarter with his dazzling dash down the sideline.
“That is one of coach’s favorite plays to run the end around, we were thinking of it the whole drive,” said Hinds. “That is the bread and butter play. We fake, we get the reverse set up and it works a lot. They were expecting the run. I was like oh, I have got this. There was nobody there, I was scoring.”
After Lawrence knotted the game at 7-7 midway through the second quarter on a 40-yard interception return, PHS regained the lead early in the third quarter as it went on a 65-yard scoring march culminated by a 26-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Quinton deFaria to junior Langsdon Hinds, the younger brother of Ellinton.
Setting up his younger brother’s TD, Hinds made a 25-yard reception to get the Tigers deep in Lawrence territory.
“It was a great pass, I think Q is the future of the program,” said Hinds, who made two receptions for 38 yards in the win. “He settled down. He puts in the work every day. We have a group chat, he texts us on Sunday and we come outside and throw the ball. We trust him.”
Hinds has helped Langsdon gain trust in his abilities. “That was amazing, he is 6’4, who is tackling him,” said Hinds. “If I am out, they are throwing him the ball so just be confident. I grew up playing with him, every day we go outside and throw the football back and forth. Seeing him grow is the best thing ever.”
In the fourth quarter, deFaria showed his growth as he broke loose for a 65-yard scoring jaunt to make it 20-7 and seal the deal for the Tigers.
“That was my favorite play of the game, Q ran it all the way down here,” said Hinds of deFaria, who connected on 6 of 12 passes for 70 yards and one TD in his debut.
PHS head coach Charlie Gallagher liked the way his defense played as it didn’t give up any points and contained Lawrence’s star running back James Lyons.
“Lyons ran for 290 yards against us last year so we talked about that a lot,” said Gallagher. “We did a much better job, I think he might have had about 80-90 yards so he didn’t kill us. The defense has to feel good about themselves, not giving up any touchdowns. We have got two juniors, Ben Kahn and Julian Frevert, at the linebacker spot and they really stepped up.”
Gallagher was not surprised to see Ellinton Hinds step up.
“We have some playmakers, we have Andrew [Foreman], we have Carmine, we have Langsdon and we have Zach [Nelson],” said Gallagher. “If I had to put them order, I don’t know where they would go but Ellinton has to be up there. We need him to get the ball, he needs to get the ball. We have geared some of our plays for him. That was an option reverse, we have done that before and it has always worked out well. He is an athlete.”
QB deFaria worked through some ups and downs, keeping his composure despite the interception and some lost fumbles.
“The idea is that he has got to learn,” said Gallagher. “We talked at the very end. You know what this feels like now, this is what you need to do when it hits the fan. Just tuck it and go down and don’t push it. We are close to winning a football game right now. We can’t create errors ourselves, we can’t make stupid plays. They should make good plays to beat us. We don’t make bad plays to beat ourselves.”
As deFaria sprinted downfield on his TD gallop, Gallagher felt some nerves.
“He is running down there and I am thinking he is going to get caught,” said Gallagher. “My thought is that he had got the ball in his right hand, it is the wrong hand. He has to have the ball in his left hand because he is running down the left side. If that guy rips that ball out, that is all I was thinking about. I couldn’t see from a distance. I didn’t know how much space he had but it was good. He is quick.”
The Tiger displayed some good offensive execution in the second half.
“At halftime, we talked a little bit about the idea that we hadn’t done a couple of things,” said Gallagher. “We hadn’t controlled the line of scrimmage so we talked about that. We talked about a couple of formations that we hadn’t used yet. I think they felt more at home in the second half because that is how we finished the last three or four games. We had two backs in the backfield next to the quarterback. That is how they did it last year, especially towards the end of the season so they felt a lot better about that.”
Starting the season with the impressive win certainly made the Tigers feel better about themselves.
“Last year we were 0-1 and then we were 0-2, we didn’t have a lot of confidence, period,” said Gallagher, whose team fell 29-21 to Lawrence in the 2024 season opener. “That was us last year. We had great senior leadership and we did well at the end. It feels good. All the bruises, the nicks, the bangs tomorrow morning they won’t be there because everybody is going to feel great about themselves. If you want that to happen on a Saturday morning then you have come out and play great ball on Friday night.”
Gallagher knows his team will need to produce some more great ball to get another win as it plays at Allentown (0-1) this Thursday night.
“They have some players, the quarterback (Anthony O’Rourke) is a good player, their running back (Kevin Cunningham) is a good player,” said Gallagher. “They have big No. 77 (Nick Laquara) at defensive end and right tackle. He is a talented kid. They lost a close one (to Trenton High) and they made a great comeback. They were down 27-7 and then they scored two unanswered touchdowns. If we are blessed to get up, we know there is no quit in Allentown.”
Hinds, for his part, believes that PHS will be up for the clash with the Redbirds.
“To beat Lawrence is always a great way to start the season, you never want to start the season 0-1,” said Hinds. “We got the win and we are going. We are excited. We have got Allentown up next. They have been tough but I think they lost a few players. It will be a good game.”