PRINCETON — Princeton head football coach Travis Gaster still vividly remembers the uncharacteristic start his team got off to last season, and he’s hoping his players haven’t forgotten either.
The Bulldogs began last season 3-3, including an unfamiliar stretch of three consecutive losses. Princeton hadn’t lost three straight games since 2016, and the four losses the Bulldogs finished with in 2023, were their most since a 7-5 record in 2017.
Between 2018-2022, Princeton went 51-6 and never lost more than two games in a season. The Bulldogs’ 52-15 loss at Neuse 6 2-A Conference opponent Eastern Wayne last season, capped a stretch of three straight losses and was Princeton’s first loss to a conference opponent since 2019.
“It’s never too far removed,” Gaster said of last season’s 3-3 start. “Losing is always on your mind. Winning is great, but losing hurts a lot more than winning feels good. I remember those three losses, especially with them being in a row, and I won’t let our kids forget that either. I think their memory is a little bit shorter than mine is, but it’s a motivating factor. You can pull out one play here or there and it could have been the difference in the game. You remind them of those plays and hopefully, it serves as motivation, to let’s change it.”
The Bulldogs rebounded to win six of their final seven games, before a 62-53 loss at Northeastern in the third round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 2-A state playoffs.
“I think we were probably overconfident for who we were as a team and just needed to get back to the realization of we are successful when we are just scrappy and hardworking,” Gaster said. “Not because our uniforms are pretty or because we have a “P” on the side of our helmet. We’re at our absolute best when it’s just time to go to work, and I think we were just a little too confident in we’re going to show up and it’s all just going to work out because it has for so long. And they just needed to get back to the roots of when those guys early, seven or eight years ago, when you’re happy for anything positive to happen. Those guys outworked people, not necessarily outplayed them and they were successful. This group last year they had a good amount of talent, it was just spread out a lot differently than what we had in the past.”
A major factor in Princeton’s success throughout the second half of the regular season was adjusting to life without starting tailback Kadyn Haire, and with former JV fullback Austin Lewallen inserted into the backfield.
Haire was lost for the season to a knee injury on his first carry against Harnett Central in the second game of the season in 2023. Lewallen, who began the year as the starting fullback on Princeton’s junior varsity team, suddenly found himself as the focal point of the varsity offense as just a sophomore.
Lewallen answered the bell by finishing the season with 2,643 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns. The Bulldogs’ single-wing offense rushed for 4,571 yards (351 per game) and 63 touchdowns last season while averaging 36 points a game.
With the faster Haire lost for the season, Gaster had to adjust his offensive line’s blocking schemes to put Lewallen, a more physical and rugged runner, in the best positions to be successful.
Haire is fully healthy and his return to the Princeton backfield should create a formidable tandem with Lewallen behind an offensive line expected to be a strength of the team.
“Getting Kaydn back is of utmost importance,” Gaster said. “Losing him last year was a big loss for our offense. Austin went into last season as a fullback on our JV team, and then all the sudden he’s our starting tailback on our varsity team. They’ve never played in the backfield together, so that will be an adjustment, but we’re excited to have Kaydn back, and we’re expecting another big year out of Austin.”
Only two of Gaster’s eight previous teams at Princeton allowed more points than the 2023 squad. The Bulldogs gave up 27 points a game a year ago, and five different opponents scored 27 points or more. In its four losses, Princeton’s opponents averaged 45 points.
All three of Princeton’s starting linebackers from last season and their three backups all graduated.
The Bulldogs’ secondary struggled mightily against larger, faster receivers, and Princeton gave up a combined 92 points to more athletic teams in Clinton and Eastern Wayne.
Haire’s return at safety should bolster the secondary, but questions remain at the cornerback positions.
“We’ve got new faces in the secondary, and sometimes that’s good and sometimes that’s bad,” Gaster said. “We’ve just got to see. We’ll be smaller, but faster, which will be helpful on the back end. The biggest thing for us is it’s hard to simulate a spread team that’s going to throw the ball from sideline to sideline. Every day we’re really good at running the ball, and we’re really good at defending the run because that’s what our guys on the scout team see every day. When we spread out and we’ve got guys that aren’t great athletes trying to simulate great athletes, it’s not a realistic picture. Then you get in a game and everything happens a lot faster.”
The Bulldogs open the season at home on Aug. 23 against South Johnston.
