{"id":7350,"date":"2025-03-14T20:34:01","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T20:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7350"},"modified":"2025-03-14T20:34:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T20:34:01","slug":"princeton-coach-jason-smith-feels-pain-of-season-ending-loss-shaw-local-news-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7350","title":{"rendered":"Princeton coach Jason Smith feels pain of season-ending loss – Shaw Local News Network"},"content":{"rendered":"


Princeton coach Jason Smith works the Tiger bench during a timeout in Friday’s sectional championship game at Marengo. <\/span>(Kevin Hieronymus)
Losing in the postseason always hurts.
It means the sudden end and all the promises and hope that go with it.
And if you\u2019re a coach that\u2019s as passionate as Princeton\u2019s<\/a> Jason Smith, who puts his heart and soul into it, it hurts. Really hurts.
The Tiger coach became emotional following Friday\u2019\u2019s 49-43 loss to Rock Falls, which marked the third straight year the Tigers reached the sectional final only to lose.
\u201cYes (they\u2019re hard), because that\u2019s three years in a row. I felt like I let my team down. Let the kids down. That\u2019s where it hurts the most,\u201d he said.
PHS senior all-stater Noah LaPorte, for one, is not hearing anything about their coach letting them down in any way. He picked him up just how he\u2019s picked them all up.
\u201cI told him that I wouldn\u2019t have wanted another coach for my high school career no matter the outside noise. He taught us more about being better men than anything,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was always there for any situations and we went through a lot together as a team. All coaches will put the blame on themselves but it never is. They lose sleep trying to get us the best look, spend money on the team and pray for our success.
\u201cAt the end of the day we are the ones out on the court and didn\u2019t get the job finished, but that doesn\u2019t take away from the life lessons all the coaches gave us and the memories.\u201d
Smith is not only the first Princeton coach in school history to coach the Tigers to four straight regional championships, he\u2019s the first to take them to three straight sectional final appearances. When Princeton last won four straight regionals, Roger Lowe led the Tigers to the first in 1992 with Bruce Placek guiding them in 1993-95.
In this four-year stretch, Smith\u2019s Tigers had records of 20-10, 32-3, 17-16 and 21-13, good for an overall mark of 90-42 and a .682 winning percentage.
What Smith said he\u2019ll remember the most about this year\u2019s team is the love and the heart they have for one another.
\u201cThey fight for each other. They play well with each other. Starts with the leadership at top with Noah and Jordan (Reinhardt) and filters all the way down,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re unselfish. Very unselfish. Just great kids.\u201d
Brantley Fulkerson, 11, younger brother of Princeton senior guard, Jayden, reacts to the final moments of the TIgers’ season-ending , 49-43 loss to Rock Falls in Friday’s sectional finals at Marengo. <\/span>(Mike Vaughn)
Looking past the heartbreak of the sudden-ending, there were a lot of memorable moments after overcoming injuries and sorrow with the deaths of Tiger dad Pat Mason and Smith\u2019s brother, Dave Camp.
\u201cProud of those kids how they fought the whole year through adversity. Not too many teams face two deaths in the family either. They\u2019ve just been through a lot and battle tested,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI told them it doesn\u2019t matter the basketball player or athlete you were on the court, they were better human beings. I would go to war with those guys any time, any where, any place and they know that. I just appreciate them so much for their hard work and blood, sweat and tears into the program.\u201d
Reinhardt and LaPorte will take a lot of this season with them.
\u201cIt was rough at the start. Me, Jayden and Noah all got an ankle injury, but once we got healthy our coaches really believed in us and we knew they did and we worked hard for them,\u201d Reinhardt said. \u201cNot many people can say they went to the sectional three straight years. Obviously, we want to win, but you can\u2019t take it for granted.\u201d
\u201cI\u2019m just so proud of this team. People were looking at us. What, we were 9-12? Nobody gave us a chance to be playing for the sectional championship. There again, we go against odds,\u201d LaPorte said. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t have been here in all the other people\u2019s eyes. The only people that believed was in our huddle. It\u2019s a great feeling to have a team like this. It\u2019s one of the best seasons I\u2019ve had and that says a lot considering I\u2019ve been a part of successful teams.
\u201cThere were so many ups and downs to the season. We really picked it up once everyone was starting to play together.\u201d
Kevin Hieronymus has been the BCR Sports Editor since 1986. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com<\/i>
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network<\/p>\n

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Princeton coach Jason Smith works the Tiger bench during a timeout in Friday’s sectional championship game at Marengo. (Kevin Hieronymus)Losing in the postseason always hurts. It means the sudden end and all the promises and hope that go with it. And if you\u2019re a coach that\u2019s as passionate as Princeton\u2019s Jason Smith, who puts his heart and soul into it,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t