PHS football team success continues

Last year, the PHS boys football team made its first playoff appearance since the 2014–2015 season, defying expectations and starting a new trend. The team now has had back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the 2008–2009 and 2009–2010 seasons, while starting with wins over Lawrence and Allentown this year. A big part of the team’s achievements stems from the leadership of Head Coach Charles Gallagher. When he first started with the team 13 years ago, the Tigers were 0 and10, but they bounced back the next year with a winning 8 and 2 season. According to Gallagher, the biggest strength this team has compared to earlier years is greater participation and quality of athletes. “You’re going to be a strong football team if you have numbers. It just so happens that we’ve had some really great athletes over the past couple of years — not to say that we haven’t had really good athletes prior — but I think we just have more of them,” said Gallagher. The squad has 75 players consistently coming to practice, which is significantly more than in prior years, where the average has been around 50 players. “Nobody’s taking off, which is awesome. No one has quit. Everybody’s sticking in. Everybody’s having fun. Everybody’s getting an opportunity to play,” said Gallagher. While a strong senior class is key for any high school football team, this year’s group of players draws its strength from all grades. Under the leadership of captains Ellington Hinds ’26 and Carmine Carusone ’26, the team is working together to maximize their potential.
“Once we make the playoffs, we have a goal to make the playoffs again, so that overall just focuses the team even more,” said Hinds. “Even though we made the playoffs last year, it’s a new team, so there’s struggles that we have to go through.” As the starting quarterback, Quinton deFaria ’28 understands the amount of hard work that is necessary to achieve their goal. “[Our goal is] just to be 1–0 at the end of every week. That’s our saying. And to achieve [this], we just [have] to continue to work hard. We’ve been doing great in the summer. We’ve been lifting, we’ve been practicing, and [staying] humble,” said deFaria.” As the Tigers prepare for the Homecoming game and the rest of the season, they aren’t showing any signs of stopping. “[We have to] just continue what we’ve been doing,” said deFaria. “It’s obviously working out well for us, but we can’t take our foot off the gas just because we [started] 2 and 0. [We have to] just keep going.”