PRINCETON — The Princeton High varsity boys’ soccer team did it again. Head coach Ryan Walsh’s charges repeated as Central Jersey Group IV Tournament champions Friday when they defeated Monroe, 1-0, in the title game in front of a swelling crowd at Tigers Stadium. With the win, the defending Group IV state champs advance to play at South Jersey champion Southern Regional Tuesday (most likely at 2 p.m.) in a 2024 state semifinal. The fourth-seeded Rams (17-5-1) defeated seventh-seeded Toms River North, 6-3, in yesterday’s SJ IV final. “This is huge!” Princeton junior center fullback Chase Hamerschlag said. “For us to go back-to-back is incredible. We’re peaking at the right time.” Yes, the third-seeded Tigers (17-2-5) continue to be a defensive stalwart in the state tournament, where they have been extremely stingy against opposing offenses. At the other end, they are lucky to have a player like Hamerschlag, who seems to constantly be at both ends of the field. Such was the case Friday when the home team got a corner kick with just under 29 minutes left in the second half of a scoreless game. With nine players up on the attack, junior midfielder Aaron Thyrum took the kick and sent a low ball near side to senior forward Azariah Breitman. Breitman centered the ball to senior midfielder Archie Smith, who returned the ball to his right, where Thyrum lifted a crossing pass toward the far post of the goal. With nearly 20 seconds having gone by, none of the fifth-seeded Falcons were expecting Hamerschlag to still be at that end of the field. But there he was to head in the only goal with 28:38 left on the clock. “Chase is such an asset for us,” said Walsh, who had to rework his defense this season after 2023 graduations. “He used to be up top for us, but we asked him to drop back this season. But he still covers a lot of ground for us.” “I’m the guy we’re looking for on the back post on those restarts,” Hamerschlag said. “This time we tried something new, and it worked.” That was not the only new thing Princeton had to try on this day. With sophomore Kingston Lipsey working his way back into the lineup after an illness, Walsh plugged in another sophomore back, Alborz Khorsandi, in front of Hamerschlag to cut off inlet passes from Monroe’s dangerous tandem of Christopher “Fifo” Duran and Aidan Ayar. Khorsandi, who had played sparingly this season, clogged the interior so well that Lipsey was able to rest on the bench for most of the second half. “He’s a sophomore, and he’s amazing,” Hamerschlag said of Khorsandi. “Definitely, props to him. He was the man late in this game.” “(The Falcons) are a very tenacious team,” Walsh said. “They just kept coming at us.” “They have a lot of talented players, so we all had to focus in.” With Hamerschlag’s goal as a cushion and the wind going their way in the second half, the Tigers were able to stop Monroe’s five-game winning streak and repeat as CJ IV champions. Monroe (16-6-1)              0   0    —    0 Princeton(17-2-5)            0   1    —    1 Goal: Hamerschlag (P); Assist: Thyrum (P). Shots: 5 (M), 7 (P); Saves: Offenberg 4 (M), Holmelund 4 (P).