The career of one of Hamilton West’s greatest defensive players this century has ended unfairly and too early.
But it still deserves to be remembered for all that Cristian Eagleton meant to the Hornets.
On Sept. 19 against Robbinsville, the senior linebacker blitzed and sacked quarterback Gavin Yablonowitz, but as they went to the ground, a teammate landed on Eagleton.
“He just fell right on my knee and I hyper-extended it,” Eagleton recalled. “My knee got all messed up. I knew I wouldn’t play against Pemberton the next week but I didn’t know my season was gonna be over. I thought it was just a bone bruise.”
An MRI showed a fractured kneecap, along with a Grade 2 MCL-PCL sprain and a Grade 1 ACL sprain. Surgery is not necessary, but therapy will keep Eagleton sidelined for the rest of the season. There is a remote chance he may return for the Steinert Thanksgiving game.
“I’d love to play one more snap as a Hornet and play one more snap with the guys,” Eagleton said. “I feel like I let them down.”
Nothing could be further from the truth, of course, as injuries are a constant part of football.
And while he was playing, Eagleton was an unstoppable force.
At the time of the injury, he led West with 35 tackles in four games, an average of 8.75 per game. He had the one fateful sack and five tackles for loss. Last year, he was second in the West Jersey Football League’s Valley Division with 103 tackles.
His loss is tough for the Hornets, but even tougher for the player.
“If I could take the injury from him and take it for myself I would do it in a heartbeat,” coach Mike Papero said. “People just throw around the word heart-breaking, but this one really does break all of our hearts. We don’t want anybody getting hurt, this one stings a little extra because of how hard he works and what the game means to him.”
His contributions can still be felt, according to the coach.
“We need him now more than ever because we have kids who are inexperienced,” Papero said. “We need him to be another coach for us. He’s still the heart and soul of the team whether he’s on the field or the sidelines.”
The injury has led to a range of emotions for Eagleton, who is still hoping to play college football. He has visited Villanova and Merrimack, had a game-day visit to Temple and has been talking to Kutztown.
“Hopefully someone will take a chance on me,” he said. “It’s out of my control. I’m just trusting God with my future, my career with football. I hope I have some opportunities maybe as a post-grad or a D III college and just work my way up. Right now I’m thinking about getting healthy and just working on my physical stuff, putting on weight and getting faster for college.”
Papero compares Eagleton to the ferocious twin brothers Chris and Chase Cronce, who starred at linebacker for Hamilton last decade before playing in college.
“Those Cronce brothers were two of the most special men I ever coached,” Papero said. “When I’m done coaching there’s gonna be a handful of people that stick out as kids I want my son to be like. Cristian is exactly that.”
Eagleton’s arrival was foretold by his older sister, Mikayla Hall, who starred for Hamilton’s track and field team before competing at Holy Family. Hall told Papero her brother was coming and that “he’s kind of good.” The coach wanted to know if he was kind of good or really good, and she replied, “Well, he’s really good.”
That assessment came after Eagleton starred in youth football for the Hamilton Revolution, Bordentown Bulldogs and Rancocas Valley Hurricanes. He began as an offensive lineman for the Revolution and said merely, “Aaahhh, I was all right there.”
He began playing at age 5 and, after COVID-19 restrictions eased, 12-year-old Eagleton was brought to Bordentown by former Nottingham star August Cassidy, a middle school friend who is now at Peddie.
“That was my first year getting back to football, and that spring we started playing for the RV youth league,” Eagleton recalled. “That was my first experience at linebacker. It was something new, I knew I liked the contact and I felt linebacker would be a great spot for me. I was athletic enough to make plays and I loved playing defense.”
The Hornets coaches were immediately impressed by Eagleton when he arrived. His lone drawback was that he became overly emotional in the heat of action and drew several personal foul penalties. He played freshman and junior varsity football his first two years but was called up to varsity during his sophomore season and made 53 tackles (13 solo) in seven games.
“He was everything we hoped for,” Papero said. “We just had to work on keeping his composure and emotions in check and by his junior year he had that under control.”
Eagleton was more than ready for his 11th-grade campaign.
“I was confident in my abilities, and here was a spot open at linebacker and I made it happen,” he said. “I hit the weightroom hard. I knew I had to be a lot heavier to be in with the varsity guys. I definitely got quicker and I really locked in to the mental aspect of playing defense because it’s a process.”
Especially at middle linebacker, where he was running the show.
“A lot of guys just know their jobs; I know my job and where my other teammates are supposed to be on the field,” he said. “I have to know the coverages for everybody, zone, the blitzes, I’m calling everything on the defense.”
Eagleton was a one-man wrecking crew last year, recording double-digit tackles in six of Hamilton’s last seven games and making a school-record 23 in a Central Jersey Group IV playoff game at Manalapan. He also saw time at running back, rushing for 125 yards and a touchdown.
This season, he had rushed for 133 yards (5.5 yards per carry) and a touchdown, and had two double-digit tackle efforts in four games.
Hornets assistant coach John Law nicknamed Eagleton “The Beacon” because he provided a sign of hope.
“I know it’s coach talk sometime, but we go as he goes,” Papero said prior to Eagleton’s diagnosis. “He’s everything for us. Defensively he’s all over the field, he can drop into coverage, he blitzes well, he goes sideline to sideline. He’s as violent a tackler and as hard a worker as we’ve had.
“Offensively he catches the ball out of the backfield, he runs between the tackles, he got even faster in the off-season. He’s a leader in the locker room and he’s like having another coach on the field.”
The praise didn’t stop there.
“When he’s on the field everybody basically looks to him,” Papero continued. “That’s why coach Law gave him that nickname.”
As one of the surest tacklers in Mercer County, Eagleton credited his wrestling experience with helping him in that area.
“It helps with my leverage and staying low and just running through guys,” he said. “My mindset coming into the game is to make the offense not want to run my way. I want them to run my way one time and never go back to that play again during that day. I want to punish the offensive players for even trying me as a player and I love contact. I will run through your face when I have to.”
Eagleton had become the focal point of every opposing offense’s game plan. He would get double-teamed, take on bigger blockers and still manage to get to the ball carrier. The coaches used him as an example of how listening to instruction in practice would pay off in games.
“He’s a great example for our other kids,” Papero said. “He’s an old school player. He’s everything you want in a football player and in a young man. He’s a great kid, a great student (with a 3.3 GPA), he works hard in the off-season, he’s a leader on and off the field. You could tell he’s been raised right. The whole family is full of great people.”
In mid-October, the family was still deciding whether Eagleton should wrestle this season or avoid risking another injury and focus on getting back into football shape.
He has other things to keep him busy as a member of West’s HOSA club, which explores careers in health care, and the Serenity Club, whose members spend time talking and playing games with senior citizens. He’s also a member of the yearbook club.
Between his playing ability, off-field activities and academic success, Eagleton is a strong college candidate, although his injury makes things a bit uncertain.
But the goal remains the same.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to play college football,” he said. “I think I have the ability to play at that level.”
After that, Eagleton hopes to become a Drug Enforcement Administration or FBI agent, noting that his aunt is a federal agent and travels frequently.
“It sounds cool, it’s just always been a dream job of mine,” he said.
Wherever he ends up, Eagleton will always thank some special people for their support.
“My sister was an athlete, she struggled the same ways I have about having doubt and worrying about proving herself,” Eagleton said. “I’ve had plenty of conversations with her after bad games or bad practices. She’s always been my backbone in the sport.
“Coach Papero was my number one supporter since I was a freshman. He always had that confidence in what I could grow into as a player. My teammates always pushed me every practice, every game. I wouldn’t be the same football player without them. And my Bordentown coach, Thomas Lee, was my backbone when I was in youth ball.”
Eagleton takes pride in looking back on his high school career and regrets not having the chance to set the Hornets’ record for career tackles.
Whatever his future holds, Papero is certain it is bright.
“He’ll be a better man because he’s dealing with this adversity as a young kid,” the coach said. “A lot of other kids won’t deal with that until they’re young men out in the world. We’re going to turn it into a positive for him.
“As much as he wants to be out there and we want him out there, he’s going to be OK. He’s going to learn from this. It’s gonna make him a better man, a better husband and a better father, because he’s learning at a young age things don’t always go as planned. The sun is still gonna rise. We’re going to get through this all together.”
