BIG SANDY — Big Sandy is coming off of a historic year where they won the program's first ever state title, but they are hungry for more as they look to add more hardware to the trophy case.
The Pioneers are returning two all-state players in Cooper Taylor and Lane Demontiney, a duo that played a huge role in their state championship game. However, the team did lose a big part of their core in those seniors that graduated, but head coach Larry Jappe feels the young guys got enough reps last year and should be ready to step up.
“Some of these guys actually got more playing time than the starters did just because we’d get the score up and they’d get in the second or third quarter,” said Jappe. “They’d get two quarters of football and the other guys only got a quarter and a half.”
Prior to winning the state championship in 2022, the Pioneers had a few deep runs in the playoffs but continued to fall short. Every year, they ended the season without the title and it added more pressure for them to bring one home.
Ironically for them, they feel the pressure is even higher now that they’ve won the title and must finds a way to stay at the top of the state.
“There is going to be people that doubt we can even get to the playoffs again,” said Demontiney. “There’s always pressure, even from the community and other teams just thinking they are going to blow us out.”
Despite being young and despite feeling more pressure to maintain a certain level of success, the players and coaches won’t take their mind off the end goal. Jappe is focused on continuously building the program up, stating they “want to win another one and another one after that."
The Pioneers will open up the season on the road in Highwood. Kickoff will be on Friday at 7 p.m.
