FOOTBALL PRIMER: Sturgis, White Pigeon, Constantine and Burr Oak open on the road
STURGIS — The prep football season is set to begin on Thursday evening here in Michigan. Locally, there are a handful of teams that play on Thursday and even more on Friday evening. This preview story will feature highlights from coaches from area teams, starting with the hometown Trojans.
Sturgis (5-5 in 2022, lost in first round of playoffs)
The Trojans made the playoffs last season and finished with a 5-5 record. Sturgis started the season well, racing out to a 5-2 mark before losing their final three games. Head coach Chance Stewart said this year’s team is looking to build off the success they began with last year.
“It’s a great year to have some good talent, we feel like we are going to have a great season and hope to make some noise in the league,” Stewart said. “We’re healthy, which is a huge thing going into the season.”
Sturgis returns several three-year players on both sides of the football. Sure, the Trojans graduated Jacob Thompson, who set several records while at Sturgis, but the program must move on while Thompson is playing at the University of Olivet. Stewart and the squad know it will be tough at times, but they’re prepared.
“The expectations have changed and Jacob helped a ton with that. Now, our football team has some pressure from the community to go out and perform,” Stewart said. “They are expecting us to win some football games.”
Sturgis won all five of its home games last season, but dropped all five of its road games. Senior leaders Taner Patrick, the quarterback, as well as Gibson Cary and Matt Wickey have helped lead the team in off-season workouts and in prep camp.
“The kids have handled it well, this senior group has done everything we have asked of them for three years,” Stewart said. “They show up at practice, they’re leading. They understand what the expectations are from us as a coaching staff.”
Sturgis opens the season on Friday night at Coldwater. It’s one of the older rivalries in the state of Michigan for high school football but has recently taken a hiatus as the schools have gone their separate ways with conferences. Now they will play to open the season in non-conference action, it will be the first time since the 2020 playoffs.
“Our guys are ready, they might not fully get the magnitude of the game just yet, but it won’t take long once we get kicked off on Friday,” Stewart said.
Patrick will once again have a big offensive line in front of him. Wickey, Logan Markey, Darren Cruea and Alex Massey are the big boys up front and the Trojans will look to take advantage of it.
The defense brings back several players, led by Cary. Rasean O’Tey and Brenden Myers return and give the Trojans speed and athleticism on the back end. Kaiden Waldron also returns after a season away from the program, he will help in the linebacking spot.
“We’re ready to get going, we’re looking forward to Friday,” Stewart said. “We have a great bunch coming back on defense and we are hoping to get better on that side of the ball.”
White Pigeon (8-4 in 2022, lost in regional finals)
White Pigeon turned the program over to Shawn Strawser a handful of years ago. Now the Chiefs enter the sixth year with Strawser leading the way. He’s helped guide the Chiefs to 36 victories in those five seasons and playoff berths in all five years.
This year, the Chiefs are looking to once again make the playoffs. They graduated some key players who helped White Pigeon win a lot of those football games, but they also return some solid talent as well.
“We have had some success and been consistent, we want to keep winning football games,” Strawser said. “It’s gonna take a lot of hard work and commitment. We’re hoping our guys keep their heads on straight and play football the White Pigeon way.”
Last year, White Pigeon started the season with a 1-2 record. It was a stunning start for a program that had high hopes, but the Chiefs did end the season strong. The Chiefs will be replacing some guys up front, but they still plan to run the football as often as possible.
“We’ve got some good guys back, we’ve got some new guys in there as well,” Strawser said. “We feel like we are very deep at running back and that’s a positive for us.”
Josh Davidson will be the quarterback. Caleb Lane and Ty Strawser should also see time there. The offensive line is led by Chaz Underwood and Seth Miller and the Chiefs expect to plow over opponents.
The opening game is a road trip to Reading. The Rangers knocked off White Pigeon in the season-opener last year, but the Chiefs got revenge with a win in the playoffs. Strawser said Reading is a well-coached program and it will be a tough game to open the season, but his team feels ready.
“We have some great seniors and they’re leading both by example and with their play,” Strawser said. “Hopefully we can continue to get that together. Our boys want to make the playoffs, so we have to go out, play well and win football games.”
Constantine (9-2 in 2022, lost in district finals)
Shawn Griffith and the Constantine Falcons are going to line up and run the football. That has been the playing style for the Falcons for many years and won’t be changing anytime soon.
Griffith said this team has a strong cohesion. He’s looking forward to what they can accomplish in the trenches and beyond, though the work on the line of scrimmage will always be important.
“Our guys seem to do a good job of holding each other accountable, it’s been great attitude-wise and with the work ethic,” Griffith said. “You get those two things early and you can have a good football team.”
Constantine opens with a pretty tough schedule. The Falcons will head east to play Detroit Southeastern in the opening game before consecutive games against Benton Harbor, Lawton and Schoolcraft. Then, later in the year, they will officially have a celebration for their 100th year of playing football at Constantine. That will come in the Oct. 7 game, on a Saturday, against Kalamazoo United.
Up front, the Falcons have quite a few interchangeable parts. Griffith said they have around eight student-athletes they feel can play on the offensive line and do a great job at it as well.
“I don’t feel we are taking a step back putting any of those kids in, we had a great scrimmage but we still have some work to do,” Griffith said. “We’ll find out on Friday. Those guys (Detroit Southeastern) have unbelievable size up front, so it will be a good challenge for us.”
Brody Jones will be the quarterback for the Falcons. He’s spent the last two seasons at the junior varsity level. Caleb Bontrager could also see time at the quarterback spot. Griffith said both are strong leaders and should do a solid job running the offense.
Bennett VandenBerg is one of the more recognizable players in the area. He will spend time at tight end and coming out of the backfield, plus will be a tough defender for the Falcons. Constantine also feels solid about plenty of student-athletes seeing the field.
Isaac Moore, Brendan Presswood, Cohen McGee and Canon Manley will all be important parts of the defense. Greg Crawford also returns as a three-year player.
The opposition will come into games knowing what Constantine will want to do offensively. Stopping them will be another thing. The Falcons have a tough schedule to start the year, but they look forward to making noise again in 2023.
Burr Oak (0-9 in 2022, missed playoffs)
The Burr Oak football team is looking to continue to get better in 2023. The Bobcats dropped all nine games last season, but head coach Vince Royer said the team did play better toward the end of the season. While Burr Oak dropped both of those games, they did pile up 40 points, more than the Bobcats had posted the previous seven games.
Royer said this year’s team will battle youth an inexperience — they will be starting four freshmen — but they have shown great promise to this point in the pre-season.
“We’re gonna find out very quick,” Royer said. “We did well in the scrimmage and are looking forward to continuing to improve into the season.”
The Bobcats have 13 on the roster. Captains for this year’s squad will be Charles Brooks and Garrett Johnson, a pair of seniors. Royer said each has done a great job to this point in leading by example and helping the youngsters.
Ethan Boyles will be the quarterback. He’s a multiple-year signal caller for the Bobcats, but now as a senior, he will be expected to take the next step.
“All three have been doing a very good job of coaching on the field as well,” Royer said.
The Bobcats are adopting a new system and have added plays in both the run and pass game.
“We’re most looking forward to a young and small team becoming competitive,” Royer said.
The Bobcats will not measure success by wins and losses this year, but rather on their increased level of competition. Royer said the team will continue to build on camaraderie.
The Bobcats open the season on Friday at Litchfield. The team has been receptive and consistent in their structure to this point, Royer said, and they are excited to get the season going.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: FOOTBALL PRIMER: Sturgis, White Pigeon, Constantine and Burr Oak open on the road
