COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. — "In the weight room we always talk about, 'hey we went 9-0 last year but that doesn't mean smack because we lost all these guys.' It's a new season," said junior running back Easton Hood.
Comstock Park gets a fresh start in 2022 after graduating 18 seniors that helped earn them the OK Silver title last year.
"Those guys went 9-0, us? We have to show that we can go 9-0 and after that push for a playoff push unlike last year," said Hood.
Led by third year head coach Doug Samuels, the Panthers are looking to win back to back conference titles and get past the opening round of districts.
"I hope those guys last year showed some of the younger guys where the bar needs to be set and the expectation moving forward. So far, almost a day and a half through camp, I think we did a good job of that. These guys and us as a staff have to take the baton and keep moving forward," said head coach Doug Samuels.
"We're really going to have to step it up because the seniors last year really did a lot for us. Our coach likes to preach the gold standard. Which is like giving maximum effort all the time. Giving 150%, pushing yourself and they really did a good job of stamping that in our brain," said senior receiver David Smith.
CP will have big shoes to fill. Including those of running back Tyler DeWitt, who is now on the team at Central Michigan. Junior Easton Hood says DeWitt was a huge role model for him.
"He always says that I stole his running back stance, but I say 'hey, I learned from the best!' I always messed with him saying that I have better vision, like blocking wise, than him. And I still feel like I do. I just play my game. Have my blocks like up, explode off of that. But yeah I feel like different game, different players," said Hood.
Coach Samuels says that some changes have been made on offense, and that they're in the midst of finding their quarterback, but they plan to repeat as conference champs.
"Every year that should be the goal and we want to win one game a week, take it one game at a time. All those typical coaching cliches are true but that is the standard around here. We want to compete for championships," said Samuels.
