EAST GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — "Early in camp, everyone is going to have a lot of energy but what we've been stressing throughout the years is that the energy has to last throughout the year," said head coach Josh Shattuck.
Day 3 of fall camp is complete for the East Grand Rapids and first year head coach Josh Shattuck.
"We're asking a lot out of the kids. But we want to set the tone. We should get out of training camp here and feel pretty good about the lessons that we learned through this week, getting us through hopefully what will be a really long season," said Shattuck.
Shattuck takes over for Casey Longo, who stepped down due to personal reasons in the off season. The Pioneers were 3-6 in 2021, their worst record since 2000.
"We definitely have to put our history behind us, but also create our future. We've got to help this program succeed. I think we're going to have a lot of fun but I personally think that we're going to have a lot better record the last year and we're going to come out here and prove everybody wrong," said senior Robby Kowalewski.
East only returns five starters total, but this is not a starting over season according to senior Jake Potter.
"I absolutely wouldn't call it a rebuild at all because this coach, new coach, Shattuck, because he's absolutely come in here and started us off like we went to the playoffs last year. He's got this brand new foundation that he's putting in already and it feels like we've had it for years," said senior Jake Potter.
The Pioneers did not take a easy route with this year's non-conference schedule. They'll take on Division 1 Rockford to start the year and they're ready for the challenge.
"I love it, I mean I love it. What an amazing opportunity for our kids to play against the best. I mean we know who we play week one, our kids aren't dumb so it's a great challenge for us and it forces us to be at our best at every single thing that we do," said Shattuck.
"Obviously the hardest opponent on our schedule is week one, Rockford. But that will definitely tee us up. And we'll be walking out of there with a W, but it'll be nice," said Potter.
"I think we're going to come out there and set the tone. We're smaller than them, obviously. The school size and the team. They've got 120 kids on varsity and we've got 60 or 70. So we're going to go out there, prove everyone wrong. We have nothing to lose so we're going to put our hands in the dirt and grind," said Kowalewski.
