The 2023 Big Sandy Pioneers football team is currently (8-0) overall and (6-0) in the Northern 6C. Big Sandy has not lost a game in almost two calendar seasons. In that time, the Pioneers finished 2022 perfect, going (15-0) enroute to its first state title in program history.
Head coach Larry Jappe explains how the program has been a pyramid of success from upperclassmen influencing underclassmen to play for a juggernaut.
“We have kids that have bought into the program, and we return kids every year,” Jappe said. ” We don’t just have senior and junior starters. We have kids all the way down the line that are getting playing time and they’ve enjoyed the success we’ve had and try to get other kids to help believe in this program.”
With the ability to insert players of all ages, Coach Jappe has been able to utilize freshmen into the starting lineup.
“We threw (the freshmen) in there this year because we had some injuries midseason and they turned into starters for us that have gotten more confidence as the season goes on,” Jappe said.
Every team has a lot of turnover, but for Jappe and the Pioneers, he was able to play reserves last season and they have flourished this year. Coach Jappe highlighted some upperclassmen players who have stepped up to keep the perfect record intact.
“Yeah, of course Cooper Taylor and Lane Demontiney were starters on last year’s team and contributed huge in the state championship game; they’re ready to roll this year,” Jappe said.
“Samuel Cox has been seeing a lot of playing time over the last several seasons but was mostly a reserve role because guys were ahead of him, but he’s been playing fantastic,” Jappe continued. “His younger brother, Wesley Cox is a sophomore has stepped up. He’s always been a player (that is) ready to go.”
“The older guys are helping teach the younger guys how to keep winning and we just keep rolling,” Jappe said.
Friday will be the biggest game of the Northern 6C season, with the Pioneers going on the road to play in Chester against CJI (6-1, 6-0 in Northern C).
Jappe discussed how his team prides itself on defense to limit its opponents on the scoreboard.
“Our big key has always been defense,” Jappe said. “I think sometimes you see 6-man coaches have a tendency to want to outscore their opponents by running up the score to 70-50 or something like that.”
“We like to keep it zero on their side and that’s always our goal,” Jappe said. “We practice hard on defense. Our kids love playing defense.”
Jappe also said that CJI has a similar makeup to his team on offense and it would be an advantage for his team’s defenders since they see that every time they practice.
“The key with CJI is that they do a lot of the same things that we do,” Jappe said. “They have a pretty good ground attack and then the play-action pass, which is exactly how we play, so our defensive guys get to see that every day in practice.”
“What we need to do to win the game is do what we do every day,” Jappe continued. “Hopefully it works good for us and we have success.”
The Pioneers and the Hawks will do battle on Friday night at 7pm with undefeated conference records on the line.
