The Pioneer football team won the district with a 7-2 record and head into playoffs tomorrow. They will play Southmoore at Pioneer Stadium at 7 p.m.
Defensive Line Coach Derrick Anderson has coached the Pioneers for nine years and mentioned this team is quite like the one that won the State Championship in 2022.
“[The 2022 championship team] had a lot of team chemistry considering they played together for years,” Anderson said. “But this group of guys, they’re still doing great, having some younger guys show up and perform well.”
Anderson said senior Nehemiah Kolone is a player that’s truly made a difference on the team. Kolone said he’s staying hopeful through playoffs by focusing on one game at a time and one play at a time.
“We’re taking it one step at a time and we’re definitely not out yet,” Kolone said. “We’ve had a couple rough stretches, but I think it’s going to help us prepare more for the playoffs so we know what that feels like.”
Kolone mentioned the confidence he has in this team and believes that when they play at their best, there’s nobody that can beat the Stillwater Pioneers.
“I think that there’s enough fight in this team that if we’re all playing 100 percent, there’s not a single person in the state that can stop us,” Kolone stated. “We just have to keep that mindset that we’re the best and just have to keep moving forward, one play at a time.”
Sophomore starting quarterback for the Pioneers, Satank Tappto, talked about his confidence for the team as well.
“It’s just in my blood to be confident,” he said. “I’ve always been confident and I’m ready to show this next team (Piedmont) because I didn’t get to play them, and we’ll win this next game.”
Kolone was also on the 2022 championship team and talked about his determination to win again and let the rest of his team experience a championship win.
“It’s a great feeling being in state, and I know it’s going to push me a lot to push the rest of the team to get that same feeling that I did because there’s nothing like it,” Kolone said. “I feel like this team has made deep runs to the playoffs consistently and we just have to finish it out this year.”
