ZEELAND, Mich. - Between 2017 and 2018, the Zeeland East Chix are a combined 20-3. While they didn't make it out of pre-districts in 2017, they made it all the way to the semifinals last season where they were taken down by state-finalist Muskegon.
While the team lost a few key players to graduation, they are still returning some of the players they need to compete at a high level this season.
"The team last year definitely left a big gap and a lot of shoes to fill, but I'm really proud of my teammates that they've been able to fill a lot of those gaps at team camp and the offseason, too," said sophomore quarterback and linebacker Tag Bonnema. "We're looking good as far as that."
Bonnema added that the team has bonded well at camp and everyone is excited for opening night, which will be in Detroit against Windsor Holy Names.
"I've personally never played a team from Canada, so it'll be interesting to see what that's like," Bonnema said.
Head Coach Derek Pennington is in his 12th season coaching Zeeland East, and with 31 kids on the team, he's feeling good about how his players have filled the shoes left by the players who graduated last year.
"We lost six guys that are playing college football, four who were basically full-ride scholarships," Pennington said. "I think we're going to do a nice job of replacing some of those kids and filling in the holes."
Pennington specifically mentioned Bonnema, tackle Andrew DeVries and their entire crew of wideouts, but he also said they have an entirely new backfield this season.
"We have to replace our quarterback, our running back, our H-back and four offensive linemen, but I've had some kids step up nicely so far," he said.
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