?Headed in the right direction?: Pioneers continue to prep for season

Pioneer head coach Chris Madewell talks to his team following a recent practice. The Pioneers wrapped up their first week of working in full gear on Friday, and open their season Aug. 18.

According to head coach Chris Madewell, while the squad might not be in game shape yet, the key word is ?yet.?

?I think we?re not where we want to be yet, but we?re headed in the right direction,? Madewell said Friday. ?We?ve still got some things to fix before we play our first ballgame, but we?ve seen a lot of positive things happen.?

The most positive aspect of the team he?s seen thus far, Madewell said, has been the Pioneer defensive unit.

?Defensively we look really good, and really aggressive,? he explained. ?We?re being very physical, and attacking on that side of the football.?

And while their side of the ball is slightly behind the defense, Madewell said the Pioneer offense only needs to eliminate mental mistakes to be where they need to be.

?Part of the offense?s problem right now is not executing the plays,? he explained. ?We?re making a lot of mental errors, rather than physical. We?ve got the potential to do what we want to do with the ball, but we?ve got to cut out the mental errors.?

After three days of full-gear camp, followed by a Thursday of scrimmages against Beech and Murfreesboro Siegel, the Pioneers hit the practice field in shorts, shoulder pads and helmets for their Friday morning workout before taking the rest of the weekend off.

A few injuries have occurred along the way, however.

Lee-Allen Turner went down with a leg injury on Tuesday, and was diagnosed with a fracture in a growth plate in his right knee. Additionally, two-way lineman Trey Whitaker suffered a knee injury during Thursday?s scrimmage, although his status and schedule for recovery has yet to be determined.

?We?ve been doing pretty good as far as injuries go, considering how hard we?ve been working,? Madewell said. ?This week, we?ve had the hardest work we?re really going to have, so if we can come out with just two injuries, we?re doing pretty good.

?We?d still like to have those guys back as soon as they can be, and especially since we expect Trey to play on both sides of the ball this year. But with injuries, we prepare ourselves for it to be something bad, then hopefully it won?t be as bad when we hear from the doctors. We?ve got the next week to have those guys to heal up, though, which is much better than if this happened later into the season.?

The Pioneers will move to an afternoon practice schedule this week, including a Thursday home scrimmage against both Ezell-Harding and Tyner.