By Brittany Bowyer
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PHOENIX — The pain and heartbreak from last year’s disappointing football playoff exit hasn’t been forgotten at Pinnacle.

After watching a promising year end sooner than expected, the Pioneers have been using the disappointment as motivation, rather than just dwelling on it. Every workout and practice has been fueled by their desire to come back stronger than they were before.

However, the Pioneers know it’s going to be an uphill battle for them this season, specifically for the offense.

Pinnacle had some significant losses offensively, which will certainly impact them early on while they’re working out the kinks. Head Coach Dana Zupke said everything begins with junior quarterback Jackson Reader. Reader had to sit five games last season before being sidelined for a while with an injury, so Zupke said he doesn’t feel like Reader ever got into a rhythm.

They also return senior receiver Amari Davis, who played a role in last year’s success. At running back, Zupke described their program as a stable, with four players ready to go at any time.

“We’re going to try to use that to our advantage,” Zupke said.

While it’s the plan, Zupke knows he has to have cohesion on the offensive line to move the ball successfully. After graduating all five offensive linemen last year, the Pioneers will have a whole new group protecting the quarterback and blocking.

“Up front, we’re green,” Zupke said about his offensive line. “We’re relying on some real youngsters.”

Zupke mentioned two senior linemen who are a bit undersized, Caden Beneteau and Tommy Fuse, who are physical and strong. He believes teams are going to underestimate them, but said they’ll be the anchor of the offensive line.

“Really small guys, but big hearts and just tough kids,” Zupke said.

Although they’re young, the offense has a positive mentality going into the season.

“We may be young, but we’re going to get to developing and it’ll be good,” Reader said. “It’ll be smooth.”

Pinnacle did get a transfer on offense who will be available in the second half of the season to help pick up the slack. Junior wide receiver Kai Tschen transferred from Desert Mountain, where he saw varsity playing time as a freshman and helped the Wolves win the 5A State Championship. Tschen is believed to be someone who could have a breakout year in the second half of the season.

Defensively, Zupke said it’s the program’s second year under Coach Dominic Robinson and they’ll be working to expand the foundation they laid last year.

“It’s really high-level stuff that we’re doing,” Zupke said. “It’s unorthodox ... A lot of movement, a lot of disguise.”

Pinnacle will return a ton of experienced players on the defensive side of the ball, and Zupke and the offense know they’ll depend on the defense to be set up for success.

Zupke said up front, the defense has two excellent lineman in senior Kale Higley and junior Ian Fullmer, who both had strong performances last season.

“Those two really anchor that front four,” Zupke said.

Zupke also noted seniors Kash Silva and Aiden Ramos, both linebackers, are also huge playmakers for the defense.

“Since their freshman year, you just watch them and they just make plays,” Zupke said.

When asked to describe the defense this year, Silva said they were both relentless and unified.

“That’s really been our goal this spring and summer, you know, going out unified,” Silva said. “We’re taking the field together every snap and just playing together.”

Zupke noted that Robinson does a great job as a coach of setting up his team and putting them in position to be playmakers.

The Pioneers also got two transfers on defense, both out of Saguaro. Sophomore defensive lineman Brady Shaw, who started for the Sabercats as a freshman, and junior linebacker Jaceb Perez. Zupke said although they won’t be available until week six, he anticipates they’ll make an immediate impact on the field.

With such a young roster, Coach Zupke feels there’s a number of players who are positioned to potentially have a breakout season. However, there’s a trio of players he believes will surprise some people this year; Junior wide receivers Terik Slaughter, Maxwell Libman and Dyson Robinson.

“They’re all just really talented young guys that might pop,” Zupke said.

Pinnacle’s identity this year on the field will be one headlined by the defense. Zupke said as the offense grows and continues to become more experienced the team’s identity might change, but right now he anticipates it being very heavy on defense, at least early on.

“Our goal is to be efficient on offense, take care of the football, move the chains and let our defense be disruptive,” Zupke said. “They did it a lot last year. They’re going to do it this year. They’re gonna give us positive field position and hopefully make our job on offense easy.”

Pinnacle has a grueling schedule this year, starting things off on the road at Edison in California. They also face two nationally ranked teams in Basha in week three and Chandler in week nine. Because of the strength of their schedule, Zupke says the team has already been putting in work mentally preparing for what’s to come.

“We’re facing adversity week in, week out, during camp, during summer, spring, all of it,” Silva said. “By the time we’re out there on Friday nights we’re going to be ready to respond whenever we face adversity.”

“We actually played these games in the weight room,” Zupke said. “We’re rehearsing ... Knowing what we’re getting ourselves into, over and over again in the offseason and going into the preseason so when we get to those teams, we get to those tough games and we get through that grind, we feel like we’ve been here before.”

While the players know some of the games ahead bring challenges, they welcome them with open arms. One of those games they know is going to be a battle will be against Chandler, and it’s one the team all has circled on their calendars.

“Definitely the Chandler game,” Reader said. “We had a tough loss last year. Fourth quarter, threw a pick.”

“One that definitely stands out to a lot of us on the schedule is Chandler, just because we barely missed them last year,” Silva said. “They bring that energy and we want to match that.”

Zupke said while the players may change year by year, the mentality and the overall goal of the program stays the same.

“Our goal is always to get to the playoffs and then win our last game,” Zupke said. “We expect to be a playoff team. We’re a perennial playoff team, but we’ve gotta be playing our best football at that time.”

Brittany Bowyer is a Report for America corps member, covering sports for Independent Newsmedia in Arizona. Report for America places talented journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and regions.