Sports

Dearborn Pioneers Face Season with New Coach

Biology teacher Johnathon Powell will succeed David Mifsud beginning in the 2013-2014 academic year.

The high school football regular season is not far away, and the Dearborn High School Pioneers have been hard at work running preseason drills under the leadership of Coach Johnathon Powell.

Powell took over the DHS football program as head coach following the departure of David Mifsud.

"I'm really excited to have the opportunity to lead the football program at Dearborn High School and work with these great parents and students," Powell said.

Powell has a long history with the athletic program at DHS, serving as assistant coach to Mifsud in 2012, and as a basketball and golf coach at Fordson High School.

"I'm not here to facilitate a rebuilding process. This program is the best in the city and the best in its league," he said. "The team is the strongest that its ever been, which is a credit to Coach Mifsud's hard work. He laid the groundwork for me to come in and continue to grow the football program."

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Mifsud, a 1982 Dearborn High graduate, posted a 108-58 coaching record at his alma mater, giving him the most wins of any coach in the school's history. He’s led the Pioneers to the state playoffs 11 times and in 2004 and 2006 they reached the Class A state semifinal and in 2010 finished with a 9-0 regular season, according to Heritage Media.

Powell said this season presents its own set of unique challenges.

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"We're replacing our two all-state players from last year. We relied heavily on them. We are going to be a lot more of a balanced team this year," he said.

Despite the loss, Powell said the team is returning 10 starters from the 2012 season, and will also rely heavily on former junior varsity players. Dearborn's junior varsity team went 9-0 last season.

To prep for the season, the team has been training from 3 to 9 p.m. every day, with players Bearooz Yacoobi, Bryce Norwood, Eric Hansen, Housain Sareini, Donnell Cargil, Mohamed Abdallah and Denzel Hearn-Williams leading the charge.

"We learned a lot last year. We have to play as a team in all levels of the game. We also have to consistency stop the opposing teams run game and consistency be able to run the ball," Powell said. "We started this process in the off season. We are going to continue to do the things that have worked for us and improve on the areas we have struggled with."

Dearborn will face Chippewa Valley High School on Aug. 29 at 4 p.m. at home. For more information about the upcoming season, visit the Pioneers' website.


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