Peter Cannon ‘23 has racked up some impressive numbers so far in the District tournament. His one goal and two assists led East to a 4-0 win over Coopersville to open District playoffs. He followed that impressive performance with the lone goal in the Pioneers 1-0 win against Godwin Heights on Tuesday in the semifinals.

Cannon hasn’t been the only player performing well to start the District tournament. Logan Becker ‘23, Ben Borak ‘23, and Robbie Dwortz ‘23 all have goals of their own. Senior leaders Eamon Burns ‘22, Caden Chenlo ‘22, and Jonah Bishop ‘22 have continued their outstanding play two games into Districts. 

Last week, the East soccer team was able to win the Conference Championship over Forest Hills Northern, 1-0. This week, the Pioneers look to bring home some more hardware and become District Champions with a win over Grand Rapids Christian. The big game will take place at Eagles Stadium on Thursday, October 21 at 7 pm. 

“It would be special because they are a great team led by D1 commit Nick Cassidy, and our teams have been rivals for many years,” Bishop said.

The Pioneers and the Eagles are no strangers. As if being crosstown rivals wouldn’t bring enough animosity to this game, the two squads have played in some extremely close battles in the past two years. East was able to knock off Christian in Districts last year in a penalty shootout. In their most recent matchup, East and Christian tied 4-4. This time around there will be no ties as it is for a District Championship. 

“We don’t want to beat anyone more than Grand Rapids Christian,” Dwortz said.