PAW PAW, MI – Dennis Strey Sr. is in his first offseason at Paw Paw’s head coach, and it’s a role he is well-prepared for.

The former Bloomingdale head coach and assistant under previous Paw Paw head coach Matt Stephens, Strey Sr. knows what it takes to lead a program and knows the current players he’s guiding.

He also knows how to avoid giving future opponents any bulletin board material before his team has played a game.

When asked about the goals and expectations for his first year at the helm, Strey Sr. showed he is fluent in coach-speak.

“We always talk about goals and expectations, and the first thing that we talk about is Week 1,” he said. “We take them one game at a time.”

Paw Paw head football coach Dennis Strey. (Joel Bissell | MLive.com)

It just so happens that season opening home game against Three Rivers has been one the Red Wolves circled when the schedule came out, following last year’s gut-wrenching overtime loss to the Wildcats.

Statistically, Paw Paw played the better game, finishing with an advantage in total yards (399-346), first downs (23-19), sacks (2-0), third-down percentage (6 of 12 vs. 2 of 8) and fourth-down percentage (3 of 3 vs. 3 of 5), but the Red Wolves committed a couple more penalties and lost the turnover battle, which resulted in Three Rivers coming back from a touchdown deficit late in the fourth quarter, then getting a defensive stop on a two-point conversion to escape with a 36-34 win.

“We were probably only a couple plays from winning that game, and I was thinking about it through all of last season and up until now, so I’m ready to replay them,” sophomore lineman Darrin Strey said.

The 6-foot-6, 250-pound coach’s son has inherited his father’s size and looks to anchor a Paw Paw line that must replace current Eastern Michigan lineman Dennis Strey Jr.

The youngest Strey was a varsity contributor as a freshman, but said this year’s group embraced offseason conditioning more thoroughly.

“(The offseason) has been going great,” he said. “Everyone’s been showing up to the weight room, and we’re the most conditioned team I’ve been a part of, and everybody is a family.”

Paw Paw Sophomore Darrin Strey (69). (Joel Bissell | MLive.com)

“In the weight room, we had huge improvements,” added senior linebacker Max Harvey. “At the beginning of the year, there were a few guys you could tell were up there, but now everyone’s putting up big weights, and it’s pretty impressive.”

Follow along for more info on this year’s Paw Paw football team.

Head coach: Dennis Strey, 1st year

Key returners: Zeyan Davis (Sr. RB/CB), Max Harvey (Sr. OL/LB), Matt Hartman (Sr. QB/LB), Carter Plangger (Sr. RB/LB), Ethan Oh (Sr. DB), Logan Leonard (Sr. RB/LB), Troy Vandenberg (Jr. TE/P), Darrin Strey (Soph. OL/DL)

Top newcomers: Bryson Newell (Soph. QB/DB), P.J. DeYoung (Soph. RB/LB)

2021 review: In Matt Stephens’ final season atop the program, Paw Paw went 5-5 and extended its playoff streak to four years, before falling to Wolverine Conference champ Edwardsburg, 58-0, in Round 1 of the Division 4 tournament. After opening the year with the narrow loss to Three Rivers, Paw Paw won four in a row, but sputtered down the stretch, ending the regular season with losses to Vicksburg and Plainwell.

Individually, lineman Dennis Strey Jr. and running back Cullen Sylvester earned all-state honors, while punter Troy VanDenBerg and kicker Jose Valverde joined Strey Jr. and Sylvester on the MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette Dream Team.

2022 outlook: After sitting behind Kolby Hindenach in 2020 and Cullen Sylvester in 2021, senior Zeyan Davis is ready to step into a bigger running back role, and the Red Wolves have another strong runner in Logan Leonard.

The transition costs that come with a coaching change should be minimal in Paw Paw’s case, as Strey Sr. brings a familiar voice and knows his team well.

Team speed will be Paw Paw’s biggest asset in 2022, Strey Sr. said, and that should be the case on both sides of the ball.

“I would say this team overall, we’re quick” he said. “There’s no one person that’s flashy, but we have a lot of overall team speed, and they’ve been working hard.

“I would say probably offensively, we need to take care of the football,” he added. “Defensively, we’ve really stressed getting to the football with our speed, and tacking is going to be a big area of emphasis.”

2022 schedule:

Thursday, Aug. 25: vs. Three Rivers

Thursday, Sept. 1: vs. Otsego

Friday, Sept. 9: at Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, 5 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 16: vs. Sturgis

Saturday, Sept. 24: vs. South Lyon East

Friday, Sept. 30: vs. Edwardsburg

Friday, Oct. 7: at Niles

Friday, Oct. 14: vs. Vicksburg

Friday, Oct. 21: at Plainwell