KENT CITY — After missing the playoffs last year for the first time since 2015, Kent City’s football team is off to a great 6-1 start under new head coach Zach Gropp.

While Friday’s game with 3-4 White Pigeon might not seem like a marquee matchup on paper, it does carry some additional weight for Gropp and the Eagles.

Kent City is eager to right the ship after its first defeat of the season, an ugly 52-0 loss to 6-1 Reed City last week. And for Gropp, the game is a clash of past and present.

The first-year head coach is a White Pigeon graduate who was a three-year varsity player for the Chiefs, playing tight end, fullback and linebacker.

He was also a member of the varsity basketball, baseball and track teams in his time at White Pigeon.

The matchup between Kent City and White Pigeon is a rare one, happening only three times previously, in 2000, 2003 and 2004. Gropp said both teams happened to have a schedule opening in Week 8 this season, and the athletic directors set up the game.

“It’s kind of surreal,” Gropp said about facing his alma mater in his first year as a head coach. “It’s definitely going to be a weird feeling. But it’s also going to be a lot of fun, I think. It’s going to be a fun atmosphere and a good game.”

Gropp’s dad, Mike Gropp, is a long-time assistant coach for the White Pigeon varsity squad, adding a family dynamic to the game, as well.

“We call each other all the time during the season to just talk football,” Gropp said. “It’s been a little different this week when we talked. It’s been kind of tough on my dad, because he wants me to win, but he also wants the team that he coaches to win.”

Don’t expect either Gropp to take it easy on the other.

“Knowing my dad and myself, we both are pretty competitive,” Gropp said. “I think it’s going to be kind of funny when my family comes and watches and tries to figure out who they’re going to root for.”

It was a White Pigeon connection that initially drew Gropp to Kent City. Athletic director Jason Vogel was a teacher and head football coach at White Pigeon for part of Gropp’s high school career.

When Gropp graduated from Olivet College, where he also played football, he reached out to Vogel, and he’s now in his sixth year of teaching and coaching at Kent City.

““I had some interviews and (Kent City) was just the right fit in my mind,” Gropp said. “It was nice to have a familiar face starting out.”

Kent City started the season 6-0 and won the CSAA Silver Division championship in the process. Realignment in the CSAA left just four teams in the Silver, and the Eagles swept their three conference games.

“For the first six games it was consistency,” Gropp said of the early success. “We’ve got a lot of upperclassmen, so good leadership was there as well.

“We always say we’re playing the best opponent this week, and we’ve got to control what we can control. That’s been our mentality, that we’ve got to win each day and win each week.”

Although the team is coming off its first loss last Friday against Reed City, Gropp said his team has had a good week of practice and is ready to get back on track.

“Last week, going against a tough opponent, we got behind the 8-ball early and really couldn’t get out of the slump,” said the coach, whose team has outscored opponents 234-139 this season. “We took our lumps and it was a good learning experience for the guys.

“They’ve really responded to the adversity this week by getting back to basics. I think the guys have a lot of confidence. They’ve been playing with confidence all year.”