Batavia primed for another big year
In a football program dating back 100 years, in 2011 Batavia went undefeated in the regular season, 9-0, for the first time in history.
There’s a chance this was not a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Batavia last year lost just two games spanning the freshman, sophomore and varsity squads — Week 1 on the freshman level and once on varsity, in the Class 6A state semifinals against eventual champion Prairie Ridge.
Second-year coach Dennis Piron and Co. graduated a literal ton of talent, but there’s obviously more to come.
“I was talking with Matt Holm, our defensive coordinator, and we mentioned kids as potential all-conference players,” Piron recalled. “We were up to an awful lot of names after a few minutes. We return guys who were starters or were in the rotation who had a tremendous amount of varsity experience last year.”
The list starts with All-Area receiver Zach Strittmatter, who caught 47 passes for 856 yards and 7 touchdowns last season. Batavia returns versatile Anthony Thielk, who ran for 337 yards and 5 touchdowns with 290 yards on kickoff returns. Senior Robbie Bowman and junior Anthony Scaccia, off a 9-0 sophomore team, will take their share of handoffs in an offense that could see up to 19 skill-position players contribute depending on formation and situation.
The offensive line, almost as deep, returns starters Ben Link, Sebastian Vermaas and Adam Hunger, not huge but experienced and athletic.
The big shift is at quarterback in the spread offense; graduated three-year starter Noel Gaspari took his lumps as a sophomore, got up to speed as a junior and set records last season.
In that position, senior Dan Albrecht and junior Micah Coffey have engaged in a competition that by deadline had yet to be decided and may stretch into the season.
“Both kids have done a great job,” Piron said. “I would say the balance of our offense, we feel really, really good about everything right now, our running game and our passing game.”
On the other side of the ball, he believes the pass defense will be “phenomenal.”
That starts with rushing end Marquise Jenkins, a track sprinter who made 36 tackles with 5 sacks and 30 quarterback hurries, more than graduated all-stater Cole Gardner. Linebackers Thielk, Cullin Rokos and Mickey Watson are back, and Michael Moffatt and Bowman intercepted 5 and 3 passes, respectively.
“The defensive line graduated a lot of guys from that group, so we’re hoping to platoon a number of kids in roles up front,” Piron said. “We’re a little smaller, but we’ll try to throw a lot of them at you, do things with stunt packages.”
There will be seniors, like 2011 defensive back Jon Gray, who somewhat flew under the radar then hit it big. Piron sees similar potential from such players as defensive back Vinnie Cerezo, lineman Nate Sarkesian, receiver Jason Toth, defensive tackle Mike Gates. Likewise the Bulldogs will get boosts from juniors like Scaccia, cornerback Forrest Gilbertson, linebacker Donovan Kilker.
Outscoring teams 528-157 last year while the defense pitched three shutouts — one in the 6A quarterfinals — well, that’s hard to match. Batavia will need to jell offensively behind a new quarterback, and Piron said establishing run defense will be an initial challenge.
Great team speed, work ethic and standout returnees, however, makes for “high expectations,” Piron said:
“We’re looking forward to building more memories.”