Father-son combo delivering wins at Batavia

Updated: October 25, 2011 10:26PM

He retired last school year, but this fall Mike Gaspari has found that time is on his side.

The head football coach at Batavia for 26 seasons, Gaspari pulled double duty the final 20 as athletic director. Dennis Piron, his defensive coordinator, succeeded him as head coach. Gaspari happily stayed on as offensive coordinator since it allowed him to keep working with his son, Noel, who was returning for his senior season and third as starting quarterback.

The Bulldog shuffle has been magic. The team is 9-0 and earned a No. 1 seed in the Class 6A playoffs that begin Friday when Batavia hosts No. 16 seed Niles Notre Dame at 7 p.m.

“I come in at 2 p.m. each day and work with the football team, that’s all I’m doing at this point,” said Mike Gaspari, who no longer worries about scheduling, field preparation or weather and its impact on his teams. “For 20 years, most days I didn’t think about football until I went out on the practice field.”

Now, it has his undivided attention.

“This year, he has so much time to watch film and focus on practice, it seems like he has a full-time job,” said Noel Gaspari, who has blossomed, completing 71.6 percent (114-for-159) of his passes for 2,061 yards with 20 touchdowns and just three interceptions. He’s run for another 185 yards.

Many is the night father and son have sat down at home following practice, dinner and homework to study film of the next week’s opponent.

“Our team is such a great group of kids who play at a very high level,” Mike Gaspari said. “I’ve expanded (the offense) a little bit. Some of it is due to the time I have, but more importantly, we have kids who can do these things. It’s a very seasoned group of guys.”

The Bulldogs strive for balance and have run 248 times and passed 171, while putting up 1,505 yards rushing and 2,224 passing. Add a stingy defense, and the team has outgained its opponents by more than 2-to-1 (3,279-1,561 yards).

Mike Gaspari cites the improvement of the team’s offensive line that features seven players — Nick Pappas, Zack Schoettes, Brock Batka, Ben Link, Tim Wiley, Sebastian Vermaas and Adam Hunger — rotating among five spots.

Pappas, all-conference last year, anchors the group at left tackle, but Link’s move from tight end on last year’s sophomore team to center has been key, too, said the coach.

And then there’s 6-foot-6, 250-pound tight end Cole Gardner, who was eased back into action after the third game of the season after recovering from a knee injury suffered last winter in basketball.

“Before Cole returned to full strength we averaged 90 yards rushing,” Mike Gaspari said. “Since he’s come back, we’re up to 170. It says a little bit about his (blocking) ability, plus he’s a great pass catcher.”

Piron couldn’t be happier.

“(Mike) likes being upstairs (calling plays from the press box),” Piron said. “I’ve got him a blanket, he’s an older gentleman, you know. And we make sure he has his cocoa. He likes the view and is just having a ball up there.

“He knows all the kids and has watched them all grow up. … I think he’s thoroughly enjoying his retirement.”

That he is.

“I feel very blessed,” Mike Gaspari said.

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