The rallying cry for Benet for much of its 2015 season was ‘no more one and dones.”
After a pair of first-round losses to Mount Carmel and Hinsdale Central, respectively, the last two years coming into the 2015 season, the desire to get over that hump represented a driving force.
A 21-14, Class 7A first-round victory over St. Charles North on Halloween on a wet and soggy afternoon got Benet off the proverbial postseason schneid.
Despite its 35-17 loss at Cary-Grove on Saturday, Benet enters its offseason on an upbeat note following a 8-3 year – its most victories since winning 11 games in 2012.
“I thought it was a successful year for our players and I told them – I congratulated them on a very good year,” Redwings’ coach Pat New said. “To go 8-3 with our tough conference and our schedule – there’s really no easy games in there. So I was proud of our guys and we had a disappointing first half (Saturday at Cary-Grove), so they really showed their true colors in the second half by battling back and kind of getting back into it.”
Considering two of the three teams who beat the Redwings – Nazareth and Cary-Grove – are each prepping for state quarterfinal games this weekend, along with Joliet Catholic, there’s something to be said for that.
As the page gets turned from 2015 to 2016, the biggest reason for Benet to be excited and encouraged remains like it was going from 2014 to 2015 – quarterback Jack Sznajder.
Taking the expected jump from sophomore to junior year, Sznajder increased his passing yards from 1,234 in 2014 to 1,815 in 2015 and his touchdown passes from six in 2014 to 15 in 2015.
Perhaps even bigger than the increased numbers in both passing yards and touchdowns as the fact he cut his interceptions down from 14 last year to nine this year.
With the experiences of two varsity seasons now behind him, those numbers should get even better next year as a third-year starter.
“To have a senior quarterback returning is really exciting,” New said of Sznajder,
Alec McEachern and Marty Dosen will be back to help Sznajder in the backfield while receivers Karl Schmidt, Will O’Grady, Robert Bordignon all leave due to graduation.
McEachern made his name early on defensively while operating as a safety in Tim Cederblad’s defense, evidenced by 81 tackles, three interceptions and four fumble recoveries.
But thrown in to help offensively starting in a Week 7 victory at Carmel, McEachern recorded at least 92 rushing yards in four of five games.
McEachern churned out 171 yards against Carmel while filling in for Dosen and accumulated 197 yards in the Class 7A first-round win over St. Charles North.
“Alec was a big-time playmaker for us this year on both sides of the ball,” New said.
With linebacker Charlie Weidenbach, the 2015 East Suburban Catholic Conference Defensive of the Year, graduating after a 113-tackle senior season, Ryan Liszka will take the reins.
Liszka accumulated 100 tackles of his own and will have John D’Angelo, who recorded 56 tackles and 3 ½ sacks, alongside him to help lead the defense.
While the linebacking core should be experienced with Liszka and D’Angelo back, finding new blood on the defensive end will be imperative.
Jeff Marek (90 tackles and three sacks) and Trent Kramer (66 tackles and 2 ½ sacks) both were consistent forces for Benet’s on the defensive line as seniors and both leave big voids.
McEachern, Erik Jones and Danny O’Malley will all be back to lead the back end of the Redwings’ defense as all three had at least 51 tackles.
A Benet sophomore team that won its last five games after a 0-4 start will infuse some added talent – with Ben Cooney and linebacker Devin Petersen being two names to watch.
Right from the start of the season, New explained the expectations and responsibility that would be placed on the juniors that will be seniors in 2016.
Given the talent the senior class has with Sznajder, McEachern, Dosen, Liszka, D’Angelo, Jones and O’Malley all headlining it, expectations going into next fall will be just as high, if not higher.
“A big part of our success this year was our juniors,” New said. “So I think there’s going to be a lot of excitement and a lot of expectations going forward next year. This year we expected to be better than last year and I think next year we’re going to be expecting to be better than this year.”
