Coaches Give Their Take on Saturday's Batavia vs. Lake Forest Football Matchup

Editor's note: Batavia defeated Lake Forest 31-17. To read our initial postgame report, click here.

It's been quite a debut for Dennis Prion.

The Batavia coach, in his first season, , outscoring opponents by an overwheming 326 points. 

After a of the playoffs, the Bulldogs host the Scouts Saturday afternoon in one of the state's better second-round matchups.

Prion took a break from preparations to talk to Patch earlier this week.

So what can we expect from your team in terms of offense and defense?

We're balanced with run and pass. We run multiple formations. You could call it a Pro-style. We are pretty aggressive on defense with a 4-3 base. 

What do you see on film in Lake Forest?

They play in a very good league. They play 7A and 8A teams. They are very fast. very aggressive, very confident. They play together with a lot of emotion and tons of enthusiasm. Watching them, they seem like a lot of kids who love playing together. There's an X factor, a comrardarie, things you don't notice that makes things special. They could easily be 9-0.

You won most of your games by a wide margin but squeaked by in your first round game (35-28 against Notre Dame). What philosphy do you preach to your players about the postseason?

Just win and advance. I've coached 20 years at Batavia (most recently as defensive coordinator) and I don't recall too many scores. Our kids have had a special year. To have an undefeated regular season and win conference outright is unique. I was a little surprised by the scores, but things just fell that way. 

Batavia has had recent good history in football, making the playoffs 14 times in the last 21 years. You made it to the state championship game in 2006. What kind of atmosphere can we expect Saturday?

Batavia is the in town. We have and it has grown together. The community supports the football program. I suggest you arrive early, be prepared for a crazy day. You can expect 7-8,000 fans.

Lake Forest coach Chuck Spagnoli has the Scouts back in the playoffs for a second straight year and into the second round.

What do you see when you turn on their game film?

The first thing you notice about them is their size. They are big at all of their positions. That is certainly an issue when you play them. They run more two backs (offense) than we've seen all year. On defense, they want to be a four down team.

How do you defend against that?

We have to stay out of second and long and create second and long for them. The reason for that is it puts both teams out of their comfort zone. They want to put you in a position where you don't know if they will run or pass. 

Football players are creatures of routine. This is your first Saturday game. Any concern about that?

We'll be getting up at the same time we do normally. The only difference is we will be a lot less sore. We haven't talked about the fact it's a Saturday day time game and all that stuff. We could spend time dwelling on it, but what are we going to do? Practice more in the sun? I don't know that's a factor at all assuming the weather is good.

Knowing you are on the road, in a hostile environment, how important is a good start?

Last week we preached about getting off to a good start on both sides of the ball. This week we are playing a better opponent. I think if we start fast it will be really important, and if we don't we'll have to figure out a way to make it not important.

This team has played with a bit of a chip on their shoulder all season. Do you encourage that?

There are people who live in their own little world, and the success of our team and our kids isn't important to them at all. Some people are just flat out jealous of the athletes and the success they have and whatever popularity they gain. In spite of that, we have great support. And the support is because we have great kids. They are good people. They are easy to like.