If one thing is absolutely true about the Solvay football team in 2015, it’s that it is tired of hearing about past glories, and wants to have some glory of its own.
Whether it happens will depend on a large pool of returning players who, a season ago, saw potential breakthroughs against long-time rivals like Marcellus and Westhill dissipate when the opposition made late-game comebacks.
Matt Shutts, entering his fifth season as Solvay’s head coach, didn’t have to worry about much turnover in his starting lineup. True, All-Central New York lineman John Dippold is now in the college ranks, but nearly every other starter returns.
The 33 players on the varsity roster are the most Solvay has employed in years. Shutts said the more important aspect of those numbers is the fact that most of them have played multiple sports at Solvay, ranging from track to baseball, and have formed a cohesive unit.
“They’ve been successful, they’re all on the same page and have the same thoughts and eternal drive,” said Shutts.
At the foundation of it all is one of the largest offensive lines in Central New York. Together, they average nearly 300 pounds, and could physically overpower a defensive front.
At 6-foot-5 and 345 pounds (he’s in the process of slimming down from 360), Jacob Hook is getting serious looks from colleges, and his “little” brother, Joe Hook, checks in at 330 pounds.
Joe Miczan, who will line up next to Jacob Hook, is 290 pounds, and John Dillon checks in at 282 pounds while Brett Pidkaminy, who starts at center, is the “small” guy at 220 pounds. That allows Mike Cimino to move to tight end.
They all will protect quarterback Colin Lucio, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound senior and returning starter who, according to Shutts, is not just a year older, but “stronger and wiser”, possessing the game experience necessary to open up the Bearcats’ offense.
Lucio has plenty of options at wide receiver, with Jake Dippold, Mike Yaizzo and Jake Kyanka leading a rotation that could use eight or nine players. At running back, Ben Durst returns, helped by the likes of Dustin Harris, Alex Britton and Rob Stafford.
Solvay’s biggest task is improving a defense that surrendered more than 33 points a game in 2014. Cimino is back at end, helped by newcomer Nazir Clark, while Miczan, Jacob Hook and Joe Hook are part of a larger rotation at tackle.
Again, the Bearcats will use a 4-2-5 alignment, employing Durst, Stafford and Zach Crysler at linebacker, with help from “overhang” safeties such as Britton and Harris. Jake Dippold returns at safety, flanked by Yaizzo and Kyanka at cornerback.
So much might hinge on the first two games, which happen to be trips to Solvay’s biggest rivals, Marcellus and Westhill. Getting revenge for one of those painful 2014 defeats might lead to more success in the five weeks that follow, including games against two Class B West newcomers, Cortland and Syracuse’s Institute of Technology Central.
To turn it around, said Shutts, his team needed to “believe that they deserve to win. We would do well at the beginning of games, (and) then struggle later. It’s all about how we approach it.”
