Even With Recent Run Of Success Against Alter, Badin Expecting GCL Coed Slugfest With Knights

By Rick Cassano

HAMILTON – Badin High School’s football team has reversed the tide in its rivalry with Kettering Alter in recent years.

Of course that’s great for the Rams, who have won the last six meetings and nine of the last 10 games in the series after the Knights reeled off 22 straight wins over Badin.

But BHS coach Nick Yordy said if the Rams are expecting anything to come easily against Alter on Friday night at Bellbrook, that would be foolish.

“We didn’t talk a whole lot about the streak where we had not won in so long. We don’t talk a whole lot about our streak either,” Yordy said. “I didn’t even know it was nine out of the last 10. I think it’s going to be a physical game. Always is. Coach (Ed) Domsitz has always got something up his sleeve for us.”

The Greater Catholic League Coed Division title is still up for grabs with McNicholas (6-2 overall, 3-0 in the league) in the driver’s seat. Badin (6-2, 2-1) and Alter (5-3, 2-1) are lurking in second place.

The Rams will close the regular season at home against McNick next Friday, so they control their own destiny in terms of winning a ninth straight GCL Coed championship. The Rockets host Fenwick this week, while the Knights will face Dayton Chaminade Julienne at Beavercreek in Week 10.

And the postseason is a big issue for all concerned as well. Badin is in Division II, Region 8 – Alter and McNick are in Division III, Region 12. The Rockets have clinched a playoff spot, according to joeeitel.com.

“We’ve pretty much already started the playoffs. With Alter and McNick, it’s always the same as the playoffs,” said Emmett Sackenheim, a senior outside linebacker for the Rams. “I think making a big run in the tournament is still our No. 1 priority. Obviously if we can, we want to win the league. Who wouldn’t want to? But securing a better playoff spot is more important to us right now.”

Yordy said looking at online projections isn’t big on his to-do list. Drew Pasteur’s Ohio Fantastic 50 website is projecting Badin to lose to Alter and McNick and get the 12th and final playoff spot in Region 8.

“I’m sure the kids and other people look at those things, but we can’t get wrapped up in predictions,” Yordy said. “We just know this is a big game. I think both teams are going to come out flying around.”

Friday will be homecoming for Alter, which took a 20-7 defeat at McNick last week while committing six turnovers (three fumbles and three interceptions).

Domsitz is right on 400 career victories and has been a head coach for 51 years. He’s been the head man at Alter for 35 seasons in two stints, also coaching at Trotwood-Madison for five years and Clayton Northmont for 11.

“Badin is one of the top teams on our schedule, so it gets the attention of our kids, probably more so than the long winning stretch we had against them,” Domsitz said. “Badin’s the standard now in the GCL. Prior to the season, one of our kids’ goals was to make sure we’re ready to play Badin.

“It’s been an up-and-down season. I hope our game is interesting, but it’s also going to be interesting when McNick lines up against Badin. McNick is good, make no mistake about that – they play at a high level the whole game. That’s the same thing we expect from Badin.”

For the Knights, everything starts with senior Drew Cripps, a Miami University commit who’s arguably the best player in the league. He’s a running back/safety who’s also a demon on kick returns.

“Cripps is pretty strong for his size, but it’s mostly his speed,” Sackenheim said. “We’ve got to put our fast dudes on him and double-team him as much as possible. If he does get in one-on-one situations, just tackle him.”

The 6-foot, 162-pound Cripps has rushed 111 times for 830 yards and 11 touchdowns while catching six balls for 94 yards and three TDs. He’s returned nine kickoffs for a 45.6-yard average and three scores, also bringing back five punts for a 28.4-yard average and a touchdown. And he’s got four interceptions and 32 tackles on defense.

“Anybody’s welcome to kick to him. I encourage that,” Domsitz said. “I will say that he’s in the top two or three kids I’ve ever coached. I know coaches all the time like to say that it’s great if your No. 1 player is also one of your best workers, and he’s that. He’s a great athlete with a great attitude.”

The Knights like to run the ball out of the spread and the wishbone. Alter rallied in the second half of a 35-28 playoff loss at Badin last year with a wishbone attack, so Yordy is expecting to see a lot of that Friday.

Senior guard Tanner Edmonds (5-10, 254), junior center Kenny Burnett (5-10, 251) and senior tackle Colton Craft (6-8, 261) lead the offensive charge up front for the Knights.

“It’s another size disadvantage for us up front,” Yordy said. “They can go spread. They can go wishbone. They mix it up. When Cripps is on, they’re tough to stop.”

Junior Renner Vongsy is Alter’s quarterback and has completed 32-of-55 passes for 331 yards and five touchdowns. He’s also been picked off five times.

“Turnovers had not been a big problem until last week,” Domsitz said. “We’ve got to get beyond hurting ourselves. I don’t think in the 600 games I’ve coached that we’ve won a game where we had six turnovers.”

Domsitz said his defense has been more consistent than the offense this season. He pointed to Cripps, junior tackle Dash Koelker (6-3, 214), senior linebacker Jake Botti (5-9, 191), junior end Hunter Roesser (6-3, 185) and senior tackle Isaac Manfre (6-2, 260) as the top defenders.

“One of our goals is trying to avoid giving up easy touchdowns, which certainly hurt us in the playoffs last year,” Domsitz said.

The Knights were competitive in losses to McNick and Bellbrook. They got blown out 34-0 by Trotwood, which is in Region 8 with Badin.

“I think Trotwood is the best team we’ve played since we played (Cleveland) Glenville in the state championship game,” said Domsitz, with the Knights losing 38-3 in that Division IV state final in 2023. “They are loaded on defense. You struggle for every yard. They re-react quicker than anybody we’ve seen, and they do it quickly and violently.”

Domsitz thinks his squad is ready to bounce back from last week’s defeat, though he admitted it’s getting more and more difficult to read players. Alter does have a 27-19 advantage in the series with Hamilton Catholic/Badin.

“It’s a different age now,” Domsitz said. “I used to be able to look into the players’ eyes when they got off the bus and determine whether we were ready. Not so much anymore.”

He turned 76 in July and still teaches six social studies classes a day at AHS. Domsitz said he’s often asked how long he’ll continue to coach.

“It depends on my health and whether I’ve got the energy,” Domsitz said. “At some point I may just decide right in the middle of the school year. I’m not looking for a farewell tour.”

While the Knights are looking to get back in the win column, the Rams are looking to build some momentum. They throttled Dayton Carroll 49-20 last week after getting rolled 40-24 at Fenwick in Week 7.

Chase Even ran eight times for 186 yards and tied a single-game school record with five touchdowns against Carroll. Six other Hamilton Catholic/Badin players have scored five times in a game and that includes Yordy, who did it against McNick in 1996.

Yordy said he should’ve given Even a chance to break the record before sitting him down for good.

“I know a lot of people think I didn’t want him to break the record,” Yordy said. “In hindsight, I should’ve put him in when we got down near the goal line. In the flow of the game and what was happening, I didn’t. That’s on me. I apologized to him for not doing that. There would be no better kid in this program to set a record than Chase Even.”

The Rams are still dealing with injuries and have now lost junior H-back Will Franchini for the rest of the season due to a knee injury.

Sackenheim has been among the injured. He played in the season opener against Hamilton, then missed the next three games with a leg injury.

“I was hurt before the opener, but obviously I didn’t want to miss that game,” Sackenheim said. “So I played on it, and I think that just made it worse. It’s really hard to just sit out and do nothing senior year, so I did my (physical therapy) and made it back for La Salle. It’s still not 100 percent, but it’s pretty close.”

He’s still an outside backer and Jackson Turner has remained on the inside, but the rest of the linebacker lineup has been shuffled. Joey Geltz moved from outside to inside against Carroll, while the other outside spot is now a rotation that includes Colton Pauley, Vince Otto and Brady Karwisch.

Sackenheim said Badin’s defense has rebounded mentally from the Fenwick loss.

“I’m not going to lie, it definitely did affect us, but I think after last week everyone’s a lot more confident going into these last two weeks,” Sackenheim said. “A lot of stopping a team like Fenwick has to do with where you line up, and we weren’t lining up correctly every play. I don’t doubt that we have the players to make those plays. We just weren’t in the right positions for that.”

Yordy said he’s still waiting for the Rams to put together a complete game. He said the closest the team has come so far this year was probably the 34-7 win over CJ.

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