Joe Battaglia jokes that the gray hairs are showing up a little more frequently these days.
More than half of the 60 or so kids in his football program at Concordia Preparatory School in Towson are freshmen.
“We have a great group of kids,” Battaglia said. “It’s just a lot more little things, the make-sure-you-remember-your-mouth-guard type of things that you are not used to dealing with [on] an older team.”
Despite their youth, the Saints are off to a good start this season, with wins in six of their first seven games, and in good position to defend their MIAA B Conference championship. They went 10-2 overall and 5-1 in the conference last season on their way to the title.
“We’ve got some really good older players,” Battaglia said. “But our program as a whole is pretty young. So, it’s been nice to see them get a little bit better each week. It’s been cool to watch.”
Senior receiver/cornerback Josh Derry and senior quarterback Jordan Brooks have been catalysts for the Concordia Prep offense, which was averaging more than 35 points per game through the first half of the season.
They have also been team leaders and served as mentors for the younger players.
“It’s a process,” said Derry, who has scored touchdowns this season as a punt returner, a receiver and on an interception return. “We have a lot of talent. Even though they are young, they are great listeners and great learners.”
The Saints are totally rebuilding in the trenches this season with only one starter back on the offensive and defensive lines. That has prompted Battaglia and his staff to open up the offense a little more with the passing game, as opposed to the smash-mouth running style they used with great success last season.
“Destin Mitchell was a big addition for me,” Brooks, the 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior quarterback, said of his freshman tight end. “Me and Josh have been working out for two years now. We just have that connection.”
Battaglia said the team’s youth is a byproduct of the last two and a half years.
Battaglia came to Concordia Prep after 13 years as a college football assistant, most recently at Navy as a defensive analyst for three seasons. When he was hired in June 2020, it was during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and there was no youth football being played.
“So, it was really hard for me to go out and find kids in that [freshman] class because they weren’t out there playing football,” he said.
Concordia Prep played two games in the fall of 2020 and was 1-1 before the season was shut down due to a fresh wave of COVID cases. Some kids weren’t sure if or when they would be able to play again, Battaglia said.
Complicating matters for the new coach was the fact that Concordia Prep is a very small school with fewer than 400 students and fewer than 200 boys.
“So in terms of finding kids that are 100 percent interested in playing football, you have your work cut out for you,” Battaglia said.
But he believed in the school and the community and felt that great success was achievable for the Saints.
Battaglia enjoyed his time in the college ranks but always wanted to coach high school football, following in the footsteps of his father Buzz, who was a big advocate for the sport on the Cockeysville Recreation Council and served as a longtime assistant at Gilman under Sherm Bristow and Biff Poggi.
Plus, a high school coaching job would provide more stability for Battaglia, his wife, Kim, and their two young sons, JJ and Giovanni.
“I felt this place had a ton of potential,” he said of Concordia Prep. “Is it a lot of success very quickly? Yes. But I also knew there was decent talent here as well. I won’t say we predicted it or knew we would do this or anything. But we’re not overly surprised we were able to get this thing going very quickly.”
Neither is one of Battaglia’s mentors, Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo.
“Joe Battaglia is as good as they come,” Niumatalolo said. “I mean, a really smart football coach, very knowledgeable, a great person. It does not surprise me he is doing well. He added a lot of value to our program while he was here. Very humble. [He was] behind the scenes a lot and did whatever was required or [whatever he] was able to do. Just a wealth of football knowledge and a really good person. The success he is having is not surprising. He’s a heck of a ball coach.”
Photo Credits: Brandon Pollutra (@sevenshotsmedia on Instagram)
Issue 277: October/November 2022
Originally published Oct. 19, 2022