Batavia’s JP Chaney knew he had to keep the faith.
Maybe just as importantly, the senior defensive end also kept working.
And now comes the reward.
“He really had a breakout game,” Batavia coach Dennis Piron said of Chaney. “He was all over the field.”
Defensive coordinator Matt Holm presented Chaney the unit’s weekly hammer award before the start of Tuesday’s practice for having the best performance Friday for the Bulldogs in a 35-6 victory over Glenbard North.
The 6-foot, 225-pound Chaney had seven tackles in the DuKane Conference game for Batavia (3-2, 2-1). Five were for loss, including two sacks. He also had six quarterback hurries.
“It was a tremendous game,” Holm said. “He used his speed. We went kind of vanilla, which we usually don’t do a lot, putting our linemen in gaps. He excelled, letting his footwork take control.
“He was playing across the line of scrimmage most of the game. At one point, we put him out at linebacker and let him blitz off the edge, and he got a tackle for loss on that.”
It’s all part of a process, Chaney would say.
That process, however, hasn’t always gone the way he had hoped.
Two summers earlier, as he prepared for his junior season, Chaney was competing with sophomore Ryan Boe for the starting quarterback position.
They went back and forth through preseason camp before Boe got the nod.
“I can’t complain about it,” Chaney said. “It was tough for me, but as it played out, I think he was the better guy for the position.”
Chaney split his duties, backing up Boe while playing quarterback in JV games and then working on defense.
“I decided I was going to make a difference,” Chaney said.
Unfortunately, Chaney broke a bone in his hand diving for a loose ball during a JV game.
It cost him six weeks at the position, but he kept working and made it into the rotation on the defensive line for the final two games of the regular season and Batavia’s two playoff games.
“I was in the lineup for that last drive against Mount Carmel,” Chaney said. “I felt I could have contributed way more, and it led me to work harder.”
Chaney added 20 pounds of muscle in the offseason. More opportunities became available to him on offense at tight end, fullback and H-back.
“His dad’s a (football) coach,” Piron said. “JP thinks like a coach. It wasn’t hard to convince him. We could talk about the big picture and he got it.”
Chaney has been good in the role of lead blocker.
Piron said his overall grasp of the offense from playing quarterback as a freshman and sophomore means it’s likely he could see spot duty taking snaps in the Wildcat formation.
Work continues on the defensive line, where Chaney isn’t satisfied.
His dad, Jeremiah, teaches in Naperville but assisted Don Beebe for 10 years at Aurora Christian, spent two years at Naperville North and is now back with Beebe, assisting with the defensive line at Aurora University.
After a slow start this fall, JP Chaney feels he has stepped it up the past few weeks, doing better despite being still relatively new to the position.
“My dad has really helped me — I love my dad,” Chaney said. “I’m still finding my footing, but breaking down film with him and doing some drills going into the Wheaton North game has helped.”
So has his faith, he believes, allowing him to play with more confidence since trusting that his future is in good hands.
“JP and Drew Gerke are really our only two-way players,” Piron said of Gerke, a wide receiver/defensive back. “He’s a very versatile athlete, and now that he has the defensive stuff sorted out, he’s become a pretty valuable football player.”