Jeffrey Botts, 26, and his teammates celebrate Botts’ punt return touchdown in the second quarter of the Tigers’ 28-16 win over Goshen on Friday, Sept. 12.

Jeffrey Botts, 26, and his teammates celebrate Botts’ punt return touchdown in the second quarter of the Tigers’ 28-16 win over Goshen on Friday, Sept. 12.
By Chris Chaney
Sun staff

Bethel-Tate equaled their win total of the previous three seasons combined on Friday night as the Tigers beat Goshen, 28-16, in front of a robust home crowd on the school’s Homecoming weekend.

A program in need of a culture change brought in Bill Jenike to be the catalyst for that change in 2012. After seasons of 2-8 and 1-9 in 2012 and 2013, respectively, Jenike has his squad at 3-0 in 2014.

The reason for the hot start? Simple, Jenike says.

“We’re paying attention to detail and the kids are buying in to the fact that they just need to their job,” he said. “They’re taking responsibility for what they do at their position. In each drill, we’re trying to be competitive, win the drill and understand why we’re doing what we’re doing.

“It’s also a tribute to the weight room and the off-season work. (This past offseason) was the best we’ve had in three years. We’re not getting knocked all over the place like we were.”

More than that, Jenike said that the pride that is bred from putting in the work has carried over onto the field on Friday nights.

“We have pride that Bethel-Tate is on our chest. People thinking that we’re a 40-0 (win for them), those days are over,” Jenike said.

The guys on the field competing embodying this new culture and attitude are who Jenike credits with the program’s turnaround, not himself.

“When I came here, that’s what I wanted to do: help change the culture,” he said. “It’s not about Bill Jenike; it’s about our football team and our collaboration with the school and the people in the community.”

Those bridges between the players and the community are built by upperclassmen who have been along for the ride during the Jenike tenure, most notably running back Allan Haave and quarterback Jeffrey Botts.

“Haave was the quarterback (last year), but we’ve moved Botts in there this year and he might be the best runner of them all,” Jenike said.

Haave and Botts both were lost to injury last season, so when Jenike reinstalled the Wing-T offense for 2014, a mix up was in order that has proven potent in the first three weeks of the season. Sophomore Stephen Cooper has also added a physical presence at fullback.

All three — Haave, Botts and Cooper — have carried the ball more than 20 times, average more than 5.5 yards per tote and have scored three times. The running attack’s effectiveness has been two-fold: it has allowed for the Tigers to build leads while also dictating the tempo of the game and burning clock time.

A Division V school, Bethel-Tate will be facing some tough matchups over the next few weeks in terms of numbers alone. The Tigers travel to Amelia and New Richmond over the next fortnight, but Jenike says the Bethel game plan will remain consistent with what has worked over the first three weeks of the season.

“We’re going to keep doing what we’ve done,” he said. “We need to execute, not turn the ball over, play field position; try to get ourselves some short fields where we’re in four-down territory. We like to win on defense first, create some turnovers; just keep doing what we’ve done over the first three games and in the summer.”

The coach said he has his blinders on in terms of looking forward, so the New Richmond game in two weeks has not even made a blip on his radar. As for the Barons, who have opened the 2014 season strong as well, he expects the man coverage that Amelia employs defensively to be a challenge.

Jenike likened the Barons to a large tree that Bethel will need to continually take chunks out of through the various phases of the game. He said if they can keep weakening Amelia’s reserve little by little, they can bring the tree down in the end.

Looking forward — even if the coach won’t — Bethel begins a four-week run of road games at Amelia and culminates with the first Southern Buckeye Conference National Division tilt of the season at Clermont Northeastern on Oct. 9. The Tigers are the lone undefeated team in the SBC-N.