Sophomore QB steps up for De Pere
De Pere football coach Chad Michalkiewicz wanted to watch film with his quarterback in the days leading up to his team’s first game last week.
It was then that Michalkiewicz fully realized how his young team had just become even younger in needing to turn to sophomore Christian Bocik to replace junior Landon Kirby, who tore an ACL in his knee during the Redbirds’ scrimmage.
“This kid doesn’t even have his driver’s license,” Michalkiewicz said of Bocik, “And he’s going to be the quarterback of our football team. That was kind of a jerk back to reality.
“He got thrust into the role suddenly. I mean Landon went down on the fifth play of the scrimmage, so Christian hops over from the JV scrimmage to the varsity and he ended up throwing two touchdowns against SPASH, so we knew he had the goods and was capable.”
Bocik proved that on Friday in leading De Pere to a 23-13 victory at Manitowoc.
The 6-foot-2 quarterback completed 15 of 22 passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns with an interception.
It helped for Bocik to have two playmakers to turn to in seniors Gavin Knott and Nate Baranek. Knott made seven receptions for 111 yards and two touchdowns, while Baranek accounted for 199 yards of offense.
The offensive line of Jack Coisman, Bobby Hinker, Seth Mitchell, Steven Hermsen and Will Lawler did a solid job of protecting the young signal-caller.
Michalkiewicz said he used a limited version of the team’s playbook with Bocik in the win. It was the same thing the seventh-year coach did three years ago with Cole Runge after Emmett Kulick sustained a season-ending injury in Week 2.
“Unfortunately, I’ve been through this before,” Michalkiewicz said.
“You feel terrible for Landon. He worked so hard. Not only did he win the privilege of being the quarterback of our football team, but he won over the locker room as a leader. We certainly felt that he was going to be a top-level kid in the conference for us.”