Vikings ready to climb back to the top
♦ Coming off 6-4 season, Kunczewski said team is eager to compete again in conference title race
From the 2016 through the 2019 season, all the Berry Vikings knew was winning conference titles. They also made three postseason appearances in the final three years of that stretch and then added a 4-0 spring season in 2021 that included a conference crown as well following the cancellation of the 2020 schedule due to Covid-19.
So by their own standards, last fall’s 6-4 campaign was a bit of a disappointment. While many programs would look at a winning record as a successful year, Berry and head coach Tony Kunczewski know that is simply not the standard that has been set for the program…and the main goal for 2022 is to get things back to where they expect to be, which is once again competing for a conference title and a postseason berth.
“You can say you are disappointed, but this is a showme, don’t tell me business,” said Kunczewski, who will lead the program into its 10th season this year. “Our guys showed in the spring and the summer that 6-4 left a bad taste in their mouths. We just want to get back to playing Berry football. And it’s not something where we need to make wholesale changes. It’s just something where we need to get the rudder adjusted and headed back in the right direction.
“We had a lot of things that didn’t go our way last year with injuries, plus we’ve lost several coaches over the past few years due to the program’s success and them taking the next step in their career. Then with the spring season, we didn’t have as much time to get healthy and ready for the fall. But at the end of the day, all those things are excuses. We’ve got to find a way to overcome that and play to the level of expectations we’ve built for ourselves here.”
Part of the struggles were also due to the tough schedule Berry played as their four losses came to teams that went a combined 37-3.
The good news is that the Vikings return a lot of experience on both sides of the ball as several players that are back learned lessons the best way possible in the game of football — by being on the field.
On offense, Berry has quarterback Gavin Gray returning after starting the last
few seasons as well as the dynamic running back duo of Brandon Cade and Josh Rogers. Cade was named the Southern Athletic Association Newcomer of the Year, and Rogers earned All-SAA Honorable Mention honors. The two freshmen combined to run for 1,348 yards and 17 touchdowns in their first year as Vikings. Several receivers that contributed are back as well.
“You can’t teach experience, you either have it or you don’t, and we have it in some key positions,” said Kunczewski. “It’s always good to have a returning starter at quarterback, and we have two of the best running backs in the league and really in all of NCAA Division-II football coming back as sophomores. We’ve got some receivers returning that have been consistent, and we think at least one of them will develop into that No. 1-type receiver. We’re still young on the offensive line. We got better as the season went on up front last year, and we expect for that group to take another step forward this year.”
Tonny Garcia should be the leader of that offensive line group as he is back for his junior year after being named to the SAA First-Team Offense as a sophomore. Kunczewski said he expects the other players who gained experience as first-year starters last season and a mixture of
others to make that a solid, deep group.
“That’s where we need to make the most improvement,” said Kunczewski. “(Offensive line) is a position that seems to always be a little slower to develop. We knew there would be opportunity for growth there last year. Plus, we played some unbelievable defenses so they will get better from that.”
On the defensive side of the ball, some big pieces of the puzzle return as well as leading tacklers Connor Cheyunski and Jake Weikamp will be back as fifth-year senior linebackers, and defensive back Jordan Wilson returns for his fifth-year senior season also coming off being named First-Team All-SAA and earning All-Region honors from D3Football.com. Add to that mix Elohim Hull who was a Second-Team All-SAA safety as a junior last season, and Kunczewski has plenty of leadership and returning
production available going into 2022.
“We felt really good about our back seven last year and going into this year,” said Kunczewski. “We battled some defensive line injuries that hurt us some, but we are looking forward to having that unit healthy to see what they can do for us. We’re really excited about having six fifth-year guys back with several on the defensive side. Those guys provided a ton of leadership and help a lot with building our culture. They have been through the battles and know what it takes.”
Special teams also should be a plus for the Vikings as senior Matthew Syverson, a former Model High standout, returns after being named to the All-SAA First Team as a kicker last season. He also handled punting duties.
“We feel good about our kicking game (with Matthew),” said Kunczewski. “He’s really about as strong a guy as you
can have back there and can do whatever you need him to do as a kicker, punter and kickoff guy.”
Berry will open its season with three non-conference games before getting into the SAA schedule. They visit Maryville in the season opener on Sept. 3 and then return home for a pair of games at Valhalla Stadium against LaGrange College and Wisconsin-Whitewater the following two Saturdays. After a week off, the Vikings open the conference slate with a visit to Birmingham-Southern on Oct. 1.
“We’ve played Maryville and LaGrange to start off almost every year, and those are always good tests for us because both of those are strong programs with really athletic, fast teams,” said Kunczewski. “Then we are excited to have Wisconsin-Whitewater travel to our place. They have won 38 conference championships, several national championships and were in the final four just last year. They are an elite program, and one we put on the schedule because we want to take that next step as a program too.
“Our first goal is to take one week at a time with the three games up front, and then our next goal is to go win a conference title. If you do that you get an automatic bid to the playoffs, and that’s where we want to be. We want to finish in the top 10, which is
IMPACT PLAYERS
something we haven’t done. We’ve been ranked as high as seventh, but never finished in the top 10. Eventually the goal is to win a national title obviously, but you can’t start at the top. You’ve got to keep climbing to get there.”
With Berry heading into its 10th year as a football program, Kunczewski said they have built the foundation for success, but now it’s time to continue that tradition and aim even higher.
“It’s one thing to get to the top, but it’s another thing to stay at the top,” said Kunczewski. “I’ve reached out to several people, including (former Calhoun High head coach) Hal Lamb about what it takes to consistently be at the top of your conference. We’ve won a conference title five of the nine years we’ve played football at Berry. We didn’t get there last year, but it’s time to start a new streak. We know it has less to do with our opponents and more to do with ourselves. We’ve got the talent. We’ve just got to have the right mindset. We know most teams that play us have that one circled on their schedule. We didn’t rise to the occasion last year, and that starts with me as the leader and head coach. We’ve all got to be better this season from myself to the assistant coaches to the players.”
Along with the Sept. 17 home date vs. WisconsinWhitewater and the Oct. 1 visit to Birmingham-Southern, the Vikings will look to avenge their other two 2021 losses when they visit conference foes Centre on Oct. 15 and Trinity on Oct. 22.