The future is now for improving Elk Grove

Elk Grove senior Dejan Basara had a simple message for his teammates before Saturday’s Class 7A football quarterfinal at Lake Zurich.

“I told them this is the most important game of your life because nothing in the future is guaranteed,” Basara said.

Despite a 17-10 loss, a 10-2 season was guaranteed to be one of the best in school history. The Grenadiers won a Mid-Suburban East title, hit double-figure victories for the fourth time and reached the quarterfinals for the sixth time.

But all does not appear lost despite the loss of seniors such as Basara, running back-linebackers Stefan Skoneczka and Darren Little, receivers Jeff Miceli and Fernando Lozano, linemen Greg Johnsen, Tom Jansen and Martin Diaz.

Two-way lineman Dan Egan returns up front with Brian Mack and Kevin O’Malley on offense and Johnny Assimakopoulos on defense. Sophomore Adam O’Malley has eight games of experience at quarterback.

Juniors Kishan Patel, Luke Dybicz, Luc Dimaso, Mike Maize, Alfonso Lavin, Travon Royal and Dylan Edwards also are back from one of the area’s top defenses and punter Alex Tinkoff returns.

“Obviously it’s bad we lost but this shows the younger kids what it’s like,” Basara said.

“We’ll be pretty darn good next year,” said Elk Grove coach Brian Doll. “Defensively we started seven (juniors and sophomores) so the future looks real bright.

“I’m proud of the program and the coaching staff and the principal (Nancy Holman) for being so supportive.”