A state championship is a landmark for any community. The celebration continues in Depew, where Mayor Kevin Peterson said the village will erect signs at major gateways honoring a high school baseball team barely a month beyond a state title.
Yet the true story behind those signs – and the message the players hope they will convey – is of 11 teenagers who came together as a mirror of their coach.
In June, Dennis Crawley Jr.’s Depew Wildcats won the state Class B trophy. They rallied from three down in the sixth inning to defeat Lansing 5-4 in Binghamton, earning the first state baseball crown in a decade for a Western New York high school.
Crawley, 53, coached despite the impact of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable and genetic form of muscular paralysis. What he and assistant coach Tony Sekuterski taught – that each little thing, done well, carries you to the next step – was epitomized in how Crawley faced each day.
“We don’t win the state title without him as coach,” Depew athletic director Robert Skoczylas said.
Crawley insists it is all about the players. Still, you find quiet examples of his one-step, one-small-challenge-at-a-time philosophy throughout every game of a 25-1 season.
Consider, for instance, sophomore Jacob Scibetta’s fourth inning at-bat several weeks ago, on Grand Island.
The Wildcats (25-1) won the state championship at SUNY Binghamton in their NYSPHSAA state playoff debut following…
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