Farwell HS athlete Dillon Fitz signs to play football at Concordia College

“He talked to a lot of different schools trying to make the right choice for himself on what he wanted to study and where he wanted to play. I know baseball was a large part of it as well.”

Farwell Eagles head football coach Scott Barnhart

By John Raffel
The Clare Sentinel

     FARWELL - The chance to play one sport at a college would excite any graduating high school athlete.   But for Farwell’s Dillon Fitz, he’s receiving that special opportunity to double his excitement in the college ranks.
     Last week, Fitz signed a letter of intent to play football at Concordia College in Ann Arbor. The school is starting football this fall. He also is planning on playing baseball at Concordia.
     Fitz, a quarterback, said he established a solid relationship with Concordia’s offensive coordinator Anthony Pratley.
     “He e-mailed me and we started talking from there. I talked with him a couple of times,” Fitz said.
     He visited Concordia three times. The school is building a new facility for the future and at the present time will play at Ann Arbor Huron High School.
     Fitz played quarterback for Farwell for the 2009 season after performing as running back in previous campaigns. He noted that Concordia plans on using a form of the triple option offense, which was also employed at Farwell last season.     Nathan Robbins was hired earlier this year at the university’s first football coach and he brought Pratley on board. Pratley said the coaches were recruiting players within a two-month period.
     Concordia was set to have a 50-man roster for 2010.
     Pratley said he contacted Fitz via the program’s recruiting data base.
     “We called him, got some game film and were impressed,” Pratley said.
     Fitz said if the university wasn’t planning on the triple option, he probably would have gone to the program as a receiver or running back. He’s hoping to be able to use his leadership skills with the Cardinals both on and off the field.
     Pratley said the Cardinals will use the piston spread offense that he developed five years ago. In fact, he’s having a Pistol Spread Option Install Clinic/Camp July 30-31 at Concordia.
     Pratley said for 2010, the school will have a 7-to-9 game schedule against mainly Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) JV squads and club teams. But in 2011, the NAIA-affiliated school will begin play in the Mid-State Football Association, which also has teams in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio.
     Because of Fitz’s background with the triple option, he’ll get a shot at quarterback this fall, Pratley indicated. “He’s so athletic that we could move him to slotback and halfback,” Pratley said. “We want to try him at quarterback.”
     Pratley anticipates that Fitz will see action this fall. He added that the Farwell senior will be receiving some athletic scholarship monies.
     “He talked to a lot of different schools trying to make the right choice for himself on what he wanted to study and where he wanted to play,” said Farwell coach Scott Barnhart. “I know baseball was a large part of it as well.”
     Barnhart likes Fitz’s potential for the college level.
     “He has great vision in the open field,” Barnhart said. “The option’s kind of built to get him to the open field where he can make some people miss and make things happen. A lot of what we did offensively last year was to get him in a position where he could make things happen and let him do his thing.”
     In his senior season, Fitz was 62-of-147 in passing for 1,348 yards and 17 touchdowns. He rushed 102 times for 382 yards and four touchdowns.
     This week, Fitz plans on talking to Concordia’s new yet-to-be-announced baseball coach about joining that program.
     “This school gives you a chance to be a multi-sport athlete,” he said. “I had my heart set on two sports but I’d go to whatever college would give me an opportunity,” he said, adding that when Concordia offered him the chance for two sports “I couldn’t turn it down.”
     On the diamond, Fitz is having a banner season for Farwell with a .516 batting average and said he’s among the top catchers in the state for batting averages, RBIs (36) and stolen bases (21). At Concordia, he’s hoping to spend time between catcher and third baseman.
     The baseball team plays in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) and had a record of 24-30 and top-four finish in the WHAC.
     The school announced last week that baseball coach Karl Kling decided to step down as coach after seven seasons and the search has begun for a replacement.
     Once his baseball season ends, Fitz plans on a busy summer, which will include playing for Gladwin’s American Legion baseball program and participating in a 12-week weight-lifting program with other members of Concordia’s football program to keep in shape.