Batavia blows out Plainfield East

Dennis Piron could not have envisioned a better start to his career as the football coach at Batavia.

In more ways than one.

“It’s a total defensive effort,” Piron said after Batavia throttled Plainfield East 48-7 for their second consecutive one-sided win to start the season.

Alex Moore was one of seven Batavia players to score for the squad.

“That’s what the coaches are all about,” Moore said. “They give everyone touches.”

Plainfield East (0-2) stopped Batavia on its opening drive, but Evan Zeddies made sure the Bengals’ defense would not be the story of the night.

The senior wide receiver hauled in a strike from quarterback Noel Gaspari on the Bulldogs’ fourth play from scrimmage.

Fifty-two unmolested yards later, the rout was in its early stages.

Batavia simply gave no quarter, scoring on five straight drives to take an insurmountable 35-0 lead into the break.

Anthony Thielk capped the Bulldogs’ two-play, second first-quarter scoring drive with an 11-yard run.

Moments later, the lead was trebled when Gaspari, who finished with 239 yards passing on only 13 completions in 19 attempts, found Jon Gray on a deep fade pattern from 24 yards out.

With Batavia (2-0) virtually scoring at will, the Bengals’ hopes of duplicating their later offensive heroics against Metea Valley evaporate under the Bulldogs’ punishing defense.

With Austin Lewis and Mack Brown spearheading the Bulldogs’ front three, Plainfield East could neither advance via land or air.

Zeddies had his second of three 30-plus yard receptions to set up the Bulldogs’ fourth straight scoring drive early in the second half.

“It was the most exhilarating (game) of my life,” the senior wide receiver said. “We watched a lot of film this week. The middle (of the Bengals’) offense was just wide open. (The passing) game worked perfectly for us.”

Nowhere was the Bulldogs’ offensive cohesion better demonstrated than when Zach Strittmatteer hauled in jump-ball from Gaspari to frame the Bulldogs’ 15-play drive that Robbie Bowman capped from 6 yards to give Batavia (2-0) a commanding 35-0 lead at the intermission.

“Zach Strittmatter just made a great play,” said Gaspari, who later connected with the senior tight end on a fourth-down conversion to extend the drive.

Sean Oroni stoned Plainfield East on one fourth-and-short play to stop one Bengals’ possession, and Cullin Rokos’ long interception was one of the few negatives for Batavia.

The linebacker was injured on the play.

“I don’t know how serious it is,” Piron said. “But I don’t like to see my guys on crutches. That was the one bad thing about the game was the heat (and the toll it took).”

Plainfield East halfback Dustin Demumbrum spoiled the Bulldogs’ shutout bid with a 19-yard scoring reception with 58 seconds remaining.

“It was a nice play, but it really didn’t mean anything,” the Bengals’ leading rusher said.