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Batavia dominates more than score shows

Batavia junior Anthony Scaccia rushed for three times as many yards as the entire Plainfield East team did during Friday’s home opener.

He also had twice as many receiving yards as the Bengals.

Despite such statistical aberrations, the Bulldogs found themselves in a dogfight with the guests before finally caging them with three second half touchdowns to win, 30-14.

“We didn’t underestimate them or anything, it was just an unusual game in how the scoring went,” Batavia coach Dennis Piron said. “A couple of guys had rough nights for us, which was uncharacteristic, but I don’t think it killed us.”

Scaccia’s night was the antonym of rough, although he certainly gave the Bengals a tough time.

The 5-foot-7, 150-pounder finished with 176 rushing yards on 23 carries and caught 7 passes from quarterback Micah Coffey for 112 yards. He also scored three touchdowns.

“I just like doing whatever it takes to help the team win the game,” Scaccia said. “We didn’t make enough plays in the first half but we stepped up in the second half.”

Batavia (2-0) nearly went into halftime trailing, but took a 10-6 lead into the half. After a 29-yard field goal from Daniel Albrecht put the Bulldogs ahead 10-0, Plainfield East’s Aris Irizarry ran back the ensuing kickoff for an 85-yard touchdown with 2:52 on the clock.

Scaccia proved to be human when he fumbled away the following kickoff which the Bengals recovered on the 6-yard line, but the Batavia defense didn’t wince.

“Our defense played phenomenal football,” Piron said. “We shut them down totally and they really had no offense to speak of, except for one run on a draw late in the game.”

Coffey connected with Scaccia for a 12-yard touchdown with 7:29 left in the third quarter. Then, Marquise Jenkins took control. Jenkins first sacked the quarterback, then dropped a running back for a 5-yard loss, before finally forcing an incompletion with his strong pursuit. Three-and-outs were a common theme all night for the Bengals as Batavia forced six of them. The Bengals only accumulated 107 total yards and 4 first downs.

“After last week we knew we had to fix some things,” Jenkins said. “I just felt I had to make some plays there and continue the momentum after the touchdown.”

Coffey connected with Zach Strittmatter on a 20-yard touchdown play to make it 23-6 with 4:06 left in the third quarter, but the Bengals finally showed some life, getting a 44-yard touchdown run from Cullen Rompa early in the fourth quarter.

There was no reason to worry though as the Bulldogs used an 11-play drive, eating up more than six minutes of the fourth quarter, to go ahead 30-14 on a 3-yard run from Scaccia.

“Batavia is a pretty darn good team and they’re going to go far,” Plainfield East coach Mike Romeli said. “They take you out of what you are trying to do offensively and everything we did tonight they had an answer for it.”

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