Batavia bowls over Streamwood
Glenbard North, Richards and archrival Geneva had the Batavia football team at fever pitch the first three weeks of the season. The Bulldogs showed no letdown in their Week 4 game Saturday at Streamwood.
Scoring 7 first-half touchdowns, 4 by tailback Anthony Scaccia, Batavia rolled to a 56-14 win over host Streamwood in Upstate Eight Conference River Division play at Millennium Field.
“We knew that the atmosphere was going to be different, we knew that the crowd was going to be little different and it didn't have the same kind of energy like the first three games,” said Batavia quarterback Micah Coffey, who completed 12 of 14 passes including all 8 second-quarter attempts, for 202 yards and 5 touchdowns all in the first half.
“It was finding it in ourselves to play and even up our intensity within our team, finding energy within our team. And then it all came from a good week of practice,” he said.
Batavia (3-1, 2-0) led 14-0 after a quarter and was up 35-7 before Streamwood (0-4, 0-1) got on the board in a quick, smartly executed 70-yard touchdown drive. Sabres quarterback Mason Polich completed 5 consecutive passes in only 1:16 of play, hitting Cody Jayko on a 24-yard fly for the score.
That's the type of thing Polich thinks the Sabres can do regularly.
“I've got to give that team credit, they did a good job,” the senior said of Batavia. “But when we're all together, we're family, we're a unit, we know what we've got to do and we don't make mistakes, we came down and we marched it downfield and we scored. Everyone saw that. That was quick and easy, and that was against their starters. We might get beat like this, but every day we play a tough team you can tell — every time we're scoring fast and we're moving fast — we're getting better every day.”
The Sabres scored the last touchdown of the day on a 7-yard pass from backup quarterback Max Draper to Kevin Drwal, who led all players with 7 receptions for 86 yards.
Other than that it was all Batavia on the scoreboard and on the line. Whether it was Max Heidgen, Noah Cotten, Pat Gamble, Jack Breshears and their pals on the offensive line or on defense with Josh Leonhard and Ryan Minniti — who had 2 sacks and recovered a fumble — Batavia won up front.
“We controlled the line of scrimmage on offense and on defense, and when you win that line of scrimmage consistently it's very, very hard for people to do anything against your football team,” said Bulldogs coach Dennis Piron.
After an initial three-and-out but hurting Streamwood with Tucker Knox's 45-yard punt to the Sabres' 1, Batavia scored on seven consecutive possessions to force a running clock the entire second half.
Coffey looked right and threw left to Jordan Zwart from 25 yards out. Scaccia's 46-yard run set up a 37-yard touchdown pass to Roarke Mullins, then Scaccia reeled off 4 touchdowns of his own, 2 apiece running and catching. The tailback finished with 132 yards on the ground.
The point disparity allowed Piron to empty the bench, with Blake Crowder and Patrick Ward adding touchdown runs. Howie Morgano made all 8 extra points to stretch his streak to 16 without a miss.
The key for Streamwood, coach Mark Orszula said, is positive mental attitude.
“The biggest thing we talk about is improving week to week,” the Sabres' first-year coach said. “We've had a tough draw the first couple games here, but as I tell our kids we've got to believe. We've got to believe we can compete against everybody and I think they started to show it toward the end, they showed it at the beginning and we've just got to get them to do it all four quarters.”