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Bowman, Batavia pick off St. Charles North

Batavia cornerback Brett Bowman called it a “dream game.”

His opinion was not unanimous.

“It was just a rough one tonight,” said Bulldogs quarterback Kyle Niemiec.

Batavia, getting 3 Bowman interceptions and a game-clinching 46-yard Jake Hlava touchdown run with just over four minutes left to play, held off St. Charles Norths' tough-minded defense in a 21-7 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory Friday in Batavia.

“They had an incredible game plan and executed very well and we had to work for every single thing we got,” said Bulldogs coach Dennis Piron after Batavia (4-1, 3-0) won its 22nd straight River Division game.

“It was really in a lot of ways very satisfying to be involved with as a coach but I know our players are always disappointed if you don't destroy everybody.”

St. Charles North coach Rob Pomazak, his North Stars falling to 3-2 and 1-2 in the division, doesn't want to destroy anybody. But her certainly wants to win and not just compete.

“The kids worked their tails off, I thought they did a nice job. Nothing to hang their heads about but it's still not a win. So, good but not good enough,” he said.

Almost amazingly given Batavia's offensive prowess, St. Charles North defenders such as Jordan Bergren, Jack Callaghan and Carson Schmitt held Batavia without a first down in its first four series.

The North Stars got on the board first when quarterback Nathan Didier ‘s 35-yard pass play to Blake Kastein set up another pass, a 16-yard screen to Kyle Novotney on the last play of the first quarter.

Urgency appeared on Batavia's side as the Bulldogs marched 80 yards downfield to answer.

“We had to get something going,” Niemiec said. “I mean, our defense couldn't do everything, and we had to get something going.”

Team defense by Bergren, Schmitt, Dalton Young and Nick Koenig twice stopped Batavia runs from the 1-yard line, but on fourth down quarterback Niemiec faked a handoff to Noah Frazier and instead threw to wide-open tight end Glenn Albanese for the touchdown at 5:27 of the second quarter.

“We just wanted to get past that play and focus on stopping them on the next drive and kind of forget about that,” Schmitt said.

Batavia's next score was hard to forget. Courtesy of an interception by St. Charles North's Zach Woeste the North Stars had the ball well into Batavia territory but five plays later Bowman made his second interception.

A 38-yard run by Zach Garrett got the ball deep into St. Charles North territory, and Batavia scored on Niemiec's 5-yard pass to a diving Canaan Coffey 29 seconds before halftime. Howie Morgano converted the kick for a 14-7 Bulldogs lead.

“At the end of the half for us to go in with that score, you really look at that touchdown there, gigantic, gigantic in terms of how the game itself played out,” Piron said.

Pomazak thought so, too.

“You've got to protect the football with 1:50 left,” he said. “We have to be able to understand the situation and we have to protect the ball and we certainly can't let them gain 40 yards on the next play.”

The second half was a little looser than the first but still neither team could score until Hlava broke his 46-yard touchdown run with 4:11 left. St. Charles North, getting a strong game by Didier despite the interceptions, led the North Stars 59-yard downfield to the Batavia 20, where Bowman decided it with his third interception, in the end zone.

“They're a very good team,” Bowman said. “We heard a lot about them, they've got a really good defense and a solid offense so we knew it was going to be a fight all the way through. We realized we just had to step up our game.”

Images: Batavia vs. St. Charles North football

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