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Batavia maintains bragging rights

Rumors of Batavia's demise turned out to be greatly exaggerated.

OK, so maybe nobody was predicting gloom and doom, but there was a certain expectation after graduating much of the Bulldogs' 2013 state championship team that 2014 could be the year for Geneva with all the playmakers in its senior class to unseat Batavia as the class of the Upstate Eight Conference River Division.

Instead Batavia turned in the defensive effort of the season Friday, forcing six turnovers, scoring a pair of defensive touchdowns and beating Geneva 26-20 Friday to clinch its fourth straight conference crown.

Batavia (6-1, 5-0) can put the finishing touches on another undefeated River record Friday against Streamwood while Geneva (6-1, 4-1) will try to take out its frustration on winless Larkin.

"These boys were the ones that were supposed to fall back to the pack with the guys graduating," Batavia coach Dennis Piron said. "You heard all the things. I guess we worked hard and we did OK and what a great night, what a great game. Very exciting."

It certainly was one of the more memorable matchups, one of the rare ones lately with the outcome riding on the final drive. The 6-point margin was the closest in the series since Geneva's 14-12 victory in 2007 and one of only four in the past 18 decided by 6 points or less.

Given the haves and have-nots that make up the UEC River landscape, it was a game that was easy for Batavia to circle on its calendar and focus all its attention on.

The Bulldogs put in plenty of work on their pass coverage schemes. They made sure they knew where Pace Temple was at all times and didn't allow Geneva quarterback Daniel Santacaterina any extra time to try to find Temple or his other targets.

"I knew we would apply great pressure," Piron said. "We have worked very hard all year on some schemes and things that we have planned for tonight, guys jumping routes and getting under things they did. An outstanding job of preparation and putting a game plan together by all of our coaches."

Josh Leonhard supplied much of that pressure. He finished with 7 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 3 hurries, 2 pass breakups and 1 forced fumble.

Leonhard also stepped in front of a screen pass in the fourth quarter, making an athletic play for the interception and then returning it 45 yards for a touchdown that turned out to be the difference in the final score.

"He (Santacaterina) is a great quarterback, he's going to NIU, we focused on double-teaming Pace and working on coverage the past two weeks and how we are going to beat this pass because they have a great pass," Leonhard said. "We talked about how we had to contain them in the pocket and put the pressure on him because he will throw it up and we got the picks."

Eddie Golden had two of those five interceptions for Batavia, now with four straight victories in the series dating back to Geneva's 40-21 win in 2010.

The Bulldogs again rotated quarterbacks. Evan Acosta played the first series of both halves and finished 0 for 2 while Kyle Niemiec handled the rest of the game completing 7 of 13 passes for 66 yards - most of them to Canaan Coffey (5 catches, 56 yards).

Zach Garrett's 79 yards led Batavia's offense, but the story of the game was the Bulldogs' work on the other side of the ball.

"This is huge," said senior defensive back Nick Bernabei who set the tone with an interception return for a touchdown on the third play of the game.

"We all knew Geneva Week 8 was going to be the game. It's just surreal. We've beat Geneva every single class throughout our high school years.

"We knew he (Santacaterina) was a good quarterback so we had to do as much as we could to disguise our coverages, get under routes. We double covered him (Temple) and if we didn't double cover him we had someone with him. A lot of teams try double covering him and he just splits it. We had to try to go one over, one under."

Bouncing back: While disappointed Geneva coach Rob Wicinski didn't have any doubt Santacaterina and company will rebound.

"You can't beat good teams playing that way," Wicinski said. "That's the lesson learned. That stuff is fixable.

"Maybe some of them (interceptions) were rushed. I have to go see the film. They are a good team. They didn't want us to give us time (to throw) down the field. If we would have some time down the field maybe we could have connected on some of those passes."

Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.comWeek -8- Photos from the Geneva at Batavia football game on Friday, Oct. 17 in Batavia.
  Batavia's Josh Leonhard, left, and Jake Hlava bring down Geneva's Daniel Santacaterina Friday night in Batavia. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
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