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Batavia settles score with Oswego

Oswego broke Batavia's hearts on the final - untimed - play of the game a year ago, and the Panthers were in position to do it again Friday night in front of a standing-room-only crowd in Oswego.

Panthers quarterback Steven Frank threw the game-winning touchdown pass last season, and this year's game again ended with Frank heaving a ball toward the end zone.

Under heavy pressure from Batavia's 41-yard line, Frank's final pass was caught, but his receiver was out of bounds and a couple yards short of the end zone, preserving a wild 36-28 Bulldogs victory.

"Last year they came into our field and shocked us in the end and we were getting nervous," said Batavia senior running back Zach Garrett, who ran for 123 yards and 3 touchdowns. "There was a little déjà vu."

Garrett was one half of a balanced Batavia offense that was equally impressive with its ground game and quarterback Kyle Niemiec's accurate right arm. The Bulldogs totaled 477 yards without a turnover while capitalizing on a pair of Panthers mistakes.

Niemiec completed 21 of 34 passes for 317 yards and 2 second-half touchdowns. Canaan Coffey caught 9 of those passes for 117 yards and 2 touchdowns while Nick Stuttle (4 catches, 63 yards) and Cole Stokke (5-73) also made several key receptions.

And they did it all behind a brand new offensive line that opened holes and gave Niemiec time to throw.

"Last year's group deserved to win the game and this year's group deserved to win the game," Batavia coach Dennis Piron said. "It was a fantastic game. A lot of great things. I was proud of the way we controlled the line of scrimmage. Run game, all our receivers got involved. Kyle threw game-changing passes."

Batavia (1-0) tried to hit Oswego (0-1) with a pair of knockout punches and each time the Panthers fought back.

The first flurry came early in the second quarter when Batavia scored 3 touchdowns in 3 minutes, 23 seconds.

After a scoreless first quarter with a lot of short passes, Batavia got more aggressive and watched Niemiec throw long to Stuttle for a 39-yard gain. Garrett broke free moments later on an 11-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead with 10:38 left in the second.

The Panthers fumbled the kickoff, and Garrett scored from 20 yards out on the next play to make it 14-0.

Tyler Holl recovered an onside kick, Garrett quickly scored again and it was 20-0 with 7:15 left in the half. The Bulldogs led 20-7 at halftime.

"We got a huge momentum boost after that," Garrett said. "I have to give all the credit to the O-line. They stepped up big time."

Frank's 33-yard touchdown run trimmed Batavia's lead to 20-14 in the third quarter. Niemiec again had the answer, finding Stokke for a 54-yard gain on a 3rd-and-18 from their own 12, leading to the first of Coffey's 2 touchdowns grabs.

Batavia converted 10 of 16 third downs in the game.

Coffey's second touchdown reception in the back corner of the end zone while keeping a foot inbounds opened a 33-14 lead with 1:39 left in the third.

Again the Panthers came right back, scoring 14 straight points to pull within 33-28 with 7:54 remaining.

"It was the same exact feeling (as last year)," Niemiec said. "I told the offense we would be back on the field, remember what happened last year. You have to have the mentality that if something happens we have to be on the field and make some plays."

The offense did just that. Niemiec marched Batavia down the field, chewing up the clock and forcing Oswego to use all 3 timeouts on a drive that ended with freshman Jack Carlson's 25-yard field goal for a 36-28 lead with 1:43 remaining.

"Don't tell anybody he's a freshman," Piron said. "The upperclassmen love that kid. We were so worried about our kicking game the whole off-season and that kid is just happy go lucky. He's got the right personality. Very calm under pressure. Really proud of that kid."

Frank dug his team out of a 3rd-and-28 on the Panthers' final drive to momentarily keep hope alive. But they ran out of time, coming up short of a miracle finish a second straight year.

"It's momentum," Niemiec said. "Even last year was a game of momentum. This year the momentum was on our side finally."

Frank ran for 98 yards and threw for 145 more to lead Oswego. The Bulldogs held him to 12 of 26 passing, Brett Bowman intercepted a pass that set up a Batavia touchdown, and Miles Williams had a key sack on the last drive.

"We lost to a good team tonight but we also beat ourselves," Oswego coach Brian Cooney said. "You can't play a team like that and shoot yourself in the foot as much as we did. We gave away a lot of opportunities on all three sides."

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