Batavia makes easy work of Pekin
When Batavia quarterback Kyle Niemiec looked over the Pekin defense during Friday night's first-round Class 7A football playoff clash, he was pretty sure he had seen it before.
"We played against the same defense all week, so hats off to our scout team," Niemiec said. "When we got out here, it was like it was in practice all week."
That type of familiarity with Pekin's Cover 2 scheme seemingly put Batavia in remote control. The Bulldogs scored on their first snap from scrimmage, a 69-yard touchdown strike from Niemiec to wide receiver Canaan Coffey, and never looked back in a rousing 56-7 monster mash of the visiting Pekin Dragons.
Niemiec led Batavia to its first Class 7A playoff victory by completing 14 of 15 passes for 263 yards and 4 touchdowns - in one half of action.
Batavia (9-1) bolted to a 49-0 halftime lead, triggering a running clock during the second half.
It was still enough time for backup quarterback Ben Weerts to connect on 7 of 9 passes for 64 yards and a touchdown, a 15-yard third-quarter strike to Cole Stokke in the third quarter that closed the Bulldogs' scoring avalanche.
"The kids just had great preparation," Batavia coach Dennis Piron said. "Schematically, this is a smart group of players. They know how to attack and they know what they are looking for."
When you combine that type of football knowledge and mastery of the X's and O's with conditioning and strength, the players "know what they want and they go out and get it," Piron added.
It didn't take long for the Batavia defense to make things difficult for Pekin (5-5).
Junior signalcaller Mason Carr filled in for Nick Campbell, the Dragons' starting quarterback who was injured last week when Pekin nailed down its playoff berth in a 21-20 win over Limestone.
Batavia forced a quick three-and-out on Pekin's first possession, then answered with Niemiec's bomb to Coffey.
"That was a lot of fun because Kyle put the ball right on the money," said Coffey, who took the pass in full stride down the middle of the field. "We executed perfectly and we did everything we needed to do by coming out strong, which is a key we have been working on."
From that point on, it was a sea of Batavia red and yellow, as the Bulldogs had their own way the rest of the half.
Niemiec threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Glenn Albanese, a 22-yard scoring strike to Stokke, and another 11-yard scoring pitch to Coffey (7 catches, 146 yards, two touchdowns).
In between, Zach Garrett (11 carries, 83 yards) galloped for a 43-yard touchdown run, Brett Bowman scored on a 2-yard run, and Reggie Phillips raced in for a 14-yard score. Place-kicker Jack Carlson may have the busiest Bulldog of the night, knocking through 8 extra points in the game.
"The good thing about our offense is you can't key on one receiver, because the other guys are open and we spread the ball around to receivers and running backs," Niemiec said. "The defense was super today and set it up for us."
Batavia piled up 528 yards of total offense, with 327 coming in the passing game. Twelve different receivers had receptions in the game, as Weerts hit seven of those with his 7 completions.
"It was awesome," Weerts said of his chance to play the entire second half. "We put together a really nice drive and we were making the same plays (as the first string), so we just had to execute and have fun."
It wasn't any fun for Pekin, as an attacking Batavia defense held the Dragons to only 110 yards of total offense, with only 16 in the first half when the starters were on the field.
Carr finished with 9-of-19 passing for only 65 yards, but he did lead a 69-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter that he finished with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Henson.
Batavia advances to play the winner of the Simeon and Lincoln Park clash, pitting two teams with identical 7-2 records at noon Saturday.