Batavia 4-0 after routing Elgin
It didn't take Batavia long to take control. The Bulldogs led 21-0 less than 4 minutes into their Upstate Eight River matchup against Elgin Friday night.
Using all of the weapons at their disposal, the Bulldogs (4-0, 2-0), continued to pull away for a 55-8 win at Memorial Field in Elgin.
Two quarterbacks completed passes to five different receivers, and a total of 12 Bulldogs carried the ball. And except for one second-quarter drive, Batavia's defense shut down the Maroons.
Riley Cooper completed 5 of 7 passes for 128 yards and 3 scores, all in the first half. Five-foot-8 sophomore Art Taylor ran for 62 yards and a score, and Jeremiah Evers added 55 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Eight different players accounted for the Bulldogs' 8 touchdowns.
"What we like about our offense is we're diverse," said Batavia coach Dennis Piron. "We can run it or throw it. We have three or four kids that can take it to the house at running back, three or four guys that can burn you with the pass. We'll throw to everybody, and everybody can score and everybody can run."
Elgin, meanwhile, couldn't get out of its own way at times. The Maroons turned the ball over on 2 of their first 3 offensive plays, setting up some of those early Batavia scores, and coughed it up 4 times in all.
John Golden had 2 interceptions for the Bulldogs. His 32-yard return on the first one set Batavia up at the Elgin 10-yard line.
"Our defense has done a good job of that all year," Piron said. "They're ferocious, they fly around, and they're gonna make plays and make it very difficult for you to get first downs."
The Maroons had stressed ball security all week in practice.
"That was our whole thing all week," said Elgin coach Anthony Mason. "No turnovers. Take care of the ball, and make tackles. And then we come out with 2 turnovers within the first 4 minutes and that just kind of kills the morale. It just makes them look and play even better, because now we're kind of giving them the game, and they're a heck of a team."
The Maroons (1-3, 0-1), did put one nice drive together. They went 73 yards in 13 plays, capped by an 11-yard scoring strike from Trevon Morris to Xavier Bonds. The Maroons converted twice on fourth down during the drive, including the scoring play. Morris found Bonds again for the 2-point conversion.
Taylor's 1-yard run finished the Bulldogs' first possession. After Golden picked off a pass on Elgin's first play from scrimmage and returned it to the 10, it took the Bulldogs just 3 plays to score, with Cooper finding Jared Martin from 6 yards out.
Two plays later, a fumble recovery set Batavia up at the Elgin 27. Cooper immediately found Collin Richter all alone for the scoring strike.
After Elgin got on the board, Eric Peterson, Elijah Green and Reggie Phillips scored for Batavia before halftime.