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Batavia blows out Granite City

Batavia senior quarterback Jack Meyers realizes he is blessed to have so many weapons at his disposal on the offensive side of the ball.

The Bulldogs signal caller certainly knows how to utilize all his artillery.

Completing 11-of-14 passes for 132 yards with an interception and 3 touchdowns, Meyers' effort propelled the defending Class 7A state champs and fourth-seeded Bulldogs to an easy 49-0 win over 29th seeded Granite City in first round action of the Class 7A playoffs.

The Bulldogs (10-0) will play the winner of Saturday's Moline-Glenbrook North game next week in the second round.

"We have so many weapons that we can take what the defense gives us," said Meyers. "We have a lot of different players in the run and pass game who can make the big play. We have a whole different group of guys that played key roles. We feel the pressure a little bit being defending state champs. But, our motto is one more week. The new DuKane Conference really prepared us for the playoffs. There were no cupcakes in the conference."

Spreading the ball to five different receivers, Meyers tossed two touchdowns passes of 25 and 5 yards to Zach Weber and a 5-yard scoring pass to Nick Rempert. Weber caught 4 passes for 46 yards and Ethan Neibch, who scored on a 4-yard run off the jet sweep, grabbed 3 passes for 34 yards.

While excelling in the air, the Bulldogs amassed 334 yards on the ground. Junior running back Art Taylor led the rushing attack for Batavia with 102 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown run of 12 yards.

Trey and Quinn Urweiler each ran for 70 yards with Quinn Urweiler breaking through the line for a 67-yard touchdown run.

The Batavia defense held Granite City (5-5) to 135 yards and 20 yards passing for 155 total yards. Granite City only converted 6 first downs.

"It was a total team effort and I like everything we did in all phases of the game," said Batavia coach Dennis Piron. "There was a little bit of feeling out process in the first half. I am very proud of this team."

Granite City's junior quarterback Freddy Edwards ran 6 times for 108 yards including runs of 39 and 28 yards.

Pressured all night by the Bulldogs defense, Edwards completed 6-of-14 passes for 19 yards.

Granite City coach Brad Hasquin was impressed with the Bulldogs.

"They are certainly one of the best teams we played this season," said the Granite City coach. "They gave us fits up front and they certainly have big play capability. We had some good drives going but we shot ourselves in the foot. We played like a young, inexperienced team."

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