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Batavia wins hard-fought game over Glenbard North

Quinn Urwiler was not about to leave the DuKane Conference football game for very long.

The two-way Batavia senior, a North Dakota recruit, returned two plays after gaining a critical first down.

Urwiler then had the final Batavia offensive play from scrimmage, a 9-yard rushing touchdown with three minutes and 34 seconds to play to give the Bulldogs their third lead of the game against Glenbard North.

The Panthers subsequently drove down for a potential game-tying field goal.

The 36-yard Glenbard North attempt appeared low from the start, and the Bulldogs' Sam Barus made sure it never reached its intended destination with a partial block to secure a 24-21 homecoming victory for the Bulldogs in Batavia Friday night.

"(The Glenbard North defender) came low and hit me in the knee," Urwiler said of his third-down conversion that moved the sticks to the Panthers' 18-yards line. "It's all good. It hurt really bad at first. Luckily I was able to reach out and get the touchdown."

In a game characterized by rapid lead changes and equally quick momentum changes, the Batavia defense withstood a Glenbard North drive to get the ball back after the Panthers had taken a 21-17 lead on a brilliantly executed 39-yard pass play from quarterback Michael Vazquez to Angelo Cosumano.

The score came one play after Vazquez hit Rory Hills in stride for a 41-yard gain.

"(Cosumano) just came open on that," said Vazquez, who also connected with Kobie Jameson from 20 yards out to tie the game early in the second quarter. "We knew what we had to do but just came up short."

The critical play in the Bulldogs' winning drive was Jack LaCasse hauling in a Kyle Oroni strike for 42 yards.

Batavia (3-1, 2-0) was flat offensively to begin the game, going three-and-out twice.

But feature back Art Taylor broke free for a 56-yard rush that Urwiler finished from a yard out on the next play to give Batavia a 7-0 first-quarter lead.

Glenbard North (1-3, 1-1) would not only score on the Vazquez-Jameson collaboration but also take a 14-7 lead into halftime when Jordan McQuarter broke the plane from a yard out as time expired in the second quarter.

Batavia then had a 10-point unanswered run of its own as Matt Weerts' fourth-down conversion and 5-yard reception from Oroni on back-to-back plays knotted the game for a second time.

"I got the ball and knew I just had to get across that line (on the 10-yard fourth down run)," Weerts said. "On the touchdown I just knew the ball was coming to me."

Jackson Williams' 36-yard field goal gave Batavia its second lead at 17-14.

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