Batavia keeps its cool, gets back on track

Some high school football teams would have panicked after losing their season-opening game on the final play - an untimed play at that.

Batavia is not of one of them.

Six days after suffering a heartbreaking 40-38 home-field loss to Oswego on a 24-yard touchdown pass with no time remaining, Batavia headed to Carol Stream last Friday night to face Glenbard North.

Many teams would have buckled under the pressure against the 2-time defending DuPage Valley Conference champion Panthers.

Batavia is not of them.

Instead, the Bulldogs put together a well-rounded performance during their 23-12 nonconference victory over the Panthers (0-2).

Perhaps that is what happens when you return several starters from a team that captured the school's first state football championship.

Perhaps that is what happens when your program has compiled a 34-3 record over the past 3 seasons.

Panic?

Not a chance.

"There has always been a calmness in how our coaches approach things," said Bulldogs head coach Dennis Piron.

That is what happens when your offensive coordinator, Mike Gaspari, served as the head coach for 26 seasons and guided the Bulldogs to 14 state playoff appearances.

That is what happens when your longtime defensive coordinator, Matt Holm, and offensive coordinator (Gaspari) have 50-plus combined years of coaching experience.

"Mike (Gaspari), Matt (Holm) and everybody - there's not a lot of screaming going on - even last week," said Piron.

"We were disappointed but we also know that we're a good football team."

Senior defensive end/fullback Noah Frazier, who had a second-quarter touchdown run and added a sack and 2 pass deflections against Glenbard North, couldn't wait to get back on the field after the Week-1 loss to Oswego.

"It's hard to forget but we didn't dwell on it," said Frazier, who recorded a school-record 13 sacks last year as the Bulldogs won the Class 6A state title. "We moved on and focused on the next game."

The painful season-opening loss may have served as somewhat of a wake-up call for a program that hasn't suffered more than 1 defeat over an entire season since 2010.

"It was a motivator," said Frazier. "In the back of our minds, we can't let that happen again."

Batavia dominated the first half, grabbing a 14-0 halftime lead while limiting Glenbard North to just 38 yards of total offense.

The second half began inauspiciously as Glenbard North tailback Devion Hodges found an open lane through the middle of the Bulldogs' defense and broke to the outside on a 71-yard touchdown run that narrowed the gap to 14-6.

It wasn't exactly the way Batavia wanted to begin the third quarter.

But there was no cause for alarm.

"I don't think it scared us too much," said Frazier. "We knew it was just one mistake. Get it fixed, come back the next series and stick it to them."

On the Panthers' next offensive series, the Bulldogs did just that.

Linebackers Joseph Gross and Jake Hlava combined to sack Glenbard North quarterback Brett Gasiorowski for a safety on a 3rd-and-14 play from the Panthers' 9-yard line that extended the Bulldogs' lead to 16-6.

"The pursuit never stopped on that play," said Hlava, who finished with 2 ½ of the Bulldogs' 6 sacks. "We had three guys chasing him (Gasiorowski) all the way across the end zone until we got him."

A tough week of practice paid off for the Bulldogs, who open their Upstate Eight Conference River Division title defense at home Friday night against Larkin.

"We busted our butts all week in practice," said Hlava. "It was one of the worst feelings ever to come up short on the first week (of the season). We didn't want to come up short again."

"What I'm really proud of was the preparation all of these kids had and how they all stuck together," said Piron. "It was a victory that we really needed because it would have been tough to open conference play 0-2.

"Our kids know that we're zero seconds from being 2-0."

Offensively, quarterbacks Kyle Niemiec and Evan Acosta combined for 170 passing yards while tailback Zach Garrett gained 91 yards on 20 carries.

Niemiec, a junior right-hander who added 27 yards rushing on 3 carries, and Acosta, a senior southpaw, completed passes to 7 different receivers last weekend - Glenn Albanese, Peyton Piron, Canaan Coffey, Nick Stuttle, Blake Crowder, Jonathan Shubert and Frazier.

"We have such a good situation with those two quarterbacks," said Piron. "It's a nice dynamic that we have."

Batavia, which hasn't lost an Upstate Eight Conference River Division game since 2010 (38-28 to St. Charles North, appears ready to take on all challengers.

"Hopefully we'll be formidable and we'll get our offense more on track and keep moving it around," said Piron. "Defensively, we want to continue to build from this."

Thanks to last weekend's win, Batavia avoided its first 0-2 start since 2003.

Not that they would have panicked if that had happened.

Eleven years ago, Batavia recovered from the 0-2 start and captured the Suburban Prairie Conference North with a 5-0 record.

That is the sign of a good team.

You can reach Craig Brueske at csb4k@hotmail.com