Yunker's goal sends Batavia past Benet

Brandon Yunker was feeling very good on Wednesday night.

The Batavia senior midfielder had good reason to be feeling that way as he scored the go-ahead goal with 10:05 remaining to help the Bulldogs beat Benet, 3-1, in a Class 3A Bolingbrook sectional semifinal.

"It was great, it was definitely great," Yunker said. "I feel like I'm on top of the world."

Batavia (19-2-3) will face Naperville North at 1 p.m. Saturday with a sectional title on the line. The Bulldogs have not won a sectional championship since 1993.

Yunker netted the game-winner off a beautifully placed cross from sophomore Erik Faessler.

"(Kevin) Collins dummied it," Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. "He just let it go and Brandon followed and put it in."

It was a play that the Bulldogs have worked on in practice and executed perfectly with the game on the line.

"Eric had a great ball and he just sent it across like we work in practice all the time," Yunker said. "Kevin played a great dummy and froze the defenders and goalie, and the next thing I knew, I had it down on my foot and just touched it and finished it like I do all the time in practice."

Benet (15-5-2) broke the scoreless tie with 28:30 left in the first half when junior Daniel Morefield connected off a cross.

"I thought we played great tonight," Benet coach Sean Wesley said. "I thought that was the best energy and attitude we played with all year. I thought the first half was our half."

The Redwings were unable to hold their lead though as Batavia converted the equalizer with 9:10 left before the half on a corner kick as Ian Larson found Collins, who used a header to draw the teams even.

"I don't really know the words to express this game. It was a complete battle all the way through," Collins said. "Going into halftime 1-1, we knew the goal after that was going to change the game, so we wanted to make sure we didn't go down and made sure we got that goal right out of first time in that first 10 (minutes)."

That goal actually didn't come in the first 10 minutes but just about in the final 10 minutes. It also came without Benet all-state forward Kyle Kenagy on the field. Kenagy left midway through the second half with an injury and didn't return.

The Redwings replaced goalkeeper Konrad Bayer with Nick Senak in the final seven minutes and moved Bayer to forward looking for offense, but couldn't draw even.

The Bulldogs added an insurance goal with 2:47 left when Collins scored on a breakaway, which sealed the victory.