Rochelle 36, Batavia 31
It took three and a half games, but Batavia's offense gave its fans exactly what it expected -- a high-powered, explosive unit capable of putting up 31 points in a half against a top-flight opponent.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, it didn't come until they were in a 3-touchdown hole Friday night in Rochelle. Batavia's fourth-quarter fireworks weren't enough to prevent a 36-31 Western Sun Conference loss.
The Hubs ran for 235 of their 375 yards in the first half to take a 24-0 halftime lead. Rochelle still lead 36-16 with just four minutes left in the game, but two Jordan Coffey touchdown passes and a recovered onside kick by Jake Landreth with 13 seconds left gave the Bulldogs a chance at a miracle comeback.
Batavia only had time for two plays, and Rochelle's fifth interception of the game on the final play sealed a win that looked all night like it would be much easier.
"Obviously coming into the season that's the type of performance we've been looking forward to," Batavia coach Mike Gaspari said of Coffey and his offense. "We started executing offensively and we haven't done that all year. Jordan Coffey played the way the way I had been anticipating him playing all year.
"The negative is the way we played the first half. Our lack of passion, our lack of execution, both really hurt us in the first half. It was about as poor a first half of football as we've played in many years here."
Rochelle (4-0, 2-0), ranked No. 5 in Class 5A, dominated from the opening possession. The Hubs drove 74 yards on 9 plays to score on Rosendo Garcia's 9-yard run.
The Hubs controlled the ball for 17:08 of the first half. The lead could have been more but Will Thrun stuffed Rochelle on fourth and 1 deep in Batavia territory when the Hubs looked like they were about to go ahead 32-0.
Batavia (2-2, 1-1) had all kinds of trouble with the quarterback-center exchange, both with starter Jack Creed and when Coffey entered in the second quarter. The Bulldogs fumbled 5 times, losing 1, and taking them out of any rhythm.
"I don't have any answer for that," Gaspari said. "I was very embarrassed about that and I think the kids are too. Fortunately we got that straightened out."
Batavia's offense certainly got on track in the second half. Coffey had his best game of the season, completing 19 of 44 passes for 283 yards, 3 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.
"I feel I cost my team the first game (against St. Charles East)," Coffey said. "I played very poor. Tonight was a monkey off my back. It was three monkeys off my back. After I got the first touchdown pass, 'Let's just go. Let's just have fun and see what we can do.' "
Coffey threw touchdown passes of 25 yards to Erich Zeddies, 11 yards to Ian Wallis and 42 yards to Ryan Webb, who broke two tackles to score.
All three scores came in the final 4:39. After the first one, Batavia tried on onside kick, but Rochelle's Ben Schwartz recovered it and returned it for a touchdown.
The Bulldogs again didn't quit, scoring 2 more times and giving themselves a chance to win on the final play.
"They obviously have a great program, their kids have a lot of pride," Rochelle coach Kevin Crandall said. "Their kids are going to play hard until the end."