Batavia meets West Chicago's challenge
Behind the steady right arm of junior quarterback Noel Gaspari, Batavia scored 3 touchdowns in the second half and beat West Chicago 28-21 in its home opener on Friday night.
Gaspari completed 10-of-16 passes for 111 yards in the second half as the Bulldogs displayed a potent mix of a passing game and a five-headed rushing attack that caused problems for a West Chicago defense that didn't allow a touchdown last week until the second overtime.
"I was very pleased with what (we) did offensively for the most part," Batavia coach Mike Gaspari said. "It took us awhile to get clicking but our quarterback did some audibling and that seemed to quicken us on all cylinders, and of course, it never works without the offensive line. Those guys did an outstanding job against a pretty good defensive football team."
Batavia (1-1) was fortunate to take a 7-0 lead into halftime. West Chicago's Anthony Venen broke through the Batavia defense for a 75-yard yard to take the Wildcats down to the Batavia 5-yard line, but the drive ultimately stalled. The Bulldogs proved to be inspired by their defense thought as they only needed three plays on their ensuing possession to find the end zone. Gaspari started the drive with a 36-yard pass to David Peskind, Austin Lindquist followed with a 21-yard run and Gaspari put the team on the board with a 23-yard scamper with 4:01 left in the second quarter.
West Chicago (1-1) got its offense clicking, at least on two occasions in the second half, thanks to Bradley Wilson (11 carries, 132 yards). The senior scored on a 43-yard run to get the Wildcats on the board to open the third quarter, and after Batavia pulled ahead 14-7 on a Lindquist 2-yard run, Wilson again made Batavia pay, this time with a 65-yard score. The Wildcats were successful on their 2-point conversion after failing on their first PAT to knot it at 14-14.
"Those two plays were unfortunate because it kept them in the game," Gaspari said. "And that's just kind of where we've been as a program these last couple years. It's been a struggle and you have ups and downs."
The passing game put the Bulldogs ahead for good. Gaspari connected with Peskind on a 10-yard touchdown pass with 10:44 left in the fourth quarter to make it a 21-14 contest. Later in the quarter, Gaspari completed 13-, 16- and 19-yard passes to Joe Sortino to set up Ben Fornek for a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 28-14 with 3:04 remaining.
"I don't fault the heart and the effort, none of that stuff," West Chicago coach Paul Reinke said. "We missed some opportunities in the first half and in the second half we had some defensive breakdowns, some coverage issues and missed tackles in certain areas."
West Chicago made things interesting in the final few minutes when quarterback Josh Stein and wide receiver Scott Strachota connected on a 35-yard touchdown pass with 2:13 remaining. The Wildcats were unable to recover their ensuing onside kick and didn't gain possession again until the final 21 seconds at their own 4-yard line.