Batavia's upset bid falls short
It certainly wasn't for lack of effort.
Batavia gave Lemont all it could handle in Saturday evening's Class 6A playoff first round game, but the Bulldogs couldn't find the end zone in the second half, and ended their season with a 23-14 loss to the host Indians.
Batavia (5-5) went three and out on its final possession of the first half on a drive in which it began pinned on the 5-yard line. Lemont took over at the Batavia 33-yard line with 2:29 remaining and needed five plays for Mike Anzalone to take it in for a 2-yard touchdown with 17.4 seconds remaining.
The score would prove to be all that the Indians would need as they shut out the Bulldogs the rest of the way. “Our defense did a nice job and had a good game plan,” Lemont coach Eric Michaelsen said. “I don't think we were shutting them down, especially in the first half, but in the second half we didn't make as many mistakes.”
The Batavia defense did its part in the second half to keep the Bulldogs close. They forced punts on Lemont's first four drives before the Indians were able to take a knee on their final possession to run out the clock.
“We changed some things a little bit (in the second half) with secondary coverage because they threw the ball more than we anticipated,” Batavia coach Mike Gaspari said. “I thought we did a nice job of shutting down the run all night but early on they caught us on our heels a bit.”
The Bulldogs came up short on a fourth-down attempt on their first possession of the second half and fumbled the ball into a safety on their second possession. After that, neither team changed the digits on the scoreboard.
Lemont (10-0) struck first, taking eight plays on a game-opening drive that culminated on quarterback Mike Hall's 1-yard touchdown run.
Batavia bounced back on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Noel Gaspari to Joe Sortino.
The Indians briefly went ahead 14-7 when Hall connected with Lee Taylor for a 12-yard touchdown but the Bulldogs came right back, taking advantage of a misplayed punt, and knotting it at 14-14 on a 4-yard run by Emund Kabba.
“(Lemont) had some outstanding athletes and we were able to overcome some penalties and some other things but it was just a couple too many,” Gaspari said. “It's always tough for the kids to lose, whether it's the first game or the last, but I'm really proud of the hard work these kids put in to get back here.”