Batavia shuts out WW South
Dominating on both sides of the ball, Batavia blanked Wheaton Warrenville South 35-0 in a DuKane Conference clash Friday night in Batavia.
While rolling up 401 yards on offense, Batavia limited Wheaton Warrenville South to 147 yards and never allowed the Tigers inside the red zone.
Senior running back Ryan Whitwell led the Bulldogs' attack, rushing for 159 yards on 26 carries and scoring four of the team's touchdowns.
"Overall, a great team effort. All phases were really awesome tonight, we had really consistent execution," said Batavia coach Dennis Piron. "I like that we were able to balance the run and the pass throughout the game. And really good defense again."
"Our lineman just absolutely dominated up front," Whitwell said. "When you are physically dominate like that, you are hard to stop."
The Bulldogs scored their first TD on Batavia's second drive of the game. Starting at their own 1-yard line, the Bulldogs needed 16 plays to cross the field, scoring on Whitwell's 3-yard run at the 5:36 mark of the second quarter.
Batavia (4-2, 3-1) increased its lead 14-0 on the Bulldogs' next possession. Again, Whitwell crossed the goal line on a 3-yard run with 1:07 left in the half.
Three of Wheaton Warrenville South's four first half possessions were sustained drives but stalled out at midfield. Batavia's defense limited the Tigers to 95 total yards in the first half, 26 on the ground and 69 in the air.
The Bulldogs widened their lead to 21-0 at the 6:44 mark of the third quarter. Quarterback Ryan Boe (12 of 15 for 172 yards) connected with Charlie Whelpley for a 20-yard TD pass.
Earlier in the drive, Whelpley kept it alive. Facing 4th-and-3 on their own 34-yard line, Batavia lined up for a punt. Whelpley took the snap but instead of kicking the ball, he ran six yards for a first down.
Whelpley caught four Boe passes for 56 yards.
WW South (2-4, 1-3) came up short twice in the third quarter. Tigers quarterback Luca Carbonaro connected with Matthew Crider for a 77-yard touchdown that was nullified by a penalty.
Carbonaro, a sophomore, completed 14 of 22 passes for 121 yards. Braylen Meredith caught five of the passes for 54 yards while teammate Colin Moore snared five for 49 yards.
On the team's next possession, Carbonaro's pass from the Bulldogs' 30-yard line was intercepted in the end zone by Batavia's Drake Ostrander.
Whitwell scored his third TD on 6-yard run at the 2:39 mark in the third quarter. The senior crossed the goal line for the fourth time on a 1-yard dive with 3:24 left in the game.
Whitwell gave all the credit to his offensive line for his 4 TD night.
"It wasn't hard with good blocking," the senior said. "The holes were wide open."