Batavia starts fast, then has to hold off St. Charles North
With a conference showdown and bitter rivalry looming next week against Geneva, Batavia decided to open this game with some fireworks.
On the very first play, quarterback Michael Vander Luitgaren threw deep and found Brennon Zeng for a 58-yard touchdown. Then the Bulldogs went right back on offense after recovering their own onside kick.
Batavia eventually sprinted to a 36-0 lead in the second quarter, at which point, St. Charles North put together the scrappiest performance you'll ever see by a team about to be hit with a running clock.
North Stars quarterback Landon Conroy dodged rushers, revved up his arm and brought SCN within 14 points early in the fourth quarter, before Batavia held on for the 55-35 victory on Friday.
“We always want to start fast and physical, and get up on teams,” said Darin Ashiru, Batavia's star receiver and defensive back. “But I think this being homecoming against our rivals, this really meant something, so we want to come out and make a statement.”
On one side, Vander Luitgaren was insanely efficient, completing 15 of 17 passes for 309 and 5 touchdowns. He also ran for 99 yards on 8 attempts.
Conroy countered by completing 25 of 42 passes for 346 yards. When Tommy Vendl broke loose down the visiting sideline for a 47-yard touchdown run, St. Charles North was within 49-35 with 10:37 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Batavia running back Liam Moran had the final answer, though, completing a 62-yard scoring drive on just two running plays to finally put things out of reach.
Five of Batavia's scoring drives lasted one or two plays.
“They can execute and they can score points very, very quickly, sometimes too quickly,” Batavia coach Dennis Piron said. “We wanted to slow things down a little bit. That was the weird part about it, the defense had to keep going on the field because we had one-play drives. So that was a little bit nutty. Sometimes games get weird.”
There were also several crazy receiving games. Ashiru finished with 9 receptions for 187 yards and 3 touchdowns. For St. Charles North Jaden Tran had 8 catches for 111 yards, while Jack Leigl added 8 for 101. Vendl rang up 125 yards on the ground.
St. Charles North (2-3) has been shuffling two quarterbacks this season. Coach Rob Pomazak said he mostly stuck with Conroy in this game just based on performance.
“We're not counting reps,” Pomazak said. “Whoever's gonna give us the best opportunity to win. And there was no reason to take the ball out of Landon's hands, because I think he probably threw for 400 yards. He had the game of his life, and he deserves that, because he's a great kid, and he works his rear end off.”
In the first half, Vander Luitgaren went 12 of 13 through the air for 204 yards and 3 touchdowns, and the lone incomplete pass happened on the final play when he tried to kill the clock.
Zeng added a 23-yard TD catch, Ashiru had a 13-yarder and the Bulldogs got a safety when the punter stepped on the end line, making it 36-6 at halftime.