Vander Luitgaren stays calm, leads Batavia to hard-fought win at Wheaton North
The basic rule for Batavia this season is that it goes as Michael Vander Luitgaren does. The Wyoming commit has proven that time and again.
The latest example came Friday at Wheaton North as Vander Luitgaren and the rest of the Bulldogs spoiled their DuKane Conference rival’s homecoming festivities with a 28-21 win at Rexilius Field that came down to the end.
“Just keep everyone calm, keep everyone collected,” Vander Luitgaren said. “No mistakes. Just kind of keep driving, like five yards a pop every play.”
That worked for the Bulldogs (5-2, 4-1), who had a time-consuming drive in the fourth quarter to break a 21-all tie. That happened when Charlie Rosengren picked up his second touchdown of the second half on a one-yard run with 1:44 remaining.
Starting at its own 48-yard line after a big kick return by Mikey Perrino, the Falcons (5-2, 3-2) had one final chance to stay alive. After Grant Neibch led the Falcons to first-and-goal at the 10, he threw three straight incompletions before Thomas Prescott, Vander Luitgaren’s future Wyoming teammate, sacked him on fourth down to seal the win.
“Moral victories are not what we’re looking for right now,” said Wheaton North coach Joe Wardynski. “But I am proud of the way that our kids battled against a good team tonight.”
Led by Vander Luitgaren, the Bulldogs scored on both of their first-quarter possessions. He capped the game’s first drive with his second fourth-down conversion, this one getting him into the end zone from a yard out.
Vander Luitgaren, who threw for 235 yards, showed leadership again on his second drive, and his first successful pass to Prescott resulted in a 16-yard touchdown.
The Falcons (5-2, 3-2) turned the ball over on downs twice in the second quarter. Both instances were painful, but the first one particularly stung as Mac Murray was stuffed at the goal line on back-to-back runs.
The second half was as ideal a start as possible for Wheaton North, as Neibch needed less than two minutes to hit Ryne Shroff for a 55-yard touchdown.
Over the next 89 seconds, Jay Doherty recovered a mishandled kick return deep in Batavia territory. Neibch then hit Shroff for another touchdown, this one from 20 yards out. Suddenly, the game was tied at 14.
After forcing a punt, Wheaton North took its first lead of the game when Neibch threw for his third touchdown in as many passes to Adam Schilling on a 54-yard play. Neibch finished with 197 yards passing.
Vander Luitgaren refuses to let the Falcons keep momentum though. Soon after completing consecutive passes of over 30 yards, he handed the ball off to Rosengren, who needed only two yards to score the touchdown to knot the game.
“Those boys have worked extremely hard since they were freshmen,” said Batavia coach Dennis Piron. “And to kind of come together, we know what they’re capable of doing, and we just have to be able to execute.”