Batavia football closing in on perfect regular season

ST. CHARLES – St. Charles North senior Shawn Collins drifted back into punt formation seven times in Friday’s first half against Batavia.

He kicked away four times, threw incomplete passes twice and watched a teammate plow into the Bulldogs’ line for no gain. Batavia jumped offside once, handing the North Stars a first down. After that would-be attempt, Collins exhaled.

North otherwise struggled to move the ball on the Upstate Eight Conference River Division football leaders, but its “nothing to lose” credo still showed in a 42-0 defeat.

“We knew going into the game at some point we were going to fake a punt. Obviously, we kind of wished that would have worked,” Collins said. “You’ve got to keep trying. We’ve got to get the ball to our offense.”

Batavia clinched the program’s first 8-0 start and moved to 5-0 in the conference behind dominant efficiency on both sides of the ball.

The Bulldogs visited the end zone on each of their first five drives, traveling 249 yards in an aggregate 6:09. Senior fullback Dom Guzaldo scored on runs of 12 and 34 yards in that span, while grabbing a 12-yard touchdown pass from classmate Noel Gaspari.

As the rout commenced, much of the suspense hinged on when the Bulldogs would trigger the running clock. The answer: with 5:09 to play in the third quarter, two possessions after their initial hope.

Turns out it’s possible for a team with a 34.6-point average margin of victory to operate a two-minute drill. For Batavia, that entailed a hurry-up effort to score in the final 1:06 before intermission, already leading, 35-0.

“I wish we would have just ran the ball. I like running the ball a bit more than passing the ball,” Bulldogs right guard Brock Batka grinned. “It did feel like a two-minute offense, but that’s OK. We just want to get our second team on the field, get people reps.”

North’s Michael Schroeder snagged an interception in the end zone with 1.9 seconds to go in the half, marking Gaspari’s lone gaffe in 24 minutes of work. He finished 13-of-21 passing for 216 yards with touchdowns to Guzaldo and Zach Strittmatter.

Jon Gray’s eight receptions for 90 yards led the team. North (2-6, 2-3) largely rode Edlund, who carried 17 times for 56 yards.

After a brief victory chant and postgame huddle, Batavia entered into hurry-up mode again, eager to board the bus and revel in the win before closing the regular season against visiting Streamwood next week.

Batka admitted the Bulldogs sense the history they’ve already made but aim to “keep it on the down-low.” Players called their 46-34 win at Geneva in Week 6 the first inkling that 9-0 could be in the cards.

“After we beat Geneva, I was like, ‘Yup. That was the day,’ ” Gaspari said. “I figured if we could beat Bartlett and Geneva, there was no one who could stop us, really [in the regular season]. I’m looking forward to playing Streamwood. We’ve still got to prepare for them and everything.”

Batavia secured at least a tie for the conference title. Second-place Geneva, 4-1 in the league, visits South Elgin in a conference crossover this afternoon before traveling to Larkin in Week 9.

North enters its traditional season-ending showdown with St. Charles East still having won two of its past three. Several players remain from a 2010 team that fell to the sub-.500 Saints when a playoff berth was on the line.

Good or bad, there’s plenty of other history at stake.

“It’s your crosstown rival. It’s the biggest rivalry that we face,” Collins said. “I mean, I’ve played football with them in Tri-City [Chargers]. My best friend [Dean Bowen] is on that team. Especially after our season, if you can’t get excited for that game, then football really doesn’t motivate you.”

BATAVIA 42, ST. CHARLES NORTH 0 Batavia        21    14    7    0     –    42 St. Charles North    0    0    0    0    –    0 HOW THEY SCORED FIRST QUARTER B – Guzaldo 12 run (Clabough kick), 9:56 B – Guzaldo 34 run (Clabough kick), 6:05 B – Guzaldo 2 pass from Gaspari (Clabough kick), 2:52 SECOND QUARTER B – Lyons 2 run (Clabough kick), 9:32 B – Strittmatter 30 pass from Gaspari (Clabough kick), 7:50 THIRD QUARTER B – Lyons 1 run (Clabough kick), 5:09 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING – Batavia: Guzaldo 4-49, Thielk 5-35, Moore 10-25, Lindquist 3-20, Lyons 3-10, Gaspari 1-3. Totals: 26-142. St. Charles North: Edlund 17-56, Ohlrich 3-9,  Fischbach 3-(-2), Collins 1-(-13). Totals: 24-50. PASSING – Batavia: Gaspari 13-21-216-2-1, O’Kray 1-1-44-0-0. St. Charles North: Fischbach 7-18-40-0-0. RECEIVING – Batavia: Gray 8-90, Strittmatter 2-75, Lindquist 1-44, Gardner 1-28, Thielk 1-21, Guzaldo 1-2. St. Charles North: Donlevy 1-11, Hodges 1-11, Rizzi 1-9, Ohlrich 1-7, Kirby 1-4, Edlund 2-(-2).