Batavia Bulldogs’ gutsy call pays off against St. Charles North

ST. CHARLES – The St. Charles North football team was right there with Batavia midway through the second quarter, and in what seemed like the blink of an eye, that was not the case.

Batavia scored three touchdowns in a span of 2:20 seconds to break a tie and cruise to a 48-28 win over the North Stars in an Upstate Eight Conference River Division game.

In the middle of that touchdown barrage, Batavia (5-0, 3-0 UEC River) coach Dennis Piron made a bold choice that more than paid off. After taking a 28-14 lead, Piron decided to call an onside kick from freshman kicker Jack Carlson, which the Bulldogs recovered.

A few plays later, quarterback Kyle Niemiec ran in a score from five yards out for a three-score lead.

“It’s not the first time we’ve tried that,” Piron said, referring to the onside kick recovery in Week 1 at Oswego. “[Carlson] is really, really good at them. He’s a freshman and has no fear. So when he’s that good at them, it’s really not a hard decision to make that call. The defense felt confident if we didn’t get it and we had the momentum… you could feel it, so I said, ‘Why not?’ “

Niemiec’s run was one of four total touchdowns the senior signal-caller contributed to Friday night. He threw for two, one each to Nick Stuttle and John Fitch, as well as running in two himself.

He completed 13 of 23 passes for 165 passing yards, while rushing for 53 yards. Fellow senior Zach Garrett added two scores of his own on the ground, while totaling 188 yards on 32 carries.

Just before the onside kick, while North (3-2, 0-2) was trying to answer a 22-yard score by Niemiec, quarterback Zach Mettetal fumbled the ensuing snap, which was scooped up by Batavia linebacker Zach Majka for a 9-yard score.

“Our defense is fearless,” Majka said. “It’s all about working together and having confidence in each other. I know if I don’t make a play, the guy behind me will. To do the onside kick right after, too, is was such a big play for us.”

“The onside kick and the fumble, those are big time momentum plays,” Niemiec said. “You could kind of see it starting to shift and after that, we really cruised from there.”

What looked like a promising start for the North Stars and coach Rob Pomazak – North actually jumped on the board first on a connection from Mettetal to Griffin Hammer – quickly showed the difference between the two teams.

Pomazak credited Piron’s call on the onside kick choice and knows that great football teams take advantage of those opportunities.

“Those are the kind of things that separate good teams and great teams,” Pomazak said. “They are an excellent football team and they showed that they are much better than us tonight. I still feel like we’re in a good position. The conference championship may be out of reach, but we focus on the playoffs and continuing to get better until that point.”

Batavia improved its UEC River win streak to 28 straight games, as Piron continues to remain unbeaten in conference play as Batavia head coach.

As much as the offense shined for Batavia, with Niemiec’s four and Garrett’s two touchdowns, the defense caused problems for Mettetal all night. Aside from hooking up with his brother, Tyler, on a 21-yard score, and the early score to Hammer, the junior quarterback had trouble getting in a rhythm for most of the night.

“When we’re at our best, we pressure quarterbacks,” Piron said. “I’ve said this a few times. … We’re pretty good this year. That pressure makes it difficult to score points on us. [North] made some plays here and there, but that pressure resulted in turnovers and sacks. It’s huge for our defense to keep getting better and play the way they did tonight.”