High school football: St. Charles East takes control in conference with upset victory over Batavia

ST. CHARLES – The ultimate test awaited.

Was the St. Charles East football team the real deal? The unbeaten Saints got the chance to prove they were as visiting Batavia entered Norris Stadium Friday night with a 34-game Upstate Eight River winning streak.

Zach Mitchell connected with Clayton Isbell on fourth down for a game-tying score with seven minutes remaining that brought on an offensive outburst as the Saints knocked off Batavia, 28-7, to take full control of the UER.

Trailing 7-0 at halftime – on a 53-yard hookup from Riley Cooper to Colin Cheaney just before the break – East couldn't have been disappointed with the first 24 minutes, but knew there was much room for improvement.

"I just think we expected more from ourselves," Mitchell said of the first half. "We almost did the same thing as last week [against St. Charles North[, but tonight it seemed like we couldn't pick it up [in the first half]. We came into the room at halftime, coach [Bryce Farquhar] told us what he thought and we responded."

Two redemption-type plays stuck out for East (5-0, 3-0 UER) to help snag to momentum back form a Batavia team that had not lost a conference game since this year's senior class was in seventh grade.

First, defensive back Matt Bertke thought he had initially let his Saints team down. Having gotten beaten on Cheaney's long touchdown for the game's opening score after a sound defensive half by both teams, the senior was greeted by teammates and coaches to respond.

After a fumble gave the ball right back to the Bulldogs (4-1, 2-1), Bertke came right back to intercept Cooper, but the Batavia junior quarterback tripped him up on a return that Bertke joked he wanted to "take all the way."

Though East trailed 7-0 at the break – being out-gained 183-78 in total yards – it thought there was a chance the game should have been even after a deep ball from Mitchell to Isbell was ruled incomplete in the end zone.

Fortunately for Isbell, and his senior quarterback Mitchell, the two hooked up on a play that proved the be the game's turning point.

"I thought I caught it, but the officials thought differently," Isbell said. "I just wanted to help make an impact in any way I could. I knew after halftime that our team was motivated and had the right mindset. Zach [Mitchell] put the ball right where it needed to be."

Still trailing with seven minutes left and facing a fourth-and-goal from the Bulldogs' four-yard-line, Farquhar called a timeout. The timeout was certainly not to discuss whether to go for it, but rather be on the same page with Mitchell.

A route that both Mitchell and Isbell have stayed after practice to work on was drawn up, as the quick slant worked to perfection for the game-tying score.

Little did Batavia know, a Yalon Rogers interception and two Justin Jett touchdowns later, it faced a two-score deficit less than three minutes after Isbell's touchdown.

Mitchell finished the game with 100 yards rushing on 14 carries and a 31-yard score that sealed the Saints' victory with just under two minutes to go to cap 28 unanswered points by East. Jett added 92 yards on the ground to along with his scores.

Batavia head coach Dennis Piron made no excuses, crediting East's mentality throughout Friday night's contest and an ability to gain and sustain momentum.

"When you have opportunities and you don't take advantage of them early in the game, you could pay the price later on and I think we did," Piron said. "[East] had a really good game plan against us. They did as good a job defensively against us as anyone has done in a number of years. You could feel the momentum slide in that fourth quarter and there was really no grabbing it back."

Cooper finished 11-for-23 for 141 yards, 93 of which went to Cheaney.

The three offensive turnovers were the first of their kind for Batavia this season, as East improved its turnover differential to plus-11.

As the final seconds ticked down on another victory – each of which sets a school record for wins to begin a season for East – Farquhar couldn't help but crack a smile in front of a rather hoarse voice.

His team overcame yet another deficit, this time against an opponent who lost its first game away from Batavia in Piron's five-plus-year tenure (29-1), and put itself in position for the school's first conference title since 2009.

"This is a special group of kids," the third-year head coach Farquhar said. "They want to be pushed, they want to achieve great things and they just didn't know how to do it. Tonight they did it. They're a focused group and able to respond to challenges. I'm really just so proud of them."

"We just wanted to come out and prove what we knew we could do all along," Mitchell said. "We knew that we were the best team in this conference and could come out and show it. This win really emphasizes that."

East now controls its own destiny in the UER race with remaining games at Larkin (Oct. 7), at Elgin (Oct. 14) and hosting Streamwood (Oct. 21). A visit from Bartlett awaits next week.

Batavia will look at regroup, hosting a Geneva team in Week 6 that is coming off of a 27-24 loss to Larkin.

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BOX SCORE

ST. CHARLES EAST 28, BATAVIA 7

Batavia 0 7 0 0 – 7

St. Charles East 0 0 0 28 – 28

HOW THEY SCORED​

Second quarter

BAT – Cheaney 53 pass from Cooper (Heinz kick), 1:24.

Fourth quarter

STCE – Isbell 4 pass from Mitchell (Burns kick), 7:00.

STCE – Jett 31 run (Burns kick), 5:00.

STCE – Jett 9 run (Burns kick), 4:11.

STCE – Mitchell 31 run (Burns kick), 1:56.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Batavia – Phillips 15-75, Weerts 7-23, Anderson 7-21, Huizinga 1-5, Cooper 3-minus-7. St. Charles East – Mitchell 14-100, Jett 15-92, Galante 2-9, Garlisch 10-6.

PASSING: Batavia – Cooper 11-23, 141 yards. St. Charles East – Mitchell 5-12, 59.

RECEIVING: Batavia – Cheaney 4-96, Anderson 2-18, Stuttle 3-17, Albanese 1-6, Huizinga 1-4. St. Charles East – Macaluso 2-38, Galante 2-17, Isbell 1-4.

TOTAL TEAM YARDS: Batavia 258, St. Charles East 266.

Sophomore score: Batavia 35, St. Charles East 21.