Batavia wins semifinal

GENEVA – Anybody wondering if Batavia’s football team could march into Geneva and win twice in a season got a resounding answer Saturday.

The Bulldogs hung a 28-0 shutout on Geneva in the Class 6A state semifinals to advance to the state title game against Normal at the University of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium next Saturday at 10 a.m.

It will be the first time Batavia, which extended its school record for wins to 12, has ever played for a state title.

“A lot of people were doubting that we could do it twice,” Batavia senior Alex Warner said. “But by the 28-0 score on that scoreboard, I think we proved everyone that thought that wrong. I’m not surprised at all.”

Warner’s big plays had a lot to do with the win. Already up 6-0 late in the second quarter, Batavia advanced 80 yards in 10 plays after a missed Geneva field goal. Warner capped the drive by catching a 27-yard touchdown pass from Alex Schroeder on a fade route to make it 12-0 at the half.

Then Warner took the second-half kickoff 65 yards to set up Brandon Holl’s 19-yard touchdown romp two plays later, giving the Bulldogs (12-1) a 20-0 lead with 10:57 left in the third quarter.

“They say three or four plays a game really decide it, and those two were big,” Geneva coach Rob Wicinski said.

Falling behind by so much forced Geneva (11-2) into passing mode. The Bulldogs’ defense harassed Geneva quarterback Shaun Ratay throughout. He completed only 12-of-40 passes, threw two interceptions and was sacked twice by Kevin McFarland.

Geneva was dominant for much of the first quarter, but was unable to score. Batavia held the ball for less than three minutes in the quarter, but the Vikings turned the ball over on downs and Ratay threw his first interception in the quarter, squashing two long drives.

Ratay’s second interception with 10:12 left in the second quarter led to Schroeder’s 19-yard touchdown run that got Batavia on the board.

“To walk away from that first quarter not getting points, that was a real downer,” Wicinski said.

Despite the fact that a trip to the state title game was on the line, the night still had the familiar trappings of  a Batavia/Geneva game. A soldout crowd crammed into Burgess Field, with the yellow and red-clad Bulldogs fans accounting for most of the noise.

The win by Batavia gives the Bulldogs a 42-41-5 lead in the all-time series and wins in 11 of the last 12 matchups, including its 24-6 Week 9 win.

“Nobody’s given us credit over the past 15, 20 years,” said an uncharacteristically demonstrative Batavia coach Mike Gaspari. “Look at the scores. Nobody’s looking at that. All you have to do is look in the past. It kind of tells you where we’re at as a program, how important this game is to us, regardless of what’s at stake.

“This has always been an important game to our program. Always has been, always will be.”

Batavia and Geneva shared the Western Sun Conference regular season title with Kaneland, which dropped its Class 5A semifinal matchup Saturday.

Now the Bulldogs’ focus turns to Normal, a 28-14 winner over Oak Forest Saturday. The Ironmen are a perennial power that finished second in Class 6A last season.

“We’ve got one more game,” McFarland said. “We’re just going to bring home the state title, that’s all I have to say. We’re going to bring it home.”