Batavia’s running game, defense set pace for dominant 41-0 victory over Wheaton North

WHEATON — Whenever Batavia and Wheaton North face off under the lights, fans can expect a relatively close game, with five of the last contests being decided by fewer than 10 points.

Friday night’s game was a rare exception to that.

A combination of a lethal rushing offense that went for 259 yards and an iron-clad defense set the tone early to help the Bulldogs to an 41-0 victory over Wheaton North.

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The Bulldogs managed to limit the Falcons to just 31 yards of total offense in the game, including -5 yards on the ground. The victory is the Bulldogs’ first shutout win since the opening round of last season’s Class 7A playoffs, where the Bulldogs had a 46-0 win over Brother Rice.

Batavia head coach Dennis Piron says that most of the success has to do with the planning from defensive coordinator Matt Holm, who has a lot more time to be a football coach after retiring from teaching last year.

“It’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened since Mike Gaspari was an offensive coordinator all day when he retired,” Piron said. “The kids are in tune with them. They’re all on the same page, and when they get flying around, it’s just a beautiful thing.”

Leading the charge on the front line was defensive lineman Xavier Blanquel, who finished the game with 1.5 sacks and multiple pressures and tackles for loss.

“We were just playing hard every single play and just hustling,” Blanquel said. “That’s a big thing on our team. No matter who has the ball, our whole team is going to be there.”

On offense, Batavia (5-0, 3-0 DuKane Conference) was once again led Nathan Whitwell, who finished the game with 120 yards on 20 carries for two touchdowns. He’s managed to get over 100+ yards rushing and multiple touchdowns in all five games so far.

But unlike the first four games, the rushing game relied on more than just Whitwell for those yards. Greyson Kelly finished with 12 carries for 86 yards and a touchdown, while wide receiver Brett Berggren was used in a jet sweep package, where he got four rushes for 41 yards and a score of his own.

“Getting Berg involved in the run game was pretty devastating, especially with him getting like 10 yards a carry,” Piron said. “We got Greyson Kelly going a little bit, our fullbacks were doing a nice job. It was just a lot of good things tonight.”

Berggren also found himself on the receiving end of a touchdown early in the game. The junior took his lone catch from quarterback Bodi Anderson for 35 yards for the score.

“I just feel like my coaches really believed in me this week,” Berggren said. “They gave me the opportunity to succeed. But also, my O-Line was just amazing this week and Bodi just did his thing.”

Anderson finished the game 8-of-15 passing for 88 yards and two touchdowns, his other coming on a three-yard pass to Isaiah Brown, and one interception.

For Wheaton North (3-2, 1-2), head coach Joe Wardynski knows that after a lopsided loss like that, his players have no choice but to bounce back, especially with a rivalry game next week against Wheaton Warrenville South.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a game be that one sided,” Wardynski said. “We knew we had to have a really good game to stay with them, but things just snowballed for us. But it’s going to test the kids to bounce back next week, especially since they’re playing their crosstown rivals.”