Plainfield East comes up empty against Batavia
By Chris Walker For Sun-Times Media September 1, 2012 1:50AM
Updated: October 3, 2012 6:27AM
Batavia could have suffered a letdown during Friday’s home opener against Plainfield East. After all, the Bulldogs were coming off a thrilling upset of Glenbard North in Carol Stream and have longtime rival Geneva looming in Week 3.
The Bulldogs had to fight off a resilient group of Bengals, ultimately pulling away late for a 30-14 victory.
“It felt like based on the offensive stats that we should’ve been up more,” Batavia coach Dennis Piron said. “I don’t think the kids came out flat or anything. It was just an unusual game with how the scoring went, and we had a couple opportunities where we could’ve kept drives going but there were plays there that didn’t work for whatever reason.”
Anthony Scaccia was a one-man wrecking crew for the Bulldogs, collecting 176 rushing yards and 112 receiving yards. He rushed for a pair of touchdowns and his 12-yard touchdown reception midway through the third quarter gave Batavia some breathing room at 16-6.
Plainfield East (0-2) trailed 10-6 at halftime despite being held to just 44 total yards. Senior Aris Irizarry had an 85-yard kickoff return with 2:52 before the half for the Bengals.
Batavia (2-0) pulled ahead 23-6 in the third quarter on Scaccia’s touchdown reception and a 20-yard touchdown pass from Micah Coffey to Zach Strittmatter.
Plainfield East’s Cullen Rompa broke free for a 44-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. The Bengals converted a 2-point play to make it 23-14, but Batavia answered with a time-consuming 11-play drive that culminated in Scaccia’s 3-yard TD run.
“We lost a tough one last week and Batavia is a great team” Plainfield East coach Mike Romeli said. “Our guys didn’t give up. I was really proud of their effort.”
