High school football: Batavia bounces back, tops Geneva in rivalry showdown

BATAVIA – Reggie Phillips said his team was not happy.

The Batavia senior running back and his teammates saw their long Upstate Eight River winning streak come to an end last week, but had a chance to bounce back as rival Geneva visited Friday night.

Phillips led a strong first half charge that proved to be enough as the Bulldogs got back on the winning track with a 21-7 victory.

"We were pumped for tonight and we were angry," said Phillips, who had 105 of his game-high 123 rushing yards in the first half. "We just wanted to get back on the field and destroy any team that came up against us."

The win was the sixth straight in the rivalry series for Batavia (5-1, 3-1 UER), making the all-time series score 51-42-5 in favor of the Vikings (2-4, 1-3).

Playing the first game of the 98-game rivalry series on its new turf field, the Bulldogs received the opening kickoff and wanted to make a statement right away.

They marched 72 yards in six plays, capped off by a 39-yard touchdown from Matt Huizinga – his first of two rushing scores on the night.

To keep that momentum going, the Bulldogs' defense forced a Geneva punt on the Vikings' first offensive possession, and capitalized once again. An 11-play, 80-yard drive was capped off by a two-yard rushing score by Ben Weerts – one of two quarterbacks that played for Batavia.

"Our lineman are just unstoppable," said Huizinga of the 205-yard rushing first half for his team. "Working with them and our other running backs is just a blessing. I love being out there on the field with them."

Huizinga, who finished the game with 84 yards on just six carries, put Batavia up 21-0 with an 11-yard touchdown with under four minutes left in the first half. Phillips set up the score with a 52-yard burst down to the 11.

"It was a tough week of practice with the guys being disappointed about what happened [against St. Charles East on Sept. 23]," Batavia coach Dennis Piron said. "It speaks well to our kids with what we are trying to accomplish. They work so hard and deserve a night like this. I'm really proud of the job our players and coaches did tonight to contribute to a good win."

There was a good and bad for Geneva after that Huizinga touchdown.

Had someone told Geneva coach Rob Wicinski that Batavia would put up no points from the 3:43 mark of the second quarter until the final buzzer, he would have taken it in a heartbeat.

However, the offense of the Vikings was unable to break through all night. Geneva running back Lance Arni was bottled up in the second half after picking up 100 total yards in the first half (52 on the ground).

It wasn't until senior linebacker Mason Branson's 18-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter that Geneva got on the scoreboard.

"We had opportunities," Wicinski said. "We had four possessions inside the [Batavia] 20-yard line and came away with no points. You aren't going to win too many games when that happens. It's internal. We have to make better decisions, take care of the ball and go from there."

One of those opportunities came after a pass from Kyle Evert to Arni went 48 yards deep into Geneva territory with time running down in the first half. However, the senior quarterback Evert was intercepted by Batavia's Luke Golson in the end zone with 13.3 seconds left in the half.

Branson's interception would be the last time a Vikings player would touch the ball, as Batavia's Jake Robinson, who also recorded a sack in the game, recovered the ensuing onside kick with 3:14 to go.

While Batavia looked as though there was a point it could have blown the game open early, it will certainly take the victory.

"We knew [Geneva] wasn't going to go away. It's a rivalry game," senior offensive lineman Evan Day said. "We made some mistakes in the second half that let Geneva stay in the game and those are things that we need to correct moving forward. We have had these hot and cold streaks and we need to try and get rid of those cold streaks."

The Bulldogs were able to run out the clock from there, as all of their 130 second-half yards came on the ground. Neither starting quarterback Riley Cooper nor Weerts completed a pass in the second half. Cooper (3-for-6 for 20 yards) did not attempt a pass, while Weerts had a fourth-down incompletion and Branson's interception.

Piron wasn't overly concerned with the passing attack of 20 yards, saying that he's seen progression from both players he has put under center.

"I feel like we're going in the right direction with that," he said. "We get things clicking and then for whatever reason, the execution isn't quite there. We sure have some weapons, but we need to find a way to deliver them the ball. Maybe we had a bit of a letdown, thinking it was going to be a blowout, but then clearly it's not. You just can't ever allow yourself to get or think that way."

The Bulldogs still stay in contention for a UER title with one loss and two games – against Larkin and St. Charles North – remaining. Batavia travels to South Elgin for a Saturday afternoon UEC crossover game on Oct. 8, while Geneva hosts Elgin on Oct. 7.

"That one loss isn't going to make or break our season," Day said. "A conference championship is one of our goals, sure, but a state championship is the ultimate goal and we still have our focus set on that."

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BOX SCORE

BATAVIA 21, GENEVA 7

Geneva 0 0 0 7 – 7

Batavia 14 7 0 0 – 21

HOW THEY SCORED

First quarter

BAT: Huizinga 39 run (kick failed), 9:45.

BAT: Weerts 2 run (Albanese pass from Cooper), 1:26.

Second quarter

BAT: Huizinga 11 run (Heinz kick), 3:43.

Fourth quarter

GEN: Branson 18 interception return (King kick), 3:16.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Geneva – Arni 20-64, Murray 5-56, K. Evert 4-7, Swanson 2-1. Totals: 31-128. Batavia – Phillips 18-123, Huizinga 6-84, Anderson 5-75, Weerts 11-72, Evers 1-5, Cooper 3-minus-18. Totals: 44-341.

PASSING: Geneva – K. Evert 8-19-1-108, Murray 4-6-0-38. Batavia – Cooper 3-6-0-20, Weerts 0-2-1-0.

RECEIVING: Geneva – Arni 2-48, Mansfield 5-44, M. Evert 1-25, Swanson 2-21, Temple 1-6, King 1-2. Batavia – Anderson 1-9, Albanese 1-8, T. Stuttle 1-3.

TOTAL TEAM YARDS: Geneva 274, Batavia 361

Sophomore score: Geneva 21, Batavia 20.