A heartbreaker for Batavia in title game

CHAMPAIGN – Long faces did not last long.

Batavia’s football team had a magical run this season, but came up just shy of reaching its wildest dreams. The Bulldogs staged a stirring comeback bid, but ultimately lost to Normal, 30-20, in the IHSA Class 6A state title game at Memorial Stadium.

Afterward, perspective set in. Despite the loss, these Bulldogs cemented themselves as the best team in school history, owning a 12-2 record and becoming the first football team in school history to play for a state championship.

“I don’t think there’s anything to be disappointed about,” Batavia senior quarterback Alex Schroeder said. “We have the best record in school history, the best team in school history. It’s disappointing that we lost, but we’ve got a lot to be proud of.”

For the third time in the past four games, Schroeder was not around for the end of the game. He separated his left shoulder on a vicious sack by Jake Detmers in the first quarter after leaving with concussions in playoff wins against St. Viator and Geneva.

Schroeder tried to gut it out, coming out for Batavia’s first series of the second quarter. He was unable to cope with the intense pain, however, sophomore Jordan Coffey was summoned.

Coffey threw interceptions to end three of his first four drives, the final one resulting in a 41-yard touchdown return by Cam McIntosh to give the Ironmen (14-0) a 27-7 lead late in the third quarter.

“The interceptions really hurt us,” Coffey said. “Those were on me and I take responsibility for those, but we really started moving the ball well in the second half.”

Coffey connected with fellow sophomore Ryan Webb for a 50-yard score that cut Normal’s lead to 27-14. After the Bulldogs forced a three-and-out, Coffey looked like a veteran in connecting with Dan Schmitt for a 43-yard touchdown to slice the deficit to 27-20 with 11:07 left in the game. Schmitt was Coffey’s third read on the play.

“All we did was sit down and calmly go through the plays he was going to be comfortable with,” Batavia coach Mike Gaspari said. “The ones that he wasn’t, I made sure that he would be. He was ready to play. He’s not the type of a kid that backs away from a situation like that, thankfully for our team.”

After Batavia forced a Normal punt, Coffey – who threw the game-winning TD pass to beat St. Viator – quickly moved the Bulldogs to their own 38-yard line. Batavia turned the ball over on downs with 3:09 to go, however, and Normal’s Max Bakana booted a 30-yard field goal with 27 seconds left to seal the state title.

Still, it was quite a Batavia rally.

“Our team would never give up,” Batavia senior receiver Alex Warner said. “If anybody had seen the St. Viator or Cary-Grove games, they would know that we’re a team that does not give up, ever. That’s something great to say about the type of guys we have on this team, because every single one of them wanted it.”

Warner helped the Bulldogs get off to a fast start. He caught a 39-yard touchdown pass on a post from Schroeder on the first drive of the game.

But the fast start was quickly erased by Normal and senior quarterback Omar Clayton. All season, the Ironmen ran the ball about 80 percent of the time. With Batavia’s big line geared up to stop the run, however, Clayton showed just how dangerous his arm can be.

A 35-yard scoring pass to Alex Buck and a 9-yard strike to Austin Davis sandwiched a 2-yard scramble for a score as Normal scored 27 unanswered points.

“Their quarterback is a phenomenal athlete,” Gaspari said. “We had made the decision to take the run away. If they were going to hurt us, it would be with the pass. We felt their strength was the run game. To their credit, they took what we gave them.”

Following the game, the team assessed its place in Bulldogs lore.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the team,” said Batavia senior Brandon Holl, who led the team with six catches, 11 tackles and added a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, an interception and a sack.

“Our goal was to win, but we came up a little short. I’m happy with it in the sense that we did something special, and it’s going to last longer than us.”