Josh Dornink, Batavia open season with dominant win over Phillips

BATAVIA – Perhaps Batavia senior running back Josh Dornink already has made a notable stride as a football player in just a few short months, but he instead credits the culture and collective team effort as to what got him prepared for “this moment.”

“The whole football program, we’ve been working hard all summer,” said Dornink, who ran for three touchdowns as the Bulldogs rolled over Phillips 33-6 in a season-opening victory Aug. 27. “We’re lifting and conditioning. I think that got me prepared for this game and this moment.”

Dornink finished with 76 yards on 12 rushes, many of those yards coming from pounding defenders through contact.

”It’s thrilling [to have Dornink and Jalen Buckley]. They’re great leaders and great people. They’re captains for a reason,” Batavia coach Dennis Piron said. “Between them and then AJ [Sanders] showing how special he can be. [Wideout Drew] Gerke [is] a playmaker. Had three clutch catches that moved chains for us. … A young O-line dealt with a lot of adversity. [Phillips] stunts a lot and they have some talent up front and made it tough.”

In the first half, Dornink scored on rushes of 3 and 33 yards, respectively, to give the Bulldogs a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

After a Phillips punt, Batavia quarterback Ryan Boe connected with slot receiver Sanders for a 34-yard strike. The extra-point attempt was blocked, but the Bulldogs maintained a 20-0 lead into the half, despite two turnovers by Boe.

Bulldogs senior linebacker Drew Bartels had three first-half sacks, and Batavia limited the Wildcats to 76 rushing yards on six first-half possessions.

After the Bulldogs (1-0) fumbled the opening kickoff in the second half, Phillips was rewarded with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Turner to Dayvone Rainey. The 2-point conversion failed.

Batavia senior two-way star Buckley needed just five plays to answer with a nifty 40-yard scoring run. Buckley finished with 86 yards.

Boe finished with 135 passing yards. Boe had three turnovers, but Dornink knows “he can do amazing things.”

”I think he just had to get the jitters out. Once he had a feel for the game and once he got used to it and got rhythm, he was great,” Dornink said.

”[Boe], a sophomore quarterback in [his] first varsity football game that had been playing freshman ball last year, he made some pretty spectacular throws,” Piron said. “He has a lot of upside there.”

Boe credits his early success to how everyone else played around him.

”The line, they did a great job blocking,” Boe said. “My running backs, they did a great job running the ball. Josh just powered through everybody. I don’t even know how he does half of that.

”Gerke had a great game. Same with AJ with that touchdown. I would say my success was really based off the people around me,” Boe added.

Gerke had four catches for 67 yards.

Phillips (0-1) was paced by Rainey’s 124 yards on the ground. Turner had 41 passing yards and a touchdown.

”We have a really good group of defensive players,” Piron said. “All 11, every guy is solid, can challenge you. We’re getting a nice rotation going up front with some good D-line players. So pretty excited where we’re headed.”