Batavia blows by Glenbard West

Updated: September 8, 2011 9:07PM

Anthony Torres said the aggressive, continuously attacking style Batavia means most of the time, it is only a matter of when, not if, the Bulldogs are able to take advantage of their scoring opportunities.

“We didn’t start as hot as we have recently, but we knew if we kept the pressure up that the goals would start to come,” the senior Batavia midfielder.

Torres backed up his words. He scored two goals a minute apart and added an assist as the No. 9 Bulldogs throttled Glenbard West Thursday night in no conference play.

Ben Steskal recorded his fifth shutout of the year for the Bulldogs (7-0).

Senior keeper Zach Watson performed admirably for the Hilltoppers (2-4) in the goal, but he faced a deluge of Batavia players seemingly coming at home from every angle. The Bulldogs recorded 10 shots in the first half alone.

They finally broke through in the 32 minute, coming off a spectacular defensive sequence by Watson. The keeper stuffed consecutive shots by Batavia senior forward Cody Balogh. The second save resulted in a Bulldogs’ corner kick.

Batavia senior forward Cody Witkowski lofted a ball from the left corner Torres headed into the net. “It was a perfectly-placed ball, and I just had to make the play,” he said. One minute later, Torres caught another beautiful feed from senior forward Erick Ontiveros that blasted into the right side of the net for the Bulldogs’ second score.

“There was a little seam and I stepped up and was able to make a play,” he said. Up 2-0 at the break, Batavia did not relax in the second half. Torres made a cross that senior defender Justin Carey drilled for the team’s third goal.

Witkowski and senior forward Connor Zehr scored two goals 17 seconds apart that turned the game into a rout. Witkowski was able to twist a corner kick off a Hilltopper defender for his goal. “We have a mostly senior team, and we realize it’s our last year if we want to do something,” Witkowski said.

“We have a lot of ball handlers on this team, people that can do a lot of damage and you saw that tonight,” he said.

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