Batavia dominates Plainfield East

Updated: September 3, 2011 1:27AM

Batavia scored on five straight possessions in the first half en route to a 48-7 non-conference win over Plainfield East Friday in Plainfield.

The Bulldogs (2-0) totaled 396 yards of offense and scored on seven of 10 possessions. The Bengals fell to 0-2 by amassing just 28 yards of offense.

“We have to get over the hump,” Plainfield East coach Mike Romeli said. “We have a good week of practice, come out on Friday night and lay an egg. We can’t do that. You have to come out here and perform. We put guys in situations to be successful and guys miss a block or make a mistake and it shows.”

After both teams traded punts, Batavia ripped off 35 points to lead 35-0 at the half.

A 52-yard pass play from Noel Gaspari to Evan Zeddies got the ball rolling. Anthony Thielk’s 9-yard touchdown run and Jon Gray’s 24-yard scoring catch made it 21-0 after a quarter.

A pair of 6-yard runs by Dom Guzaldo and Rob Bowman bumped the lead to 35-0 at the half.

On its first possession of the second half, Austin Lindquist ran for a score, making it 42-0.

An 18-yard touchdown pass from Plainfield East’s Jacob Kotopka to Dustin Demumbrum inside the final minute averted a shutout.

Demumbrum caught two passes for 48 yards and a score. Kotopka completed 2-of-4 passes for 56 yards. Joey Anderson’s 38-yard pass catch set up the score. It was the longest play of the night for the Bengals.

“We didn’t learn a whole lot from this one tonight,” Romeli said. “We had a good game plan. Their quarterback made some nice throws and some nice adjustments tonight.”

A week after combining for 13 catches for 162 yards, Plainfield East’s Juwan Straughter and Myles Walters were held in check.

“They took Juwan away,” Romeli said. “They bracketed Juwan, which means they had two people on him. That means somebody else has to step up and we have to get the run game going. Their defense was really good and, again, our kid (Robert Zamora) we turned into a quarterback last summer. In order to be a good program, you need a four-year quarterback.”

The Bulldogs scored on their first possession of the second half to invoke the state’s running clock rule.

Batavia passed for 318 yards and two touchdowns.

“Batavia is a good team,” Romeli said. “It’ll be interesting to see how far they go.”

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