Football: Nature nurtures Batavia win

Updated: November 8, 2011 7:21PM

Standing on the field following Batavia’s 31-17 second round victory over Lake Forest Saturday afternoon, it didn’t seem as if the wind was that blowing that hard.

Yet when the ball left the ground on passes — or more importantly kicks — it played a major role.

“The wind played a huge factor,” Bulldogs linebacker/fullback Alec Lyons said. “When it was facing us, we couldn’t score. We couldn’t drive the ball and when they had it, they were taking it and their passing game was doing well. When we switched fields going into the fourth quarter (the game) changed completely.”

In the first and fourth quarters when Lake Forest went into the wind, the Scouts managed minus-8 yards of total offense. With the wind in the second and third quarters, the Scouts scored 17 points.

“Once we got the wind at our back, I felt they couldn’t score,” Batavia coach Dennis Piron said. “Getting the wind in the fourth quarter — that’s the turning point. It was a very mental thing for both teams.

“It’s silly to say that nature helped you, but nature helped us there at the end.”

Playoff payday

Heading into the IHSA football quarterfinals, area football fans have noticed they are paying a ticket price increase and have seen an elimination of regular-season passes.

For those wondering how that extra money is divided up, here it is, per the IHSA: The host school receives $965 guaranteed or 10 percent of the gross income, whatever is greater, and 15 percent of the net income. The visiting school receives 15 percent of the net income and mileage.

Disrupting West the key

Coach Darren Sunkett said his East St. Louis defense didn’t want to let Oswego quarterback Ryan West settle into his comfort zone in Saturday’s playoff game.

“We just wanted to pressure him,” said Sunkett, whose defense forced five Panther turnovers, three of them on West interceptions. “We used a few zone blitzes we put in this week. If that quarterback has time, he’ll make the plays. We wanted to flush him (out of the pocket) and make him use his feet, use his mobility and play man (coverage on the Panther receivers).”

The Flyers sacked West three times and were guilty of two roughing the passer penalties in their 41-0 victory.

“They were pretty physical, probably right up there next to Waubonsie Valley,” West said. “They’re a good team they’ve got a good run going for them right now. We’ve seen that (type of) blitzing before, we just didn’t pick it up well.”

They said it

“I come off the field even more impressed, not because of the talent, but just the toughness and the fact that when the chips were down he was the last guy standing for them. Their skill people are fantastic, but when the chips were down and the ball was in his hands he was doing good things with it. His toughness — that attribute stood out to me more than ever,” — Oregon head coach John Bothe on Aurora Christian quarterback Anthony Maddie, who led the Eagles to a 34-21 win last Friday night.

David shows his potential

Kaneland quarterback Drew David walked off Peterson Field Saturday night visibly upset with his second-half performance.

The sophomore showed a little youth with two interceptions and a couple sacks, which allowed St. Francis to get back in the game and nearly pull off a last-second win.

But David also displayed a surgeon’s accuracy in the first half and skills beyond his years in a 31-point scoring run that led the Knights to a 31-28 victory.

He was 15-for-22 for 289 yards and four touchdowns in the first two quarters and showed a strong presence to find receivers downfield when the pocket broke down.

His 77-yard touchdown pass to running back Jesse Balluff down the right sideline came when he could have scrambled for a first down. Instead, he put a perfectly placed ball over the safety’s arms in stride to Balluff.

David made a similar play later, dumping off to Balluff while moving laterally along the line of scrimmage, and Balluff turned the 10-yard pass into a 40-yard score.

Mooseheart set up for another run

The sting of Saturday’s 34-0 Class 1A second round playoff loss to Peru St. Bede took long after the final buzzer to wear off at Mooseheart Saturday.

An emotional team meeting lasted nearly a half hour after the loss the first of the season in what was a historic, 10-1 run for the Red Ramblers.

Stars such as Isaiah Brigman, Daniel Tucker and Noel Yarngo graduate, along with five other seniors. But the Mooseheart faithful that saw the Red Ramblers storm to a 10-0 start to the season and host seven games at their spectacular refurbished stadium will be hungry for a repeat performance next year, not satisfied in waiting another 26 years for a playoff win.

Junior quarterback Jon Hart as well as Oumaru Abdulahi (who missed Saturday’s game with a shoulder injury) and defensive star Junior Smith will be the foundation for the next group for Mooseheart.

“I’m proud of our seniors,” Mooseheart coach Gary Urwiler said. “We have a good nucleus coming back and hopefully we’ll spend some time in the offseason getting prepared for this (a playoff run) next year.”

Rick Armstrong, Brian Miller and Paul Johnson contributed to this report.

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