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Monday, September 4, 2017 | BataviasBest.org
Yesterday, the Batavia Football team made the trek to the Carrier Dome at Syracuse University, and walked away with a 37-0 opening day win over Section IV’s Johnson City. The Blue Devils outclassed the Wildcats on Sunday afternoon, as they scored on the first play from scrimmage and continued to throttle their opponent until the final bell.
Outside of Batavia’s top-statistical performers, Ethan Biscaro played a great game for the Devils on Sunday – on both sides of the ball. He was all over the field and made his presence felt out there.
Running back Ray Leach recorded a huge day for Batavia on the ground, carrying the ball 19 times for 256 yards and 2 TDs (56, 95). Quarterback Chandler Baker was able to absorb a slow start and he too finished with a strong stat line, completing 9/15 passes for 193 yards and 2 passing TDs (30 yds to Eric Davis, 50 yds to Taiyo Iburi-Bethel). Alec Wagner went 5/5 on PATs.
Defensively for Batavia, there was a long list of remarkable individual efforts, but when you pitch a shutout its more about what the team accomplished – rather than who did what individually. The Devils’ forced the Wildcats into several turnovers throughout the course of the game, and also added a safety – which came on a bad snap during JC’s first drive.
Johnson City never really gave themselves a chance in this game, as even when things were still within striking distance, the Cats just couldn’t seem to get out of their own way. Whenever they appeared to be on the cusp of a breakthrough offensively, the countless mistakes which JC repeatedly made on both sides of the ball simply disallowed them from gaining any ground on Batavia.
With all that being said, and as great as it is to start of the season with a 37-0 victory, I think it was obvious that Batavia didn’t play as well as they are capable of playing on Sunday – and must sure things up heading into their matchup with Aquinas in Week 2.
The Lil’ Irish will likely be the Devils’ most-formidable opponent during the regular season, and a much better team than Johnson City. A win certainly won’t come easy for Batavia this coming Friday night.
After their crushing win over the Wildcats, BHS head coach Brennan Briggs already had is sights set on the matchup with the Section V Private.
“We struggled on both sides of the ball early-on (today),” said Briggs.. “It’s good to get a win, but we’ve got a lot of mistakes to clean up. If we come out like that next week (against Aquinas), we’re going to be in some serious trouble.”
Over the years, Briggs’ and his staff’s greatest strengths have been their ability to help their players make adjustments, and correct mistakes from game-to-game. Look for this to be the case once again next week, and expect the Devils’ to perform at their best in what is a huge game for the program.
With the win, Batavia jumps out to 1-0, and haven’t lost a regular season game since 2014.
Other articles you may like:
Batavia vs Johnson City – HS Football Scouting Report and Prediction (09/03/2017)
