CN100 Game of the Week football preview: Week 2 - Batavia vs. Glenbard North

CAROL STREAM – Anytime two state powerhouses meet in a nonconference game early in the season, a win is crucial to both teams.
But with defending Class 6A state champion Batavia and DuPage Valley Conference power Glenbard North both rolling into their week two showdown coming off of losses, the game becomes even more critical.
If the game is anything like last year’s 29-26 Batavia win, fans will be in for a treat. CN100, The Comcast Network, will playback the game at Noon and 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6, and 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 8. You can also find it across Chicagoland with Xfinity On Demand.
Both teams are vastly different than the versions that took the field last year.
Batavia used the 2013 win to fuel the best season in school history, a 13-1 romp through Class 6A that resulted in the first state title in program history, and the first team state championship since the Bulldogs won the 1912 boys basketball title.
Many of the key players from last year’s title team have moved on, including leading rusher Anthony Scaccia and quarterback Micah Coffey, who is now playing baseball at Minnesota.
Batavia started the season off with an excruciating, last-second, 40-38 loss to Oswego last week. The Bulldogs alternated between left-handed senior Evan Acosta and junior Kyle Niemiec at quarterback. Both were effective. They combined to go 31-for-42 for 341 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. Junior Canaan Coffey, Micah’s younger brother, grabbed 13 of those passes for 173 yards and two scores. Coach Dennis Piron’s senior son, Peyton, hauled in five passes for 65 yards and the other score.
Batavia had some trouble in the run game, however. They rushed for only 87 yards as a team, 41 coming from junior Zach Garrett. A pair of returning all-conference linemen, Mitch Krusz and Florida Atlantic-bound Jack Breshears, paves the way up front.
Defensively, Noah Frazier set the school sack record with 13 and Josh Leonhard added 12 and both return. Since taking over for longtime coach Mike Gaspari in 2011, Piron is 34-4 as head coach.
Glenbard North has to try to replace one of the state’s all-time great running backs in Northwestern’s Justin Jackson. He finished his career fifth on the Illinois rushing list. With him in the fold, the Panthers were hoping to finally get over the hump and win a state title last year. They have been the state runners up four times, the latest coming in Jackson’s junior year.
But the Panthers, who won nine straight after falling to Batavia week one last year, were upset 20-16 in the second round by Stevenson to finish 9-2.
The Panthers are traditionally a running team, but with veteran senior quarterback Brett Gasiorowski back, they might look to open things up a bit this year. Top receiver Luke Siperly returns, while the task of replacing Jackson falls to the trio of junior Devion Hodges, sophomore Vittorio Tricase and all-conference fullback Dillon Warnecke.
Glenbard North traveled to Ohio last week to face off against Centerville, and the Panthers came away with a 33-28 loss. A late comeback included two Gasiorowski rushing touchdowns. The Panthers had the ball late, but came up just short.
- Paul Johnson, CN100 Correspondent

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