Updated FINAL: Batavia 42, Lakes 0

Editor's note: This story was updated Sunday morning with more details and stats. All the unbolded, plain text below was not part of our initial postgame update.

 This time, no second-half comebacks were necessary.

After staging late rallies in and , Batavia’s football team took care of business early on during Saturday’s 42-0 Class 6A state quarterfinal triumph over Lakes in Lake Villa.

The top-seeded Bulldogs (12-0) relied on special teams, stingy defense and balanced offense against an Eagles (9-3) team that wasn’t accustomed to playing from behind.

“We knew we had to come out and completely dominate the game,” said Cole Gardner, senior tight end and defensive end. “The bus ride up here was great. Everybody had great focus. We just said, ‘let’s go punch it in and get it going right away.’”

As Batavia locked their lead in, people already began to talk about the semifinal matchup next week. Here's the official word from Piron:

The No. 1 seed Bulldogs will face No. 2 seed Prairie Ridge at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at , 1201 Main St., in Batavia.

Gardner made sure things got going Saturday when he broke through the line and blocked Tanner Blain’s punt attempt after the Bulldogs forced a three-and-out series on Lakes’ opening possession.

Senior linebacker Austin Lewis pounced on the loose ball in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown, as the Bulldogs grabbed a 7-0 lead just 1:10 into the contest.

“It was a great way to start the game,” Gardner said.

Strong Start

“We had an aggressive mentality at the outset,” said Bulldogs coach Dennis Piron, whose team won the coin toss and elected to kick to the Eagles. “The wind was again a factor—that’s two weeks in a row. It’s funny because you can’t really lose there. If you win the coin toss, you defer. If we lose (the coin toss), they’re taking the ball but we’re going to go that way (with the wind).”

After Blain’s interception near the end zone ended another Batavia scoring threat, the Bulldogs’ defense forced another three-and-out series, taking over at the Eagles’ 35-yard line.

Six plays later, senior fullback Alec Lyons found the end zone on a 4-yard run to make it 14-0 with 3:59 left in the opening quarter.

Another defensive stop forced Lakes’ third punt of the quarter, and the Bulldogs once again capitalized on a short field.

Senior quarterback Noel Gaspari (18-of-27, 247 yards) found Gardner in the back of the end zone on a 16-yard TD pass to up Batavia’s lead to 21-0, with 2:08 left in the opening period.

“That first one to Cole was actually (thrown) to someone else, but I’ll take it,” Gaspari said.

Stronger Finish

Lakes’ best scoring chance was snuffed out when junior defensive back and running back Robbie Bowman blocked Blain’s 28-yard field goal attempt with 9:33 left in the second quarter.

Batavia put the game out of reach with an 11-play, 80-yard scoring drive to open the second half, capped by Gaspari’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Gardner.

“That first drive of the second half, going into the wind to score a touchdown, was beautiful by our kids,” Piron said.  

After Gardner’s sack forced a fumble that was recovered by the ever-opportunistic Lewis, Gaspari connected with senior wide receiver Jon Gray on a 69-yard TD pass to make it 35-0 with 51 seconds left in the third quarter.

“He’s just a high-intensity young man,” Piron said of Lewis. “He has been our steadiest lineman. He has played every down on defense all season long when it mattered, and he has done an incredible job.”

Senior running back Alex Moore’s 4-yard TD run in the fourth quarter capped the scoring for the Bulldogs, who will host Prairie Ridge (11-1) in the semifinals at 1 p.m. Saturday.

“Batavia, here we come,” Piron said. “We’ve got a semi(-final game) at our place next week. I’m so happy for our community.”

Check this site later this week for semifinal presale ticket info and more—thanks for reading!

Season So Far

Overall (12-0)

Regular Season (9-0), (6-0)

Playoffs (3-0) 

Aug. 26 

Sept. 2 

Sept. 9 

Sept. 16 

Sept. 23

Sept. 30 

Oct. 7    

Oct. 14  

Oct. 21   

Oct. 28 

Nov. 5   

Nov. 12 Batavia 42, Lakes 0