Bulldogs Bite North Stars

As ’s football team watched Batavia game tapes earlier this week, they realized they might have their hands full Friday night.

"It didn’t take too many frames to say, ‘man, these guys are good,’” North Stars coach Mark Gould said of the Bulldogs.

The quickly made Gould look like a prophet Friday, as they grabbed a 21-0 lead in just a little more than nine minutes—all on
touchdowns by senior running back Dom Guzaldo, who found the end zone the first three times he touched the ball.

From there, Batavia (8-0, 5-0) cruised to its eighth consecutive victory, blanking the North Stars (2-6, 2-3) 42-0 in St. Charles.

Batavia senior quarterback Noel Gaspari completed 13-of-21 passes for 169 yards and a pair of touchdowns in just one half of action before earning a well-deserved rest in the second half.

“It feels good to beat St. Charles North because as a sophomore (starting his first varsity game at QB) they kind of whupped up on me, and they beat us again last year,” Gaspari said. “This is a great win for us. It’s the first team to ever go 8-0 in school history.”

Gaining Ground

A bad snap led to North Stars punter Shawn Collins being dropped for a 13-yard loss by Alec Lyons on the first series.

Two plays later, Guzaldo scored on a 12-yard touchdown run and Batavia led 7-0.

On their next possession, Guzaldo found a crease and raced to the end zone from 36 yards out to extend the lead to 14-0. The 6-1, 200-pounder hauled in a 6-yard TD pass from Gaspari with 2:52 left in the opening quarter to make it 21-0.

“I know Dom’s doing some things right now, but there are four other backs that can do those things,” said Batavia Coach Dennis Piron. “We’re not really running plays for anybody. It’s just sort of falling that way.”

Lyons added a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs, while Gaspari connected with Zach Strittmatter on a 30-yard TD pass for the Bulldogs’ other score.

“I was super impressed with what Noel was able to do on this surface in these conditions throwing the football,” Piron said. “Man, his deep ball looked good tonight. He’s a special quarterback.”

Gaspari, in turn, deflected praise toward his teammates.

“Our offensive line has been doing an incredible job,” Gaspari said. “You’ve got to give them a lot of credit.”

Two Teams Forge Ahead

Batavia, which allowed just 101 yards of total offense, made believers out of the North Stars Friday night.

“They’re the best team that we’ve seen,” Gould said.

Despite clinching a share of the Upstate Eight Conference River Division title, the Bulldogs want a little more as they head into their Oct. 21 regular season finale against Streamwood.

“We want to be the first team in school history to have an undefeated (regular) season,” Gaspari said. “We want to go 9-0.”

St. Charles North will wrap up its season Oct. 21 against St. Charles East at Norris Stadium.