Saints Suffer Through More Second-Half Difficulties

An already long season got a little bit longer for Friday night in Batavia.

Bright spots were few and far between during the Saints’ 43-7 loss to host Batavia (5-0, 2-0) Friday night at Bulldog Stadium.

With the defeat, the Saints slipped to 0-5 overall, 0-3 in Upstate Eight Conference River Division action.

“They’re a good football team,” Saints coach Mike Fields said of the Bulldogs, who all but clinched a playoff berth for the second consecutive season. “They’ve got it going on.”

A goal-line stand by the Saints led to Brandon Clabough’s 27-yard field goal midway through the opening quarter.

After the Saints were unsuccessful on a fourth-and-12 play from the Bulldogs’ 37-yard line, Batavia marched 63 yards in six plays and extended its lead to 10-0 on the first of two short-yardage touchdown runs by fullback Alec Lyons.

The Saints (0-5, 0-3) narrowed Batavia’s lead to 10-7 on a 12-yard, fourth-and-10 touchdown pass from Charlie Fisher to Joe Hoscheit with 9:09 left in the second quarter but the Bulldogs (5-0, 2-0) answered with a six-play, 68-yard scoring march, capped by quarterback Noel Gaspari’s 11-yard touchdown toss to senior tight end Cole Gardner.

“We had a nice drive down there and Joey (Hoscheit) made a heck of a play,” said Fields.

Those were the first of 33 unanswered points scored by the Bulldogs, who outscored the Saints 23-0 in the second half.

“Tonight, we announced a lot of offensive personnel – about 18 guys because we use so many kids on offense,” said Batavia first-year head coach Dennis Piron. “We use seven or eight linemen, five receivers and five running backs. Our thinking is that it keeps us fresh and healthy throughout the game.”

That may have been the case Friday night, as the Bulldogs scored touchdowns on their first three second-half possessions against the Saints, who have been outscored 60-0 in the second half of their last three games.

“They wore us down,” admitted Fields, whose team visits Streamwood next weekend. “You could just see how much bigger they were and how much more physical they were than us in the second half. Size and speed, it’s a killer. That’s a lethal combination.”

St. Charles East managed just 32 rushing yards in the second half, which ended with a blocked punt that led to a Batavia safety.

Senior quarterback Charlie Fisher completed 11 of 29 passes for 86 yards and three interceptions, while Jake Mazanke caught two passes for a team-high 29 yards.

“I thought Charlie played well but he was constantly under pressure,” said Fields. “I feel bad for the seniors because they’ve played so hard and have not quit.”