Sports
BATAVIA BULLDOGS: Class 6A State Football Champions!
Anthony Scaccia: "I think almost everyone in Batavia's here. It's an honor to play in front of a town as amazing as this."
On a perfect day for football, Batavia played a near-perfect game, avenged its only loss of the season and won the Battle of the Bulldogs 34-14 Saturday over Oak Lawn Richards to take home the Class 6A state football title.
It was Batavia's first state championship since 1912 and first-ever football state championship.
"Mike Gaspari, hall of fame legend, built this thing," third-year Batavia Coach Dennis Piron told the television audience after the game. "I'm just lucky get to be the guy that goes after him."
Batavia's offense was explosive, ignited by its two stars, running back Anthony Scaccia, who tallied three touchdowns and 189-plus yards on more than 33 carries, and quarterback Micah Coffey (15-of-18, 229 yards, 2 TDs), who led a balanced attack against the best post-season defense in Class 6A.
For the live game story, click here.
The highlight and possible game-changer came early, when Coffey hit Michael Moffatt on a 96-yard touchdown pass with 46 seconds left in the first quarter. From that point on, Batavia didn't look back.
The Bulldogs (Kane County version) then added a touchdown pass from Coffey to co-captain Rourke Mullins looking right and throwing left, for 25 yards, and after an Anthony Thielk interception, Scaccia finished off a seven-play, 47-yard drive, scoring from the 1-yard line for a 28-7 halftime lead.
Oak Lawn Richards was led by Hasan Muhammad-Rogers (17-of-37, 225 yards, 1 TD), who hit Ryan Willett on a long pass, then Dedrick Shannon on a 9-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
The "Scaccia Drive," as it may someday be called, was an impressive start to the third quarter. In that eight-play drive, Scaccia ran five times and caught one pass, scampering 24 yards just before his 12-yard touchdown run.
But there was no quit in Richards. Romeo Johnson broke free on a 67-yard run, and Muhammad-Rogers ran it 12 yards for the touchdown to cut the lead to 34-14 with six minutes still left in the third quarter.
As it turned out, that was the last points Richards would score, and it might have been Batavia's defense that made the difference in this championship battle of 12-1 teams.
"(The defense) did a great job against a very dynamic play-making offense," Piron told Matt Rodewald. "I couldn't be happier with the effort they made. It kind of became a war of attrition at the end. We were both so beat up, we were playing so hard. What an effort, what an effort."
Nobody worked harder than Scaccia, who was named player of the game by Comcast Sports.
"Pound for pound, he's maybe the best player, not just in Illinois, maybe the country," Piron said. "That kid's dynamic, special. What a warrior he is. What a great young man."
Scaccia gave credit to the fans, who came out in force Saturday.
"It's awesome. It's incredible," he said. "I think almost everyone in Batavia's here. It's an honor to play in front of a town as amazing as this.
"Ever since we won our eighth-grade championship against Kaneland, we were looking forward to this championship, and we did it."
