Junior running back Zach Granberg is not just a player for Batavia. He’s a big fan.
A backfield with the talent of senior quarterback Ryan Boe and senior running back Charlie Whelpley can take up much of the spotlight, but that doesn’t really bother Granberg.
Actually, he enjoys it.
“I love watching him truck people,” Granberg said of Whelpley.
Granberg and Whelpley were used like a pair of monster trucks Friday night for the Bulldogs, leading the way to a 45-21 DuKane Conference victory over host St. Charles North.
The 5-foot-8, 160-pound Granberg erupted for a career-high 123 yards on 12 carries for Batavia (3-1, 2-0). He ran for 100 yards in the second half. Whelpley also topped 100 yards.
Batavia vs. St. Charles North. It might be the hottest rivalry in the Fox Valley over the past decade, but despite what the final score indicates, this was no cakewalk for the Bulldogs.
“We wanted to run the ball a little bit,” Batavia coach Dennis Piron said. “We can do whatever we need to do. Ryan Boe will throw it. We’ll run it. Whatever it takes.”
What it took was the strong one-two punch provided by Granberg and Whelpley as the Bulldogs piled up 321 yards rushing and pulled away late in the fourth quarter.
“We couldn’t do it without the O-line,” Whelpley said. “‘Granny’ is a beast. I love that kid. It doesn’t matter what his size is, he did well.”
Almost all of Granberg’s yards came on a power run to the right side of Batavia’s line behind 6-3, 255-pound Brendan Conklin and 6-4, 295-pound Nick Ruiz.
“Grandberg’s a good player,” Piron said. “He’s been working really hard in practice. He does a nice job on misdirection, counter and counter trey. He’s a hard north-south runner for a small kid.
“He’s hard to bring down and hard to find in there. And our offensive linemen are really active. We can trap very well, so we had some nice things he set up.”
It helped offset 247 yards put up by junior quarterback Ethan Plumb, who completed 16 of 23 passes with touchdowns of 72 and 15 yards to Jake Mettetal for the North Stars (2-2, 0-2).
“We always knew this was going to be a dogfight,” Plumb said. “It’s only the fourth game. We’ll bounce back.”
Batavia got some extra bounce from the 6-2, 215-pound Whelpley.
The more experienced runner, he shouldered the load early, going for 74 of his 130 yards in the first half. He also caught five passes for 64 yards from Boe, the North Dakota State recruit.
“I knew this was going to be a battle,” Whelpley said. “St. Charles North is a great team, but we played our minds off. We played a heckuva game.”
So did Boe, who completed 11of 16 passes for 190 yards and a TD. That came on the first play on a pass up the middle that senior tight end CJ Valente hauled in and went for 67 yards.
Although Batavia entered the game with 497 yards rushing and 662 passing, Whelpley feels like he found a solution.
“I’ve been getting talked to about running too high, and in practice, I’ve been trying to run low,” he said. “I guess it was working.”
It worked in this rivalry game.
Batavia has one with Geneva that dates back to 1913. St. Charles North has had a crosstown rivalry with St. Charles East since 2001. But over the past seven years, the Bulldogs and North Stars have had legendary showdowns, each decided by a TD or less.
This time, Batavia’s defense also was a key, forcing two turnovers on fumbles in the first half that led to 14 points and a 28-21 lead.
Kyle Porter’s interception led to a 29-yard field goal by Patrick McNamara to boost the lead to 10. Two long drives in the fourth quarter sealed it.
“They were a little shorthanded, had some kids hurt and another one out,” Piron said. “We gave up one scoring drive with 45 yards in penalties that was pretty crazy.
“But in the second half. we got better and better. I think we really got after them and were very physical. That might have been the difference.”
On top of that, Granberg couldn’t believe his good fortune on the play that Batavia kept running for him.
“It worked so we didn’t change it,” he said. “Don’t fix it if it isn’t broken.”
Sounds like a plan going forward.
