Last Saturday, the Redwings football playoff run came to an end against the Batavia Bulldogs.

Despite the frigid weather, the Redwings had an extremely hot start. Senior Jack Eschenbach made an incredible catch while heavily guarded off a 22-yard toss from sophomore Colin Gillespie. After junior running back Ben Hickey’s eleven yard gain, senior Matt Boyle, who was playing in his first game since his September thumb injury, was able to put the first points on the board with a short pass over the line of scrimmage to senior Devin Petersen. Senior Victor Karam successfully kicked in the extra point, and the score was 7-0.

Benet’s next possession was guided by yet another fantastic throw from Gillespie to Eschenbach (this time for 25 yards), followed by a 24-yard Gillespie carry that put the Redwings within a yard of a touchdown. Boyle was able to run it up the middle for the one yard gain and accrue the 6 points, but Benet was unable to convert on the extra point. The quarter ended with a 13-0 Benet Academy
lead.

Batavia came out stronger in the second quarter. Batavia senior Eric Peterson and sophomore Artavian Taylor were the two exquisite performers of the game, together contributing 123 of their teams 251 total yards. Peterson had a touchdown after a pass up the middle from senior Riley Cooper and another in the left corner of the end zone all in the span of two minutes. Taylor was able to get a touch down off a lob pass, and the half ended with a 13-20 Batavia lead.

The third quarter was rather stagnant. Both teams battled hard to make more offensive advances, but the defensive efforts of players like Benet’s junior Jack Cooney and Batavia’s junior Nicholas Conger outweighed all offensive attempts. The only scoring activity was Batavia junior Jack Carlson kicking a 35 yard field goal to make the score 23-13.

The Redwings pushed hard to score as the time dwindled in the final quarter of the game but were not successful in time. A 55 yard pass from Gillespie to Eschenbach occurred, but by that time there were only two minutes left on the clock. The final attempt at a touchdown was an incomplete pass, and the Bulldogs rushed the field to celebrate their win.

Despite this rough defeat for the Redwings, they had a terrific season. With a 10-4 overall record, a 7A All State Team member in Connor Reid, and a preferred walk-on at Wisconsin in Jack Eschenbach, achievement was far and wide in the program. This is especially impressive considering the unexpected loss of Matt Boyle as quarterback during the regular season. There is a lot of promise in players like sophomore Collin Gillespie, who rose to the occasion and filled the empty quarterback spot quite well, and juniors Jack Cooney and Ben Hickey, for next season.