Offense clicks for Bulldogs in victory over Wolves

By Anthony Zilis

Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco knows what Oswego East is going through.

Last year, the Bulldogs had a young team that struggled through a difficult season before rebounding to win 11 of their first 14 in 2013.

The young Wolves team, which started four sophomores and included two freshmen who had never played a varsity game on Saturday, are going through similar growing pains and lost, 8-1, to the Bulldogs in Oswego.

“I was telling Oswego East coach [Steve Szymanski], it can happen different every year,” Gianfransesco said. “Last year we're 3-10-5 or whatever. Same group, we added a couple of other people, but the core is still there.

“The experience that they earned last year, we lost a lot of close games, we learned how to win, we learned how to do it together. That was a two-year process, and now we're in Year Two, and we're seeing the benefits of that.”

Batavia cruised to an early 4-0 lead before East answered back and held steady until late in the second half, when the Bulldogs pulled away.

The Wolves had strong stretches of play throughout, but as has been the case this season, they couldn't hold that for the entire game.

“We show sparks. That's kind of been our season,” Szymanski said. “We'll look good for a stretch, but we can't put 80 minutes together. It's frustrating. The guys saw today, there's definitely a lot of frustration out there.”

The Bulldogs (11-2-2) began lighting up the scoreboard early, when Kevin Collins found Ian Larson with a low cross, which Larson knocked into an open goal.

Five minutes later, Larson's corner kick was popped up into the air, and sophomore Nathan Carey headed home the second goal of the game.

In the 12th minute, Batavia junior Joe Jorgenson collected the ball on a scramble in the box and fired a shot into the lower corner to make the score 3-0.

With just under 20 minutes left in the half, a low corner kick by Chase Correll found senior John Barnes, who fired it into the upper netting.

“It really took the wind out of their sails,” Barnes said. “We kind of jumped on them, and everything was pretty much downhill from there.”

East (2-9-3) finally answered one minute later, when Jesus Esquivel collected a pass near the top of the penalty area, took a few dribbles and placed a shot perfectly into the lower corner.

Before the half ended, Batavia added another score when a corner kick from Collins knocked off an Wolves player and into his own goal.

Esquivel hit another shot early in the second half that was saved, and East strung together plenty of possession during the ensuing stretch.

But the Bulldogs took control of the game for good when Barnes found Carey in the penalty area and the sophomore buried his shot to the near post.

Larson capped off the win by scoring on a pass from Brandon Yunker before his cross found sophomore Davis DiBiase, who scored Batavia's eighth and final goal.

“We lost a little focus when they got their goal, but after that, we just kind of bounced back and did what we did,” Larson said.

The Bulldogs, who compete in the Waubonsie Valley Invite this week, extended their unbeaten streak to 12 games.

“Obviously this is one of the more enjoyable games, on of the more relaxing games,” Barnes said. “It's finally good to get one of those in our season.”

The Wolves, who hope to bounce back when they host rival Oswego on Tuesday, chalked the day up as a learning experience.

“It's an opportunity for some young guys to step up and get some minutes and help us out a little bit,” Szymanski said. “They're a very good team. This team finishes really well.”