Coming into the season Batavia Head Coach Brennan Briggs knew that his team faced a tough challenge by joining the Monroe County League. This week was an example of why, as Brighton wore down the Blue Devils, spoiling homecoming in route to a 34 to 6 victory.
Batavia hung with the Barons through the first half, entering the break only down 7-0, but Brighton’s size and speed was just too much to overcome in the second half.
“It’s tough because nobody wants to hear moral victories,” Briggs said. “But every single week I want to tip my cap to these guys because every single week they are outmanned and outnumbered. There was no brilliant scheme that Brighton threw at us; they just ran the same play over and over. When it comes down to it, they were just bigger.”
The game was scoreless deep into the second quarter until Brighton mounted a 16-play, 88-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes off of the clock before fullback Gordon Truesdale plunged in from three yards out. The Blue Devils appeared to be nearing a score with under a minute left after Brandon Stevenson ripped off a 27-yard run deep into Brighton territory. However, an offensive pass-interference call doomed the Batavia drive and the Barons entered the intermission with the lead.
The Barons received the ball on the second half kickoff and proceeded to impose their will for the remainder of the game.
Brighton opened the third quarter with another 16-play, 67-yard drive that took over seven minutes off the clock before Matt Stone, who ran the ball 19 times for 114 yards, finished off the march with a three-yard touchdown run.
Stevenson was then intercepted at midfield by Stone on the ensuing possession, and the Barons capitalized again with another goal line plunge by Truesdale.
The Blue Devils would turn the ball over on downs, and Brighton would score a back-breaking touchdown on a 27-yard scamper by Christian Jones to put them up 27-0 with just over nine minutes to play in the game.
Brighton seemed to be just too much up front for the undersized Batavia team, as they did not attempt a single pass in the second half, while running the ball 63 times for 432 yards on the evening. An even more telling statistic was the Blue Devils only held possession for 3:32 in the second half and only attempted 11 plays from scrimmage.
“The worst situation to be in is when a team is grinding the ball,” Briggs said. “When a team is throwing the ball you think you can get some stops, but when they are just grinding it and physically beating you up, there’s not much you can do.”
One bright spot was once again the play of Stevenson, who scored the lone Batavia touchdown on a 77-yard dash in the fourth quarter. He would finish with a game-high 139 rushing yards on 11 carries.
The Barons would get one more score, a 58-yard run from Jones to seal the game.
Jones would finish with 114 yards on nine carries and two touchdowns, while Truesdale added 65 yards on 11 attempts to go with his two scores for Brighton (1-2).
Batavia falls to 1-2 on the season and will travel to Canandaigua next Saturday for a 2 p.m. start.
“We have to turn the page, we can’t make any excuses, and we have to come out and work hard,” Briggs said. “Football is going to teach lessons to make you a man. They know that they are going to be in a dog fight every week and they are going to better for it.”
