South Dearborn Football holds off Batesville

(Edited game report filed by Tom Snape.)

As heard on WRBI Radio, the South Dearborn Knights held off the Batesville Bulldogs 24-17 in a competitive, back-and-forth EIAC interdivisional matchup Friday on the Field Turf at Backman Field near Aurora.

The Bulldogs drew first blood when quarteback Travis Lecher hit Bryson Bonelli with a 5-yard touchdown pass at the 5:36 mark in the first quarter. Braiden Foster’s extra point made it 7-0 Batesville.

The Knights took the lead with 4:03 to go in the second stanza when Austin Ballart caught a 6-yard TD toss from quarterback Adam Kunkel. The 2-point conversion run was good, and SD held an 8-7 advantage at halftime.

Batesville put together a solid drive to start the second half which culminated in a 37-yard field goal from Foster.  The Dogs retook a 10-8 edge.

But South Dearborn took the lead for good when the Knights other QB, Logan Thies, connected with Reese Willoughby on a 33-yard touchdown strike with 3:40 showing in the third quarter. Thies hit Ballart for the 2-point conversion to put SD back on top, 16-10.

With Batesville driving, the Knights’ Ryan Willoughby returned an interception from midfield to the Bulldog 4-yard line.  Two plays later, Thies called his own number and punched it in from 1-yard out. The junior signal caller ran for the 2-point conversion to put his team up 24-10 with 8:31 remaining in the fourth frame.

But Batesville did not go away. Lecher threw his second TD pass of the night when he hooked up with Trenton Roell for a 3-yarder. Foster added the PAT and it was SD on top of Batesville 24-17.

After a change of possession, the Bulldogs had one final chance to tie the game and send it into overtime, but the South Dearborn defense knocked down a last-ditch pass in the end zone. SD went into victory formation and held on for the 24-17 win.