Entering the match, Newark was the closest team to knocking Batavia off its perfect pedestal during the regular season. Two weeks and three games ago, Newark was edged out 28-20 at home when no other team had been able to close the final deficit to single digits against Batavia.
At VanDetta Stadium, it took 12 seconds to show why the No. 2 seeded Blue Devils entered the semifinals undefeated and will enter the finals as such.
Senior running back Terrez Smith set the tone with a 78-yard game-opening kickoff return, untouched. Smith proceeded to score five additional touchdowns on the ground to lead the Blue Devils over Newark 49-13.
Smith gathered his second score by slipping past six defenders on a 16-yard run. He barreled through the goal line on a five-yard punch-in to put Batavia ahead 28-7 before halftime. The back registered a 13-yard touchdown following two consecutive 10-plus-yard runs. His final score came in the dying minutes of the fourth on an 85-yard kick return.
Junior quarterback Jesse Reinhart didn’t find himself as busy as the Blue Devil running backs but made an impact nonetheless. Reinhart threw two touchdowns, both to Tyler Budziniak. On a fourth-and-16, Budziniak laid out across the goal line to reel in a 34-yard pass. Later in the game Reinhart bested his previous with a 48-yard heave to bring the score to 43-7.
Batavia took over defensively when Reinhart intercepted Travontay Murray in the end zone on his first throw of the game. The weakness revealed the one-dimensionality of Newark’s offensive game plan and from that point forward, the entire Blue Devil effort was focused directly on number 21.
The senior ran for 358 yards and six touchdowns on 40 carries last week in the 48-27 victory over Wayne. The Blue Devil defense held him to two scores; a 33-yard run on a fourth-and-15 and a 49-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Shepherd. Considering the constant swarm of defenders, Murray managed to find ways upfield.
Batavia is set to face the No.1 seeded Honeoye Falls-Lima Cougars for the Class B Championship. The battle of the unbeaten will take place on May 1 at Honeoye Falls-Lima High School.
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