St. Charles East withstood a Batavia rally with some big fourth-quarter runs and ran effectively all night en route to a 32-21 victory over the Bulldogs Friday night in St. Charles.

The Fighting Saints, who won last year’s matchup by 23, had an impressive first-half offensively, gaining nearly 280 yards in total offense, with 166 of those coming from senior running back Wes Allen. On the night, the hosts would gain 340 of their 479 yards on the ground.

“We were just doing our regular stuff — going back to the basics,” said junior right tackle Eric Olstad.

“Those guys (offensive linemen) are workhorses that will take us anywhere,” added Saints coach Ted Monken. “They love it when we run the ball.”

Batavia trailed 26-7 midway through the third quarter when quarterback Jordan Coffey hit Erich Zeddies with a pass and the receiver made a juggling, falling touchdown reception.

The teams then traded turnovers. Piotr Koczmara recovered a bad Saints pitch at the Bulldogs’ 21. That was followed two plays later by a Coffey pass that was tipped and turned into an Eian O’Brien interception, which was negated by a lost Saints fumble in the final minute of the quarter.

Batavia would turn it over on downs but then forced the Saints to punt. Coffey helped engineer an eight-play, 73-yard drive that culminated with a 19-yard scoring strike to Zeddies to cut the deficit to six with 6:06 to go.

St. Charles East faced a 2nd-and-eight but got a 22-yard run from senior Kyle Wiebe and then fooled the Bulldogs by lining up tight end Jess Streidl at wingback and giving him the ball for a 43-yard gain. Three players later, Wiebe scored the game’s final touchdown.

Though it was just one game, the defeat could prove even more costly. Senior tailback J.R. Kabba sat out the second half with a right-knee injury.

Game breakdown
SCORE BY QUARTER    1    2    3    4
Batavia    7    0    7    7
St. Charles East    12    14    0    6

1ST QUARTER: SCE Tim Russell 6-yard run (kick failed), 7:36; Wes Allen 10 run (kick failed), 5:35; BAT Ryan Webb 15-yard pass from Jordan Coffey (Erich Zeddies kick), 2:44.
2ND QUARTER: SCE Paul DeBord 64-yard pass from Russell (Daniel Keller kick), 8:17; Allen 2-yard run (Keller kick), :15
3RD QUARTER: BAT Zeddies 9-yard pass from Coffey (Zeddies kick), 5:35.
4TH QUARTER: BAT Zeddies 19-yard pass from Coffey (Zeddies kick); SCE Kyle Wiebe 2-yard run (pass failed).
PASSING: BAT Coffey 18-43, 201 yards, 3 TDs, INT; SCE Russell 10-15, 139 yards, TD
RUSHING: BAT Kyle Duhig 8 carries, 74 yards; J.R. Kabba 3 carries, 1 yard; Coffey 1 carry, 2 yards; Evan Olexa 1 carry, 2 yards; SCE Allen 22 carries, 166 yards, 2 TDs; Wiebe 15 carries, 100 yards, TD; Jess Streidl 2 carries, 51 yards; Dan White 9 carries, 41 yards; Andrew Gomez 2 carries, 3 yards; Tim Russell 5 carries, -21 yards 
DEFENSE: BAT Ian Powers, quarterback sack; Piotr Koczmara, fumble recovery; Drew Dienslake, fumble recovery; Ryan Webbm quarterback sack; SCE James Sheehan, fumble recovery; Philip Bucaro, tackle for 5-yard loss; Eian O’Brien, interception