By: Ashton Townsend
BATAVIA, NY - The balanced offensive attack of the Batavia Blue Devils' football team was too much for the Rochester Prep/EMHCS Tigers in the Class B Section V semifinals. The Blue Devils won 56-6 to move onto the Section final and stay undefeated on the season.
"It's what we expect out of these guys," Batavia head coach Alex Veltz said. "We fight to play physical and dominant football, and we came out and did that tonight."
Batavia senior quarterback Bronx Buchholz went 7-11 for 83 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 25 yards and two touchdowns as well.
"Our whole offense was clicking from the start," Buchholz said. "It started with the punt return touchdown and everybody made plays and came together and as a team we just played great tonight."
The Blue Devils forced a punt on the Tiger's first drive and capitalized on special teams as senior Carter Mullen went 69 yards for a punt return touchdown. Buchholz converted the two-point conversion, and the Blue Devils were up 8-0.
The Tigers fumbled a snap on the next drive and junior Maggio Buchholz recovered it and the Blue Devils took over on the Tigers' 16-yard line. Junior Jameson Motyka would snag a 14-yard touchdown catch and take the 14-0 lead.
Maggio Buchholz forced a fumble on a sack on the Tigers' next drive and the Blue Devils took over on the Tiger's 20-yard line. Batavia took advantage of the turnover, as Mullen hauled in a touchdown pass and scored on the Blue Devils' two-point conversion attempt to go up 22-0.
On the next drive for the Tigers, Maggio Buchholz took a fumble recovery to the house and at the end of the first quarter, the Blue Devils were up 30-0.
"It was great that we felt we could force a stop at any time," Maggio Buchholz said. "We got out offense the ball and they executed as well."
The Blue Devils scored on their next three drives including two Bronx Buchholz rushing touchdowns and Motyka's second receiving touchdown of the day. Motyka ended the day with three catches for 33 yards. After the three scores, the Blue Devils were up 50-0 at half.
"We're fortunate that in a sectional game we're going to have an opportunity to get our second-string guys into play because they work hard all week in practice," Coach Veltz said.
Junior Isaac Varland took over at quarterback for the Blue Devils to start the second half.
Sophomore Keagan Calmes caught an eight-yard touchdown for the Blue Devils on its opening drive in the second half.
With less than 10 minutes in the fourth quarter, Tigers senior quarterback Jayvante Grant scored a three-yard rushing touchdown for the Tigers to make it 56-6.
The Blue Devils defense forced seven fumbles on the day and recovered five of them. They are back in the section final after losing in the semifinal to Honeoye Falls-Lima last year and the Blue Devils are hungry.
"We're excited to have the opportunity to be there," Veltz said. "We're going to bring everything we have, we're going to have an excellent week of prep and we're going to be ready."
With the win, the No. 1 seed Blue Devils will take on No. 3 seed Eastridge in the Class B Section V championship on Nov. 15 at noon.
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