After senior quarterback Ryan Boe scored in the final seconds of Friday night’s marquee showdown with Lincoln-Way East, Batavia had a decision to make.

The Bulldogs could kick the extra point to force overtime. Or they could do what they have done several times in the past — go for the win right then and there.

“We wanted to go for the kill shot,” Boe said. “Especially in a game like that.”

Boe was stopped short of the goal line, however, helping the Griffins escape Batavia with a 14-13 nonconference victory in a classic game that lived up to its advance billing.

A North Dakota State recruit, Boe ran for 90 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries and completed 15 of 19 passes for 168 yards to lead Batavia (1-1). Charlie Whelpley caught eight passes for 64 yards.

Braden Tischer, Boe’s counterpart at Lincoln-Way East, completed 13 of 21 passes for 221 yards and TD tosses of 58 and 35 yards for the Griffins (2-0).

On the conversion play, Boe was confident when he and the offense told coach Dennis Piron they wanted to go for the win.

“We just went with a play that worked multiple times during the game,” Boe said. “They just made a good play. They knew it was coming, but we just thought our guys were better. Let’s punch it in.

“They just made a good play on it. There’s nothing you can do.”

Piron was hoping for a different outcome, but he put the ball in his best playmaker’s hands with the game on the line.

“I said, ‘What do you guys think?’” Piron said. “And they go, ‘Let’s just win it.’ And I said, ‘Fine.’

“I really like playing the overtime game and messing around with it, but I don’t know. This is Week 2. The kids wanted it. Everyone was sore and tired. It just felt like the right thing to do.”

Both teams had chances to put more points on the board. Batavia reached the 1-yard line in the first quarter but lost a fumble in the end zone. The Griffins missed two field goals, one of which was blocked by Ben Fiegel.

The game stayed 7-7 until the 6:11 mark of the fourth quarter. Tischer found DJ Richardson for a 35-yard TD to make it 14-7.

Batavia then went back to work. The Bulldogs put together a 12-play, 72-yard scoring drive, capped by Boe’s 3-yard TD run with eight seconds left.

“I just wanted to do what I could for my team,” Boe said. “I love all these guys. I wish I could have done better.”

Even so, Boe took a beating throughout the night and kept coming back for more. At one point, he was down and the game had to be stopped, but he didn’t miss a play.

Senior defensive lineman Jordan Buckley, the Ball State commit, wasn’t surprised.

“When he was on the ground, he comes back the next play and I was like, ‘Oh, he’s like that tonight,’” Buckley said. “I don’t think he was feeling the pain. I think he had adrenaline.

“He was just ready to go. His run game was going crazy.”

The showdown between two of the best teams in the state provided the show fans were hoping for. That wasn’t enough for Piron, though.

“I’m disappointed that we lost the game,” Piron said. “I don’t really have a lot of satisfaction that it was close. We really thought we were going to win that game.”

Batavia lost 31-16 last season at Lincoln-Way East. The Bulldogs set a different tone this time around.

“We just wanted to play our game because we knew that our game would be just fine,” Boe said. “That’s what we talked about — play our game, be confident, be free.

“You trained all your life to do this. Just let your body go.”

Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.