Talented Hawks could make noise

With top-notch talent returning on both sides of the football, Bartlett will be a serious handful for opponents this fall.

The Hawks enter the 2008 campaign in search of their ninth straight trip to the postseason, but they also appear primed to contend for their first Upstate Eight Conference title since 2003.

Senior linebacker Kyle Zelinsky and senior quarterback Josh Hasenberg are two big reasons why hopes are so high.

Zelinsky, who checks in at 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, continues to garner attention from a number of Division-I programs. He spent the early part of the summer participating in camps at Indiana, Iowa, Purdue, Illinois and Michigan State.

Zelinsky is coming off a junior campaign in which he earned All-UEC honors and led Bartlett with 76 tackles, 23 assisted tackles and 11 tackles behind the line of scrimmage. He's already received scholarship offers from Air Force and Western Michigan, but is in no hurry to make a decision about his future as he prepares for his third varsity season.

"I'll know when the time is right, but it probably won't be before the season starts," Zelinsky said. "I've met a lot of great people (at the camps), and that's been really fortunate."

Meanwhile, Hasenberg has made trips to one-day camps at Purdue and Illinois this summer. He tallied a school-record 1,569 passing yards last season while throwing nine touchdowns and running for 10 scores.

Hasenberg will enjoy the luxury of having his two top receivers -- seniors Cory Brown and Alex Van Ness -- and two top tight ends -- junior Matt Pashawitz and junior Greg Partyka -- back in the fold for an offense that set a school record by scoring 319 points last season.

The offense's biggest question mark is at running back, where the Hawks will look to replace Vinnie Libreri , who led the area in rushing last year as a senior.

• Prime-time backs ready for senior campaigns -- Hampshire's Joe Moore and St. Charles East's Wes Allen have piled up impressive numbers in their first two varsity seasons.

Now the two running backs are preparing to take center stage as seniors.

In the past two years Allen has run for 2,347 yards and scored 32 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Moore has run for 1,208 yards and crossed the goal line 23 times in that span.

For Allen, the chance to top the 3,000-yard mark in his varsity career is well within reach. While he's focused on continuing his personal success, he knows his final season will be judged equally on whether the Saints can extend their streak of three straight trips to the postseason.

"There's a lot of motivation to go out with a bang," Allen said. "I just don't want this last season to be a letdown."

Meanwhile, Moore has shared the offensive load with older teammates the past two years despite showing a penchant for reaching the end zone. He expects to do the same again this fall as fellow seniors James Goebbert and Evan Brenner step into larger roles for a Whips team looking to bounce back after missing the playoffs for the first time in four years last season.

"It should be the same mind-set for me," Moore said. "We have a lot of leadership this year and a lot of guys ready to contribute. I think this year is going to be a lot different for the team."

Huntley's Jordan Neukirch and St. Edward's Moises Quiroga are two other experienced running backs to keep an eye on going into the fall.

Neukirch has run for 1,119 yards and scored 16 touchdowns the past two years and Quiroga has compiled 1,055 yards and scored 11 touchdowns the past two seasons.

• Bierman supportive of Gehrig -- Elgin coach Dave Bierman knows new Larkin coach Matt Gehrig will have some extra incentive when he leads his Royals against the Maroons this fall.

After all, Gehrig worked as an assistant under Bierman at Larkin the past three years and also played for Bierman at Burlington Central in the late 1990s.

Bierman has had similar experiences during his coaching career. After starting out as an assistant under Jim Hoffman and Dick Stephens at Elgin, Bierman went on to coach against both former bosses, first when he led Central against Hoffman's St. Edward squad and later when he led DeKalb against Stephens' Bartlett team.

"I know it's always kind of neat to coach against somebody that you worked for," Bierman said.

Bierman is well aware of the challenges Gehrig faces as the Royals' new leader, but Bierman says the 28-year-old is well-equipped to handle those challenges.

"Whatever (Gehrig) lacks in experience he's going to make up for with enthusiasm and energy," Bierman said. "I told him the other day, 'I don't care how long you've been coaching, there's always going to be something that comes up that you've never dealt with before.' Experience is wonderful, but you really learn along the way."

• Pair of St. Edward players St. Ambrose bound -- Three years of hard work and determination on the varsity level have paid off for St. Edward graduates Matt Ardiente and Ryan Gilbert , who will both play for St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, this fall.

Ardiente is eyeing a spot on special teams or with the offense while Gilbert could be in the mix for quarterback duties or a spot at a skill position for the Fighting Bees.

Ardiente and Gilbert certainly took their lumps during high school as they went 1-26 in three varsity seasons as key figures in coach Mike Rolando's rebuilding of the Green Wave's program. Now they'll go from a situation where wins were hard to come by to one where winning is expected.

St. Ambrose finished 10-2 last year, has won back-to-back Mid-States Football Association titles, reached the NAIA playoffs the past three years and is in the midst of a stretch of eight consecutive winning seasons.

"I saw their record and thought that was something I'd like to be a part of," Ardiente said. "They've won conference titles and made it to the playoffs, and hopefully I can contribute to that."