Bartlett blasts rival Streamwood

STREAMWOOD – When the rain finally stopped on Friday night at Millennium Field, Bartlett poured it on.

The Hawks broke a 7-7 tie late in the first half and rolled to a 38-14 Upstate Eight Conference win over Streamwood.

With 3:03 left in the first half and the score tied, Bartlett (2-3, 1-1) needed a jolt. Beleaguered by seven early penalties totaling 50 yards, the Hawks had handed their early momentum over to the Sabres (1-4, 0-2), who were responding well under fill-in starting quarterback Nick Pryor (9-for-11, 115 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT).

The Hawks appeared to click on their next drive, finishing off a seven-play 58-yard drive with a 7-yard TD pass from A.J. Bilyeu to Zach Karys with 1:06 left.

"I think that was the best drive we've had all year," Bartlett coach Tom Meaney said. "We had a couple draws that went real well, guys were getting out of bounds (because of the clock) and they did a good job on offense in general.

"We made some mistakes penalty-wise but the kids fought through it and played better in the second half."

Bartlett opened the third quarter with another scoring drive, culminating on an 11-yard Bilyeu pass to Aaron Thabuteau with 6:27 left in the third.

Trying to stay in the game and now down 21-7, Streamwood was able to cross midfield before the first of its three second-half turnovers put the game out of its reach. Wayne Holloway's fumble on Bartlett's 47 was pounced on by Eric Moreno. One play later, Thabuteau (12 carries, 126 yards) was scampering down the sideline for a 53-yard TD run to push the Hawks to a 28-7 advantage.

"Coaches told us to come out in the second half and play hard and that the game wasn't over," Thabuteau said.

On the opening possession of the fourth quarter, Pryor was picked off by tackle Will DeCoste, who took the interception back 43 yards to the two-yard line. Luke O'Connor ran it on the next play from scrimmage to push the lead to 35-7.

The Sabres miscues continued when the ensuing kickoff went through the arms of Streamwood's return man and was recovered by Christopher Cruz. The Hawks finished off the drive with a 35-yard field goal from Alex Busch go up 38-7 with 8:38 left in the contest.

"We're trying to build here," Streamwood head coach Cal Cummins said. "We sustained for a half. We played some good football, we hit with them. But you know what, they've got more horses than us in the end."

After being shut out by Neuqua Valley a week ago, the offensive output was welcome.

"These last couple weeks we couldn't come through for our defense," said Bilyeu, who went 11-for-16 passing and totaled 167 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. "We knew this week we had to come out strong. We tried some new things and it worked out for us. It feels great."

The Sabres were able to get a consolation score with 4:13 left in the game on a 2-yard run from Alex Morrow (9 carries, 34 yards).

Bartlett scored on its opening drive of the game after a 56-yard reception by Mike Banks set up a 13-yard TD pass from Bilyeu to a double-covered Matt Kujak with 7:11 left in the first quarter.

Streamwood had the game back on level terms with a five-yard TD pass from Pryor to Derrick King with 3:03 left in the first half.

"Considering the circumstances, he did a good job," Cummins said of Pryor, who was filling in for the injured Dalton Lundeen. "It's a tough thing to do. He comes in, he's not a quarterback. He hasn't really worked as a quarterback. He's a good athlete, a good kid. He'll get better as we go."

Streamwood's Matt Nykaza came away with an interception in the third quarter.

BARTLETT 38, STREAMWOOD 14

Bartlett           7   7   14   10   --  38

Streamwood  0   7     0     7    --  14

BARTLETT – Kujak 13 pass from Bilyeu (Busch kick), 7:11

STREAMWOOD – King 5 pass from Pryor (Banda kick), 3:03

BARTLETT – Karys 7 pass from Bilyeu (Busch kick), 1:06

BARTLETT – Thabuteau 11 pass from Bilyeu (Busch kick), 6:27

BARTLETT – Thabuteau 53 run (Busch kick), 3:34

BARTLETT – O'Connor 2 run (Busch kick), 11:43

BARTLETT – Busch 35 FG, 8:38

STREAMWOOD – Morrow 2 run (Banda kick), 4:13

Team statistics              BART           STR

First downs                         9                    7

Comp.-att-int.               11-16-1           9-11-1

Passing yards                    167                 115

Rushing-att-yds.              35-80             34-197

Total yards                       247                  312

Fumbles-lost                     1-0                  5-2

Penalties-yards                10-80              3-15

Individual statistics

Rushing:

BARTLETT — Thabuteau 12-126, O'Connor 4-21, Puccini 5-29, Cruz 4-14, Bilyeu 5-(minus)8, Fry 1-4, Malorana 1-4, Gutierrez 1-5, Wetherton 1-2.

STREAMWOOD — Morrow 9-35, Pryor 17-24, King 6-9, Holloway 3-12.

Passing:

BARTLETT — Bilyeu 11-16-1 167.

STREAMWOOD — Pryor 9-11-1 115.

Receiving:

BARTLETT — Banks 2-52, Partyka 3-52, Thabuteau 3-31, Karys 2-19, Kujak 1-13.

STREAMWOOD – Woods 3-52, King 4-27, Nykaza 1-19, Fritz 1-17.