Saints dash Hawks' playoff hopes

STREAMWOOD -- Unfortunately for Bartlett, all good things must come to an end.

For the first time since 1999, the Hawks will not be heading to the state playoffs. Bartlett's fate was sealed on Friday night in a 7-3 home defeat against St. Charles East in Upstate Eight Conference play at Millennium Field.

The Saints (5-2, 5-0), on the other hand, appear headed to the playoffs and remain tied atop the UEC standings with Lake Park in coach Mike Fields' first season.

"These last two games are going to be a little different for us," said Bartlett coach Tom Meaney. "This is usually when we are making our push for the playoffs. I know it's disappointing, especially for the seniors. But this group has a lot of heart, they'll do the right thing and pick each other up and try to finish strong."

Things started well early on for the Hawks (2-5, 1-4), who marched 82 yards on their first possession down to the East 3-yard line before settling for a 19-yard field goal by Alex Busch.

Bartlett outgained East 249 yards to 125 for the game. The Hawks were once again plagued by turnovers and penalties. Bartlett was flagged eight times for 80 yards. None was more costly than a 10-yard holding penalty, which erased a 14-yard touchdown run by Aaron Thabuteau. That would have given the Hawks the lead late in the third quarter. Thabuteau also had a long run inside the East 10-yard line negated by a holding call late in the second quarter.

Bartlett turned the ball over three times, including on its last two possessions inside East territory. With just over four minutes left, quarterback AJ Bilyeu had the ball stripped away at midfield by the Saints' Matt Payne.

The Hawks got the ball back one last time with less than a minute to play and drove to the Saints' 28-yard line before Matt Kujak's halfback option pass was intercepted by Bryce Barry at the goal line with 10 seconds left.

"We've had our opportunities the last few weeks," said Meaney. "But we have been snake-bitten by penalties and turnovers all season."

The game featured outstanding defense on both sides. Bartlett dropped the Saints for losses nine times and held them to just five first downs. East, which was averaging close to 200 yards rushing per game, managed just 79 yards on the ground.

The Saints defense had four sacks.

East put together a 47-yard drive early in the second quarter for its only points of the night. Tyler Nutting's 18-yard run on a fake punt kept the drive alive. On the next play, quarterback Nolan Possley threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Jess Striedl.

"(Bartlett) stopped us like we haven't been stopped all season," said Fields. "They were very physical and we definitely lost some of those battles, but we won the war. We had a bend-but-don't-break mentality on defense. Bartlett kept coming at us, but every time we had an answer. I feel great for the kids."

ST. CHARLES EAST 7, BARTLETT 3

SC East    0   7   0   0   --  7

Bartlett     3   0   0   0   --  3

BART- FG Busch 19, 3:14

SCE – Striedl 23 pass from Possley (Keller kick), 10:12

Team statistics          SCE        BART

First downs                    5              11

Comp.-Att.-Int.          4-5-0      16-27-2

Passing yards                46            155

Rushing Att.-Yards     34-79        41-94

Total yards                  125            249

Penalties-Yards           5-40          8-80

Fumbles-Lost               1-1            2-1

Individual statistics

Rushing

SCE: Zajicek 13-53, Nutting 1-18, Possley 14-6, Fisher 2-3, Gomez 3-6.

Bartlett: Thabuteau 16-60, Puccini 14-39, O'Connor 3-12, Karys 1-5, Guteirrez 1-4, Bilyeau 5-(minus 26).

Passing

SCE: Possley 4-5-0 46.

Bartlett: Bilyeu 16-26-1 155, Kujak 0-1-1 0.

Receiving

SCE: Striedl 1-23, Nutting 1-5, Gomez 1-22, Zajicek 1-(minus 4).

Bartlett: Partyka 4-37, Banks 1-47, Puccini 1-4, Karys 5-38, Kujak 1-12, Almasry 2-14, Pellegrino 1-4, Thabateau 1-3.