Hawks falter late in UEC defeat
STREAMWOOD -- Bartlett has had its fair share of heartbreaking losses this season – South Elgin, St. Charles East, and Waubonsie Valley. The Hawks can add a fourth, this time a stunning loss to Lake Park, which saw Bartlett give up 20 unanswered points in a 27-23 defeat.
The Hawks held the Lancers in check much of the game, allowing just 99 total yards from scrimmage and two first downs. Bartlett stuck to its game plan, holding Lake Park's reliable running back Artie Monaco to just 35 yards on 16 attempts on the ground.
Meanwhile, Bartlett quarterback A.J. Bilyeu threw for 127 yards on 11-of-14 passing and ran for another 28 yards and a score in the first half. He added another 84 yards through the air in the second half.
Bilyeu spread it around to five targets, but wide receiver Zach Konstanzer was his main one, catching nine balls for 83 yards. At the halfway point, the Hawks had outgained Lake Park 212-99 from scrimmage, were up 17-7, and looked like they were in complete control.
"The kids played hard," said Bartlett coach Tom Meaney. "We had a good game plan coming in and we executed the game plan most of the game. It just came down to a couple big plays late in the game. You have to take your hat off to No. 33 (Monaco). Our defense played well for the most part. There were just three or four plays that they burned us on."
Bartlett kicker Alex Busch booted 40- and 27-yard field goals to make it 23-13 Hawks. From that point, Monaco and the Lancers running game took over. After the 27-yarder from Busch, Monaco ran back a kickoff 92 yards for a score with 4:39 left in the third.
The Lancers' two-point conversion failed, but a couple plays later, Lake Park defensive back Alex Fischer picked off a Bilyeu pass and returned it to the Bartlett 6-yard line. Three plays later, Monaco busted through for a 1-yard score with 2:52 remaining in the third.
Bartlett's defense had not allowed a first down in the second half and held the Lancers offense to just 14 yards from scrimmage, but the Hawks saw the score shrink to 23-20. With 1:16 to go in the game, Lake Park running back Jake McNamara ran it in from 27 yards out for the game-winner.
The loss dropped the Hawks to 3-6 and 1-5 in the Upstate Eight Conference, matching the program's worst-ever record, a mark set in the school's first varsity season.
"I don't want to talk about next season," Meaney said. "I want to talk about this team and these seniors. They played hard all season and just came up short. It just seemed like for some reason, we were snake-bitten. I just feel bad for these seniors."
LAKE PARK 27, BARTLETT 23
Bartlett 3 14 6 0 — 23
Lake Park 0 7 13 7 — 27
BART — FG Busch 18, 4:45
BART — Guterirrez 5 run (Busch kick), 6:55
LP — Monaco 61 pass from Hermann (Monaco kick), 6:19
BART — Bilyeu 1 run (Busch kick), :01
BART — FG Busch 40, 7:47
BART — FG Busch 27, 4:53
LP — Monaco 92 kick return (conversion failed), 4:39
LP — Monaco 1 run (Monaco kick), 2:52
LP — McNamara 26 run (Monaco kick), 1:16
Team statistics Bart LP
First downs 13 5
Comp.-att-int. 22-31-2 2-4-2
Passing yards 211 67
Rushing-att-yds. 31-126 29-120
Total yards 256 187
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 8-70 6-52
Individual statistics
Rushing
BART — Cruz 4-4, Bilyeu 7-38, Guterirrez 4-6, Puccini 10-45, Karys 6-32, Thabuteau 4-31, O'Connor 2-2.
LP — McNamara 8-62, Monaco 16-35, Hermann 4-13, Posen 1-10.
Passing
BART — Bilyeu 22-31-2, 211.
LP — Hermann 2-4-2, 67.
Receiving
BART — Konstanzer 7-78, Karys 9-51, Thabuteau 1-17 Partyka 3-34.
LP — Monaco 2-67.
