Bartlett rallies in final minutes

Hasenberg

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NAPERVILLE -- Bartlett escaped by the hair on its chinny, chin chin Friday night on the road against Neuqua Valley in a hot-and-heavy Upstate Eight Conference thriller.

The Hawks, ranked No. 4 in this week's Class 8A state poll, remained undefeated and on pace to win the conference title after holding off the resilient Wildcats 31-28 thanks in large part to a game-clinching interception in the end zone by Alex VanNess with three seconds remaining.

VanNess, one of Bartlett's starting wide receivers, was inserted into the game for the final defensive play against Neuqua Valley and the senior responded by wrestling the football away from the Wildcats' Joshua Schaffer, who looked to have his hands on the ball when he went up in the air to catch a 20-yard floater from quarterback Alex Lincoln in the right corner of the end zone.

Prior to Neuqua Valley's final drive, the Hawks (7-0, 5-0) had to put together a pressure-packed drive of their own just to get the lead and set up VanNess' defensive heroics.

Trailing 28-24 with 4:55 left on the clock, the Hawks marched 80 yards in 11 plays to go ahead. The scoring drive was capped by a 42-yard touchdown pass from Josh Hasenberg to Cory Brown (9 catches, 169 yards) on a quick slant up the middle.

Brown shed one tackler and then raced untouched for the go-ahead score with 1:14 to go.

"We do a lot of two-minute drills in practice," Hasenberg said. "We were confident we were going to score. I just stepped back and threw it to (Brown) and he was wide open over the middle. I don't think they were expecting it.

"I'm just so proud of my teammates for coming through. Neuqua Valley is a good team and they showed it. They had us on our backs, but we just kept pushing."

Bartlett led 17-14 at halftime after scoring 10 points off turnovers, including a 47-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Dante Perez and a 39-yard field goal by Dan Karys.

The Hawks looked to take control early in the fourth quarter after Hasenberg rumbled in from seven yards out to put the Hawks up 24-14 with 11:12 left in the game.

However, the Wildcats answered with a scoring drive on their next possession when Lincoln hit Schaffer for a 4-yard touchdown pass with 9:07 left.

Neuqua Valley (3-4, 2-3) then took the lead with 4:55 remaining after Lincoln found Conner Yearian (8 catches, 148 yards, 3 TDs) in the end zone for a 15-yard pass completion.

"This was a heck of a win for us," Bartlett coach Tom Meaney said. "Neuqua Valley is a great team. Our defensive backs definitely had their hands full with those kids."

Hasenberg finished with 280 yards on 18-of-27 passing. The Hawks ran the ball 30 times for 87 yards, led by Corleon Richardson's 10 totes for 48 yards.

Lincoln completed 26 of 37 passes for 343 yards and the one costly interception. Bartlett won the turnover margin 4-0, scoring 21 points off turnovers. Neuqua Valley managed just 34 rushing yards rushing on 26 carries.