Bartlett knocks off No. 5 South Elgin

Bartlett coach Tom Meaney and his staff believed all along they had a good football team on their hands. The problem was convincing the players themselves after a 1-2 start to the season.

"I don't believe these kids believed," Meaney said. "All week we were telling them, 'You guys are a good football team. You just have to put it together.' Sometimes you have to convince a group they can play football."

If the Hawks weren't convinced before, they are now.

Five different Bartlett defenders snared interceptions against South Elgin quarterback John Menken, and running back Andrew Puccini and quarterback A.J. Bilyeu combined to rush for 331 yards and 6 touchdowns in Bartlett's 42-23 homecoming romp over the No. 5 team in Class 8A.

"All week our coaches were saying, 'We can beat these guys, 5-0 doesn't mean anything'" said Bilyeu, who rushed for 113 yards and 4 touchdowns. " In the end, we just came out with a full head of steam."

Bartlett (4-2, 2-1) jumped to a 7-0 lead 50 seconds into the game as Puccini squirted free from a pileup and cut outside for a 75-yard touchdown run. It wasn't the last time he would churn his legs through a would-be tackler from South Elgin (5-1, 3-1). The senior broke tackles all night to finish with 218 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns on 17 carries.

"I just kept driving my feet, but it was all the o-line," Puccini said. "I want to give them all the credit."

Against South Elgin's explosive passing attack, Bartlett dropped its safeties and cornerbacks into deep coverage most of the night, thereby taking away the deep threat, and they assigned linebackers to the flats.

And the Hawks did so with different personnel. Tight end Russell Martin (6-1) and receiver Zach Karys played cornerback for the first time, and senior Jamel Holloway also joined the secondary. All three players made picks, as did Joey Scaminaci and junior linebacker Demetrius Coleman.

"We were looking for the deep ball originally, but when they started throwing short we just let them and made the plays," Scaminaci said. "They only went deep one time tonight."

And when South Elgin did throw deep, the 6-0 Scaminaci intercepted a ball intended for 6-5 receiver Kenny Lowden. The ball was underthrown. Other Menken passes were overthrown. In all it was an uncharacteristic night for Menken, who hadn't thrown an interception this season.

On the next play after Scaminaci's pick, Bilyeu, also a track sprinter, cut the corner and ran 87 yards to put Bartlett ahead 21-7 with 6:22 left in the second quarter. The Hawks led 28-9 at the half and took a 35-7 lead early in the third quarter on Bilyeu's 6-yard bootleg keeper.

"John's a good ballplayer," Storm coach Dale Schabert said of Menken's troubles. "We're not going to lose faith in John. He missed a lot of wide-open guys tonight, and he's hit a lot of wide-open guys this year. They're young men. We're going to learn from this."

Menken said something was wrong mechanically.

"I wasn't pulling down with my elbow," he said. "It was floating up and they were playing that Cover-2 and made the plays. It wasn't the receivers' fault at all; It was my fault. I have to get back at it Monday with my mechanics and work on my technique again."