Bartlett inches closer to playoffs with victory

For one team, a chance for postseason play was eliminated, but for the other, the postseason is well within their grasp.

For the Bartlett Hawks (5-3), two key turnovers made all the difference in their 36-26 nonconference win over the Thornton Township Wildcats (3-5) Saturday in Harvey.

The Wildcats were on the verge of a chance for a game-tying field goal or a go-ahead touchdown when Thornton quarterback Darren Jones coughed up the ball at the Bartlett 19-yard line.

Hawks' QB Josh Hasenberg marched his team down the field, capping the 81 yard drive with a 43-yard pass to Cory Brown for a 29-19 lead with just over 9 minutes to play.

"That was huge," Hasenberg said. "The defense got us the ball back, and our offense did a good job converting the turnover into points."

The Wildcats would score again with Jones completing a 37-yard touchdown pass to Quinton Richmond to cut the deficit back down to 3, but the Hawks answered back with a 62 yard TD run by Vinnie Libreri.

With just over 4 minutes on the clock, the Wildcats were still hanging on before David Palma got into position for an interception.

"We were hoping to try and force some turnovers early because they've given up the ball 21 times this season," said Hawks coach Tom Meaney. "We didn't do that the first half, but those two late turnovers were big."

The Wildcats did jump to an early 13-0 lead with Jones completing a 16-yard touchdown pass to Ronald McCollum and a 44-yard touchdown strike to Jamal Gray.

But, with the help of some key receptions by Bartlett tight ends, the Hawks would take the lead by the end of the first half.

"We wanted to run the ball and throw on third and long situations," Meaney said. "Our tight ends came up with some great catches."

Alex VanNess caught an 11-yard TD pass while a 52-yard grab from Brown set up a QB sneak for the second Bartlett touchdown of the half.

Libreri had a huge second half for the Hawks finishing the day running for 221 yards on 32 carries including a 4-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

"The first half didn't go quite as well," Libreri said. "But coach told us at half if we don't win that's it and that fired us up."

The Hawks can secure their eighth straight playoff berth with a win at home against East Aurora on Thursday night.