Hawks fly to 8-0 with win over Thornton
The Bartlett football team has no shrinking violets on its roster.
Whereas some teams wilt in the spotlight, the 2008 Hawks thrive in big games, like Saturday night's 28-14 nonconference victory over previously undefeated Thornton, a matchup of ranked teams in The Associated Press top 10 in Class 8A.
"I think this group likes the pressure," Bartlett coach Tom Meaney said. "They like being ranked and all that kind of stuff. We have kids who are intelligent kids who know they can get it done. If we just make good plays on offense and make good tackles on offense, this team can go as far as they want."
Where the Hawks went as a result of Saturday's victory was virgin territory: the win gave Bartlett (8-0) a school record for wins in a season.
The Bartlett defense held gifted Thornton quarterback Darren Jones to 49 yards rushing and 138 yards passing with 2 interceptions. On three occasions Bartlett turned Thornton away without points on drives inside the 10-yard line, twice inside the Bartlett 5 in the first quarter alone.
Thornton's no-huddle, shotgun-spread offense drove 13 plays on its opening possession to the Bartlett 2-yard line, but the Hawks stopped Jones on an option run on fourth down.
After the Bartlett offense immediately fumbled the ball back on its first play at the 5, the defense again stiffened. Facing fourth-and goal from the 10, Jones danced, looking for daylight, but was swarmed under by linemen Joe Quartullo and Jason Massey.
"All I can say is bend don't break," Hawks linebacker James Crain said. "It seems like we've been doing this all year. They get to the goal line and we step up and make a stop."
Bartlett attacked with new blitz packages installed during the week and walked linebackers up to the line in an effort to confuse Jones and make him check off at the line in the no-huddle scheme.
"We couldn't get going," Jones said. "It was mistake after mistake after mistake. They're a good team. They fly to the ball."
The Bartlett offense rushed for 182 yards, led by Fabian Libreri's 98, and quarterback Josh Hasenberg completed 7-of-17 attempts for 107 yards and 3 touchdowns, 2 to senior tight end Matt Pashawitz.
A 19-yard screen pass to Pashawitz capped a 16-play, 89-yard march that took seven minutes off the clock and gave Bartlett a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter.
Thornton tied the game on a 2-yard pass from Jones to Jamal Gray two minutes later, but Bartlett answered with a 5-play 47-yard drive that culminated in a Hasenberg 1-yard run. The Hawks took a 21-7 lead to halftime when Hasenberg spotted Alex VanNess all alone in the corner of the end zone for an 18-yard scoring strike on fourth-and-9 with 25 seconds left.
The Hawks moved to a 28-7 lead when Pashawitz followed the block of Mike Aiello on a screen pass that turned into a 26-yard touchdown with 4:43 left in the third quarter.
"The run game was working and that set up the screens," Pashawitz said. "I was just able to find my three offensive linemen and follow them to the end zone."
The Thornton offense didn't score in the second half. The Wildcats' only points came on a 74-yard punt return by Dante Tolbert with 6:01 to play.