Bartlett tops West Aurora for first win

For the Bartlett football team's defensive unit, enough was enough.

That was the sentiment on the Hawks' sideline after giving up a 13-play, 65-yard touchdown-scoring drive to West Aurora to start Friday's contest at Millennium Field. It had that foreboding feel, especially after Bartlett started the 2015 campaign 0-2.

So the defense regrouped and redeemed itself, pitching a shutout the rest of the way en route to a 27-7 victory to open Upstate Eight Valley play. West Aurora fell to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in conference.

"On the sideline, we just told (the coaches), 'We're not out of this game - this is our field,' " said senior defensive lineman Kyle Sanft of West Aurora's opening drive. "We just stepped up the momentum. They came out physical, and we just had to match their physicality."

"Our kids came after that first one and they sat down said they were going to do a better job the rest of the game," added Bartlett coach Tom Meaney. "The defensive line we kept rotating a couple of guys to keep them fresher this game. We kept moving guys in and out to give them a breather, and it seemed to work."

Bartlett's defense couldn't have been more stellar, sacking senior quarterback Johnathan Doyle twice and picking off Doyle and his backup, Jacob Jankovsky, three times in the fourth quarter to squelch any chance of a late rally.

The defensive front, anchored by Sanft and fellow seniors Tom Kirchhoff and Austin Odisho, stuffed the Blackhawks twice on fourth down, the first coming with 39.1 seconds in the first quarter on the Bartlett 41. Three plays later, the Hawks tied the score with 11:46 left in the half, on a 41-yard touchdown pass from senior Brenner Wallace to fellow senior Myles Sheahan.

On West Aurora's ensuing drive, Kirchhoff scooped up a Blackhawk fumble on the Hawks' 34-yard line. Seven plays later, Wallace found senior tight end Jason Hasenberg on a light toss, who corralled the ball at the 3 and then lumbered into the end zone.

All told, Bartlett held the Blackhawks to just 72 yards in the second half, 18 on the ground. Senior Ben Johnson also stopped West Aurora running back DaQuan Cross on fourth-and-inches at Bartlett's 18-yard line midway through the third quarter to deflate yet another potential rally.

"We knew it would be a big momentum shift if we stopped it," Odisho said. "We would give our offense the momentum, and we made a play. That's all we can do - make plays."

Of course, Bartlett's offense wasn't too shabby. Wallace went 10-for-15 for 152 yards and 2 touchdowns. Senior running back Nolan Bernat added his own touchdown toss, a 21-yarder to wide-open senior Jacob Majewski with 7:14 left in the game that set the final score.

Bernat added 91 yards rushing on 17 carries, and a rather strange touchdown as time expired in the first half.

It took Bartlett 6 plays to and 1 minute, 18 seconds to move the ball to the West Aurora 1-yard line. The clock appeared to expire as Wallace executed a run play, but the referees signaled that the Blackhawks had called timeout. After putting 1 second back on the clock, Bernat dashed up the middle into the end zone.

"We just wanted to get set up," West Aurora coach Nate Eimer said of the timeout. "We just wanted to make sure we had the right defensive call. They wound up getting in again."

Cross paced the Blackhawks on both sides of the ball, rushing for 69 yards on 14 carries, and catching 2 passes for 35 yards. He also intercepted Wallace early in the third quarter.

"I call the offense, and I thought we were just bad tonight," Eimer said. "It's fourth-and-inches … you've got to get it. Good teams go get those yards."