Waubonsie Valley knocks off Bartlett
Waubonsie Valley football coach Paul Murphy thought his team's best play Friday night was the game-tying touchdown.
The game-winning touchdown wasn't bad either.
Kenny Clay scored on runs of 12 yards and 75 yards in the second half as the Warriors rallied to beat Bartlett, 21-14, in Upstate Eight Conference action at Millennium Field.
"He executed (the game-tying) play perfectly," Murphy said.
Waubonsie (2-1, 1-0 UEC), one of the preseason favorites to win the conference, trailed reigning conference champion Bartlett, 14-7, at halftime. After a Kyle Piegore interception gave the Warriors the ball on their own 49 less than 2 minutes into the third quarter, Waubonsie drove to the Hawks' 12. The Warriors ran the option right out of the shotgun. Clay kept the ball and scored with 6:46 left in the third quarter as Waubonsie tied the game at 14-14.
Bartlett (1-2, 0-1) forced Waubonsie to turn the ball over on its next two possessions, but were unable to get anything going offensively. With 11:07 left, the Hawks pinned the Warriors back on their own 16. Clay hit Malcolm Buckner, who scored on a 37-yard pass in the first quarter, for a 9-yard gain. On the next play, Bartlett brought an extra defender from the outside. Clay faked the defender off his feet and sprinted to his right. Down field, Clay cut back left and outran the Hawks' defense for a 75-yard touchdown run and a 21-14 lead with 10:10 remaining
"Bartlett showed a blitz off the edge and we saw it," said Clay, who finished with 116 yards rushing and 102 yards passing. "I pumped faked. God gave me the speed and I used it and just ran."
The Hawks had three more possessions, one ending with a punt and two ending on interceptions by Owen Saldana and Johnny Giba.
"I loved our effort," Hawks coach Tom Meaney said. "We went hard to the end."
Bartlett took a 14-7 lead in the second quarter. Lineman Sergio Vazquez recovered a Aaron Thabuteau fumble in the end zone with 4:17 left in the half to tie the game 7-7. With 4 seconds remaining, A.J. Bilyeu hit Greg Partyka for a 9-yard touchdown to give the Hawks a 14-7 halftime lead.
"We were actually moving the ball pretty good tonight," Meaney said. "We just came up short."
Thabuteau rushed for 94 yards on 24 carries for Bartlett, which also had three interceptions.