Neuqua Valley holds off Bartlett
Bartlett found out the hard way on Friday night just how quickly a football game can turnaround.
After dominating the first half against highly touted Neuqua Valley it took a matter of seconds, 15 seconds to be exact, in the third quarter for everything to change as the visiting Wildcats rallied for a 21-7 victory at Millennium Field in Streamwood in a battle between former Upstate Eight rivals.
Bartlett led 7-0 at the half after outgaining Neuqua 140-56 in total yards. However, with 8:26 left to play in the third quarter Bartlett tried a fake punt on a 4th and 21 at their own 25 yard line. The pass fell incomplete and the Wildcats took over on downs. On the very next play Owen Piche ran 25 yards for a touchdown on a counter play to tie the score at 7-7.
"We were kind of in shock after that first half," said Piche. "We came in here feeling like this is a game we should win, but we sure didn't play like it in the first half. But even as bad as we played in the first half we know we are a good team and that we were just one big play from turning around."
After the ensuing kick off to Bartlett that resulted in a touchback things turned from bad to worse. Hawks quarterback Brenner Wallace threw an interception to the Wildcats' Zach Greenberg, who returned it 25 yards for a touchdown to put Neuqua up 14-7 with 8:11 left in the third quarter.
"I remembered seeing on film they like to throw a quick go when they have double receivers on my side," Greenberg said. "I just read the play and made a play on the ball. It's an amazing feeling. Never thought I would get a varsity touchdown. It was the sweetest feeling ever. We knew we didn't play well in the first half, but we stuck together like brothers."
Neuqua (4-1) added an insurance touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 9 play 75 yard drive that ended with 3 yard touchdown run by Gre McClellan. The Wildcats only had 249 yards of offense. Over a 100 yards less than their season average.
"We know we did not play very well tonight," Neuqua coach Bill Ellinghaus said. "But I am proud of the way the kids hung in there and battled back. We were opportunistic when we were given a chance and just happy to come away with a win."
Bartlett (1-4) marched 80 yards on 13 plays on the opening drive of the game. Wallace scored on a 1 yard sneak to put the Hawks up 7-0. However, Bartlett couldn't take advantage of a couple other scoring opportunities when it had the ball in Neuqua territory.
"I definitely felt like we left some points out there, " Bartlett coach Tom Meaney said. "I thought we did a good job of moving the ball but some silly mistakes cost us. Then in the second half we made some plays we shouldn't have made."
Ben Johnson had a game high 103 yards rushing on 22 carries for the Hawks.