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Bartlett passing game works against West Chicago

An effective passing game in the first half and the efficiency of turning three second-half West Chicago turnovers into touchdowns helped the Bartlett Hawks win big over the hosts Friday night 54-7.

Bartlett also converted two Wildcats turnovers in the first half to help them go to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division.

"For our kids, it's about improving each day, starting up front with our offensive and defensive lines. We want the focus to be on us and what we have to do and that's not always the easiest thing to do in high school," said Hawks coach Eric llich.

Bartlett had a 13-7 halftime lead against West Chicago (0-3, 0-1). The Hawks responded first in the third quarter when a Wildcats' punt and a personal foul by them put Bartlett on the West Chicago 22-yard line.

Matteo Jones gained 3 yards and then ran it in from the 19, 4:53 into the quarter. Thomas Krolikowski made the second of six extra points on the night.

The subsequent Wildcats' drive lasted one play before the Hawks' Ryan Temesvary recovered a fumble. That put his team on the West Chicago 13 and three plays later, Vanshon Lindsey ran it in from the 2.

With just 1:39 remaining in the quarter, quarterback Joseph Daum connected with Jones on a 36-yard TD pass.

Early in the fourth quarter, Joseph Waltz returned an interception 45 yards to help put Bartlett up 40-7. On the subsequent Wildcats' drive, Bartlett recovered a fumble on the first play and then eventually turned into Joey Allen's 24-yard scoring run.

The Hawks' final points on the scoreboard came with 57.1 seconds remaining in the game as Allen ran 67 yards for the evening's final touchdown.

Bartlett had gone into the game after a 42-0 loss to St. Charles North the previous week.

"This is huge. We needed it. We were down on ourselves and everyone needed to pick their heads up," Daum said.

The senior quarterback passed for 136 yards, 108 of which came in the first half.

"The play action was working very well with the fake handoff. The defensive backs left the receiver alone because they focusing on the handoff," he said.

West Chicago, which travels to Larkin next week, took the lead first with 2:24 remaining in the opening quarter. Jeremy Grant recovered the ball when a rolling punt touched a Bartlett player. That put the Wildcats on the Hawks' 14, and quarterback Zachary Stefan ran the football into the end zone on the next play.

Bartlett stays on the road with a trip to South Elgin for Week 4.

"This is all part of the practice that we get trying to improve as we face the meat of our conference schedule," Illich said.

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