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Bartlett falls to Prairie Ridge

Once the Prairie Ridge football freight train tracked its way through Millennium Field and Class 8A Bartlett 48-7 Friday night in Streamwood, Hawks coach Eric Ilich couldn't help but be admissive about his nonconference opponent, Class 6A's second-ranked team.

"Prairie Ridge appears to be a serious 6A state title contender,"a blown away Ilich said. "What we saw tonight was a special version of the triple option. That was different. That's different. That ain't the triple option. That's different. And good. Real good."

Just how good? Junior quarterback Samson Evans rushed 16 times for 192 yards and 3 touchdowns, while tossing a 33-yard touchdown pass to Nicholas Hamilton to finish 3 of 3 passing for 55 yards. Running back Cole Brown rushed 11 times for 97 yards and a touchdown and the Wolves' (5-0) offense, which compiled 288 total yards at the half, finished with a 448-130 edge, 393 via the run. And to boot, after the Hawk (2-3) defense stalled PR's first drive at the Bartlett 40, Zach Gulbransen housed a 37-yard punt return with 3:55 left in the first quarter to get the Wolves' engine going.

"That's such a momentum killer, especially after a big stop like that on defense," said Matteo Jones, who had Bartlett's only touchdown on a 20-yard pass from Joseph Daum late in the fourth quarter. "They get a couple of penalties, we got momentum and we give up a special teams touchdown like that ... that really kills us, the vibe and the momentum."

The rout was on thereafter. Evans made it 14-0 on a 13-yard run prior to the end of the first quarter. Brown followed with a 5-yard run early in the second quarter and Evans' scoring pass to Hamilton with 1:24 left secured a 27-0 lead at the half. But PR didn't stop there.

The Evans Express barreled back-to-back 27-yard touchdown runs for PR's first 2 drives of the third quarter. The Wolves also recovered a muffed punt by the Hawks at the Bartlett 4 for Trevor Potters' 4-yard score for a 48-0 lead early in the fourth.

"To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what was going on," Jones added, while Ilich enforced that the Hawks "will go back to the drawing board and continue to row the boat because that's what we do."

Bartlett punted on 7 of its 9 drives, totaling 259 yards. One drive ended on an interception by PR's James Queen. Running back Vanshon Lindsey led the Hawks with 15 carries for 18 yards while Daum finished 9-for-16 for 98 yards passing. Most weeks Bartlett's come alive in the second half. This time the Hawks never got out of the gate against a stifling PR defense.

"They were just getting pressure off the edge, the outside backers were blitzing,"added Jones, who noticed a lot of pressure. "Runs up the middle were working but their defensive line, they were chop blocking and creating that line you couldn't get over. You try to bounce it out and they were right there."

Which was a far cry from PR's first drive, in which it looked like Bartlett would be just as aggressive when it forced 2 flags and a rare PR punt, its only unsuccessful drive.

"Sometimes you get a big play and the adrenaline starts flowing and you get going again," PR coach Chris Schremp said. "The kids are putting it together, they're clicking, they're working hard everyday and believing what we're coaching and it's showing on the field."

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