Bartlett pulls away from Larkin
Halftime found Bartlett clinging to a precarious 16-10 lead against Larkin. The Hawks repeatedly hurt themselves with penalties and turnovers. But after the break, the Hawks cleaned up their act and pulled away for a 39-10 Upstate Eight victory at Memorial Field.
Tyler Rivelli was the Hawks' workhorse, carrying 27 times for 141 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The defense also came up big for the Hawks (6-1, 6-1). Nicholas Bucaro had 2 of the Hawks' 5 interceptions, including a pick-6 to close out the scoring. Joseph Latrofa had a pick and 2 of Bartlett's 7 sacks.
Bartlett also recorded 2 safeties on high snaps by Larkin.
"We're proud of our guys defensively," said Hawks coach Matthew Erlenbaugh. "We were flying around the football. When they put it up in the air, our guys were reading it well and making plays."
Larkin scored all its points in the second quarter. Adrian Jaramillo's 29-yard field goal got the Royals on the board after they fell behind 16-0 in the first quarter.
On the Royals' next possession, quarterback Dontrell Maxie found Jamarion Stubbs open on a short crossing route. He cut back and saw nothing but daylight, taking it all the way for a 41-yard score.
Stubbs had a huge night with 10 catches for 123 yards.
The Royals got the ball back twice more with a chance to go ahead, but couldn't convert.
After intermission, the Hawks started to wear down the undermanned Royals. Matthew Young returned the second-half kickoff to the Larkin 30. From there, the Hawks needed just 5 plays to score, with quarterback Michael Priami doing the honors himself.
Bartlett then put the game away with 16 fourth-quarter points. Rivelli's second score of the game made it 32-10, and Bucaro erased any doubt about the outcome by picking off a pass at his own 12-yard line and weaving through traffic all the way to the end zone.
"The first half wasn't what we wanted," Erlenbauch said. "It was a little sloppy on our part with penalties and turnovers. So it definitely wasn't the first half we were looking for.
We realized that, hey, we're in a game here, so we need to step up, get our minds right and take one play at a time. That's what we did and came out with a victory."
Priami threw 11 completions for 111 yards, all in the first half, including a scoring strike to Hayden Angell.
In the second half, the Hawks were content to pound the ball behind tailbacks Rivelli and Jordan Snyder. The latter added 77 yards on the ground as the Hawks totaled 259 rushing yards.