Bartlett handles East Aurora
Bartlett dominated on both sides of the ball in its 43-8 season home opener against East Aurora Friday night.
The Hawks rolled up a total of 417 yards on offense while limiting the Tomcats to 161 in the Upstate Eight Conference game.
Led by Tyler Rivelli's 161 yards on eight carries, Bartlett gained 295 yards on the ground. Junior quarterback Michael Priami completed 12 of 17 passes for 122 yards.
"We were pretty on point in all phases of the game. Every (goal) that we stressed tonight, we achieved," said Bartlett coach Matt Erlenbaugh. "Offensively we were moving the football; we were able to control the tempo of the game. Defensively we were making big plays, big tackles. We were hitting hard tonight, that's for sure."
Bartlett opened its scoring with 8:12 left in the first quarter when Priami swept two yards to the left for a touchdown.
Rivelli made it 14-0 Hawks at the 10:07 mark of the second quarter after scampering 40 yards down the right sideline to cross the goal line.
A 2-yard pass from Priami to Hayden Angell in the right corner of the end zone with three minutes left in the half put the Hawks up 22-0 at the intermission.
The Hawks had several scoring opportunities in the first 16 minutes stymied by penalties.
"We had some guys playing a varsity football game for the first time so they got a little antsy," Erlenbaugh said. "But we were able to keep under control."
Bartlett broke the game open in the third quarter.
On the first place from scrimmage in the second half, the Hawks widened their lead to 29-0 when Rivelli ran for 70 yards for a TD.
Jordan Snyder (51 yards on seven carries) scored on the Hawks' next possession on a 13-yard run. The senior scored again on Bartlett's third series in the half, scoring on a 1-yard run to put the Hawks up 43-0 at the end of the period.
Snyder also prevented a Tomcat score in the second quarter. Sebastian Renteria broke loose for a 47-yard run before being brought down by Snyder's ankle tackle at the Hawks' 21-yard line.
East Aurora got on the board in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard plunge by Sebastian Garcia.
"They are a very good program from the coaching staff down to their young men. They executed very well tonight," East Aurora coach Nick Kukuc said. "They did their job more than we did ours."