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Bartlett pulls away from Elgin in 4th quarter

Bartlett's defense helped fuel its offense Friday.

Liam Gallagher returned an interception for a touchdown, Nick Bucaro brought back another to the 1-yard line to set up a score, and the Hawks sacked Elgin quarterbacks 5 times in a 34-13 homecoming victory.

The teams combined for 6 turnovers and more than 170 yards in penalties in the sloppy Upstate Eight contest.

Jordan Snyder ran for 2 scores, Tyler Rivelli scored on a long run and Michael Priami tossed a touchdown pass to Bucaro for Bartlett (3-1, 3-1).

The Hawks led just 20-13 with under 10 minutes left after Xavier Bonds scored on a short run for Elgin (0-4, 0-4). But Bartlett answered with 2 touchdowns in 76 seconds to break the game open.

After Bonds' score, Matthew Young returned the kickoff 50 yards into Elgin territory, from where it took the Hawks just 2 plays to score. Bucaro cashed it in with a 42-yard scamper.

Three plays later, Bucaro intercepted an errant pass and returned it to the 1-yard line. Snyder took it in from there and what had been a close game 2 minutes earlier suddenly looked like a blowout.

Bartlett led 13-7 at halftime thanks to a 67-yard run by Rivelli, who finished with 131 yards on just 16 carries. Snyder added 82 yards on the ground. After a slow start, Priami completed 8 of 10 passes to start the second half, finishing 12 of 26 for 159 yards.

Joe Latrofa had a fumble recovery and a strip sack that ended Elgin's last-gasp drive.

As usual, Bonds did a little of everything for the Maroons. He caught 5 passes for 81 yards, ran for a score and came up with an interception and long return.

With tailback Brandon Bridges sidelined, the Maroons often lined up with empty backfields or with receivers Bonds and Alex West in the backfield. Quarterback Gio Griffin was Elgin's leading rusher with 76 yards. He and Jeffery Lomax combined to complete 16 of 31 attempts for 249 yards.

Bartlett took the lead when Rivelli ran straight up the middle, broke a tackle near the line of scrimmage, then cut outside and raced up the sideline 67 yards for a score with 5 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The Hawks increased the lead to 13-0 when Gallagher hauled in an errant Elgin effort and raced 71 yards for the score.

The Maroons finally got on the board 6 seconds before halftime when Lomax found Darien Jackson in the corner of the end zone. The drive covered 94 yards in less than 3 minutes, with Lomax completing passes of 16 yards to Jackson and 33 yards to Bonds along the way.

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