Hawks notch perfect record

AURORA -- Bartlett capped the first undefeated season in school history in impressive fashion, routing East Aurora 51-6 Saturday afternoon.

The Hawks, who entered the game ranked fourth in the Class 8A state poll, also captured their first outright Upstate Eight Conference title since 2003, and the first under coach Tom Meaney.

"It's nice, it's been awhile since we were conference champs. Now we hope to get a good seed for the playoffs and make some noise from there," said Meaney, whose team improved to 9-0 and 6-0 in the UEC.

From the first snap of the game, it was clear the Bartlett passing game was going to be too much for East Aurora (2-7, 1-5) to handle, as Josh Hasenberg connected with Alex VanNess on a 64-yard touchdown.

"We called a post/wheel route on that play and Josh found me down the middle of the field on the wheel," said VanNess. "It was a good way for us to start the game."

That was only the beginning of what would be a record-setting day for Hasenberg, despite him playing only the first half. The senior quarterback finished 11-of-15 passing for 235 yards and a school-record six touchdown passes. The 235 yards also gave him 1,665 passing yards for the season, breaking his own school record of 1,593 set last year.

"It was a lot of fun out there today, and our team really came out ready to play," Hasenberg said. "We wanted to mix it up on offense, but they were putting a lot of guys in the box, so we just kept passing," .

Following an East Aurora fumble, recovered by the Hawks' James Crain, Bartlett tacked onto their lead with a 29-yard Dan Karys field goal.

Another East Aurora fumble, this time recovered by Eric Moreno, gave the Hawks the ball on the Tomcats' 15-yard line and two plays later Hasenberg found Cory Brown over the middle for a 6-yard scoring strike.

After a Tomcats punt, it was Brown again finding the end zone for the Hawks, this time with a 58-yard reception on the first play of the drive.

"We ran basically the same play we did on the first score of the game," said Brown. "I was the post route and Josh just stuck with me and we got the touchdown."

An interception by the Hawks David Palma cut the ensuing Tomcats drive short and seven plays and 64 yards later Hasenberg hit Greg Partyka with a screen pass and he plowed his way in from 9 yards out.

That capped the first-quarter scoring for the Hawks as they outgained the Tomcats 209-14.

A big sack by Crain on the Tomcats next possession set up a fourth-and-22 for the Tomcats and forced them to punt. The Hawks then again marched down the field, this time with a five-play, 57-yard drive that ended with another touchdown for VanNess, this one from 12 yards out.

"The passing game was really sharp today, and we need to stay sharp like that next week because no matter who we play it's going to be a challenge," VanNess said, pointing to the postseason.

Another Tomcats three-and-out and a 14-yard punt gave the Hawks great field position and Hasenberg finished of his career day with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Matt Pashawitz.

Corleon Richardson finished off the Hawks' scoring with a 70-yard TD run with 15 seconds to go in the half, giving the Hawks a 51-0 lead heading into the break. Richardson led the Hawks with 74 rushing yards.