Competitive Cousins Bartlett Cousins Line Up On Opposite Sides Of Ball At The University-CV Showdown

This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be for cousins Rob and Nate Bartlett.

Rob, who attends University High, and Nate, who attends Central Valley, had anticipated being opposing quarterbacks for the annual renewal of the intradistrict football rivalry.

“We’d been waiting for this for a while,” said Rob, a senior first-year Titan starter.

Instead, injured late in the first half, he watched the remainder of the game from the sidelines.

Hit during a passing attempt on the next-to-last play of the first half, Rob separated his shoulder.

“As I threw I saw (Courtney Brown) coming at me, turned and he hit me hard,” he said. “When I got up I knew something was wrong.”

Nate was playing a different position, having moved to fullback last week after three starts at quarterback.

Beaten out of the quarterback position by junior Chad Adamson, he was philosophical about the switch.

“It was not really disappointing,” he said. “I thought I was doing a good job but fumbled on the first series against Mead. A senior shouldn’t do that.”

As it turned out, any disappointment he may have felt was salved by the 27-3 loss CV hung on U-Hi.

Kneeling on the sidelines in pouring rain, Rob Bartlett endured not only the pain of injury and insult, but also had to watch his cousin Nate score the touchdown from 12 yards out less than two minutes into the fourth quarter that drove the final stake into the Titans’ heart.

“It was killing me,” Rob said. “It’s only one time out against CV.”

Because the cousins are also best of friends, there was no antagonism or insults prior to the game.

“We didn’t talk much about it,” said Nate. “Whoever won, won. Whoever lost, lost. We’re competitive but it’s just a game.”

Not entirely.

Their grandmother, parents, three uncles, Rob’s two sisters and Nate’s brother Mike were in the stands. Some came from the Seattle area. Mike, a U-Hi grad who now is a student at the University of Idaho, came up from from Moscow.

Bill, Paul and Mike Bartlett, Nate’s dad, are U-Hi graduates and former football players. Bob Bartlett, Rob’s dad, teaches there. The youngest of the uncles, Mark, is a CV grad.

“Uncle Bob bought grandma a T-shirt with University on one side and Central Valley on the other,” said Nate.

The two cousins had squared off as quarterbacks in the ninth grade, when Rob was at Horizon Junior High and Nate at Greenacres. Horizon won 12-7.

“I remember recovering a fumble and running it back,” said Nate. “Rob was the last man able to stop me. I juked him and he grabbed my ankle and held on.”

This time Nate had the upper hand. He carried the ball five times for 22 yards and caught two passes for 14 more.

A promising start for the Titans gave way to CV’s defense. Rob moved his team 63 yards in 10 plays and completed three passes for 34 yards.

CV allowed only a field goal and extracted its toll. A series before he was injured, Rob was hit by Brandon Bouge who “knocked me silly.”

Rob tried to come back in the second half and play despite the injury, but after one series was done.

“I was going to play no matter what, even though they told me if I was hit I’d probably be out for the year,” he said.

Doctors are now saying it will probably be three weeks before he plays again. Rob said he was going to try his hardest to come back after this week’s game against Mead.

With the victory and a touchdown still fresh in his mind, Nate is looking forward to more of the same.

“It’s satisfying for me no matter what position I play,” he said.

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