Kit Girls Shake Off Rust In Regional Romp

Evanston's girls didn't completely shake off the rust after a week with no games on the flag football schedule.

But the Wildkits, seeded No. 2 in the Evanston Sectional complex, had no trouble advancing to the regional championship game for the third year in a row.

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Coach Carlton Rosemond's squad slaughtered Chicago Amundsen 54-6 behind five touchdown passes from sophomore quarterback Ava Bellis and two returns of interceptions for TDs in Monday's lopsided contest at New Trier.

The Wildkits improved to 15-2 overall and will face the host team in Wednesday's title game at 4 p.m. New Trier, now 8-8, blanked Chicago Schurz 33-0 in Monday's other regional semifinal.

With a roster composed mostly of freshmen, Amundsen offered little resistance against an ETHS squad that is seeking its second trip to the Elite Eight in three years.

Evanston did practice over the past week. But this year the Illinois High School Association shifted the schedule so that the lowest seeds competing in "play in" games in the sectional bracket could play those games last week instead of a possible Monday-Tuesday back-to-back scenario this week if they won the opener.

Rosemond would prefer a different postseason schedule. The fact that Evanston misfired on most of its point-after-touchdown passes pointed to some of that rust, although it has been an issue for the Wildkits during the regular season.

"There was a lot of rust there," said the coach in his post-game critique. "We weren't sharp today. It's hard to simulate game conditions in practice. Today we were the superior team, so our mistakes weren't that costly.

"I felt like we were peaking as a team at the end of the season and we didn't want a full week off. When you have momentum like that, you'd love to keep playing, but instead we had to wait. We kept it light for practice for a couple of days and then we amped it back up. But you just can't simulate game situations.

"We definitely have to be better in the end zone with those extra points. That's going to matter for us at some point."

ETHS converted on just 3-of-8 PAT attempts Monday, missing on its first four tries for either one or two points. The Kits had little trouble finding the end zone for the most part, however, as Bellis completed 27-of-43 through the air for 241 yards, including TD passes to Emma Reese (6 yards), KyNia Hunt (14 yards), Katie Lindsay-Ryan (2 yards), Aniyah Jackson (10 yards) and Claire Auger (8 yards).

Both Ella Martin and Tariah McLendon returned interceptions 20 yards for scores, and Reese added a rare 18-yard run to paydirt, too. The Wildkits scored on their first three possession to break out to an 18-0 advantage and increased that margin for 40-0 by halftime.

Those thefts by Martin and McLendon were highlights of a solid defensive effort. The winners limited the Vikings to a combined 12-of-29 passing from three different quarterbacks and the losers didn't cross midfield on offense until the second half.