Officials from the Central Suburban League met recently to discuss a plan that would increase the number of crossover football games between schools in the North and South divisions back to two instead of one.
That changed in 2016 when the CSL agreed to schedule teams from the Mid-Suburban League to play a pair of non-conference contests each fall.
The plan was voted down, even though CSL teams have only beaten their MSL counterparts approximately one-third of the time in those head-to-head matchups.
Find out what's happening in Evanstonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
That trend continued Friday night at Lazier Field, where previously winless Fremd rolled over Evanston 30-14.
And another disturbing trend surfaced for the Wildkits as they slipped to 1-2 overall on the season. For the second week in a row the ETHS defense surrendered more than 200 yards rushing, as the Vikings piled up 276 yards on the ground and dominated the time of possession in front of a disappointed Evanston fan base.
Find out what's happening in Evanstonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Defensive coordinator Eddie Conley substituted every available body up front, but couldn’t find enough stops to prevent the Vikings from upping their record to 1-2 on the season.
Two of Fremd’s touchdowns came on the ground --- two came via play-action passes from quarterback John O’Brien --- and Cameron Williams kicked a 27-yard field goal for the winners. Evanston could only counter with a pair of touchdowns from senior Keron Pryor, on an 85-yard kickoff return and a 39-yard pass from Colin Livatino.
The Wildkits will have to find a quick fix. They’ll travel to Palatine (1-2) next Thursday to meet a team that was ranked 8th in the Associated Press state poll last week before falling 28-21 to Maine South Friday. The Pirates feature a Division I running back in Tulane recruit Dominik Ball, now in his 4th year on the varsity.
“In high school football, or on any level of football really, at the end of the day it comes down to being able to stop the run. And we’ve lost that battle the past two weeks,” admitted ETHS head coach Mike Burzawa. “We just have to keep growing and keep moving forward. There’s a ton of football still to be played. We need to get better as players and coaches, too. There ARE some things we can build on.”
Pryor’s dazzling 85-yard burst for a score on a kickoff return came just seconds after the Vikings had built a 7-0 edge on a 3-yard run by Tyler Gersic in the first quarter. And even though the visitors scored on a 22-yard toss from O’Brien to Brennan Saxe in the second period, the game was still within reach for the Kits.
But the Palatine school snatched the momentum back with a score with no time remaining in the first half. Saxe won a jump ball against ETHS defenders Pryor and Jacques Phillippe, on a pass from O’Brien, in the corner of the end zone for a 19-yard score as the clock ticked down to 0:00.
That score effectively put the game out of reach. Evanston never could gain any momentum after that, although Pryor did streak down the right sideline to grab a perfect pass from Livatino to keep hope alive late in the third quarter. It was Pryor’s second TD reception of the season.
“That was a big play right before halftime, and any time you score in the last minute of the half, that’s a big momentum shifter,” noted Burzawa. “We were in the right coverage, so give him credit for the play he made on the ball.”
Fremd was led by Luke Mclihon’s 19 carries for 94 yards, and quarterback O’Brien added 73 yards on the ground while completing 7-of-10 passes for 118 yards and two TDs.
Evanston only mustered a total of 5 first downs but did get a boost with the return of senior running back Demarion Timberlake, who missed the first two games with a toe injury. Timberlake totaled 39 yards on 11 attempts in his debut Friday.
