Hunt Helps ETHS Girls Bounce Back From First Loss

KyNia Hunt put up astonishing numbers on both offense and defense for one of the best flag football teams in the state of Illinois as a junior last spring.

All she got for that effort was honorable mention All-State. Somehow. the voters thought there were 21 players who were better than the two-way standout.

The Evanston senior is determined this time around to show that she’s No. 1. She proved it again on Saturday with a breathtaking performance, willing Evanston to a 38-25 shootout victory over Lincoln-Way East as part of a girls tripleheader at Maine South.

Hunt caught 8 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown, and also returned an interception 55 yards for a score to help the Wildkits bounce back from their first loss, by a 24-12 margin to defending state champion Maine South, earlier in the day.

Hunt also delivered another interception and combined with a record-setting performance by sophomore quarterback Ava Bellis as the Kits moved to 5-1 on the season.

Saturday was the climax of another big week for Hunt. In last week’s win over Glenbrook North, she picked off three passes --- and returned two of them for scores.

You don’t want to have to deal with the speedy senior in the open field, a fact that both her Dad --- and her head coach, who happen to be the same person (Carlton Rosemond) --- can agree on.

Rosemond has always walked a fine line when it comes to praising Hunt and his other daughter, Brielle Rosemond, even though they’re two of the top playmakers in the sport in Illinois, not wanting to seem biased in their favor.

But he couldn’t refrain from giving Hunt the recognition she’s due on Saturday.

“I’ve known since her sophomore year that she was the best player in the state,’ Rosemond said. “She can play every position, and play it well because she’s a playmaker --- the ultimate playmaker. It’s amazing how many times the offenses go after her and don’t learn from it. Today, she was electric.

“Right now she’s playing her best football and she’s not coming off the field because her teammates know we need her. When she was named fourth team All-State (honorable mention) last year, that was utter disrespect for her. If you watch her in person or look at any film, you’d have said she was one of the top three players in the state.

“When we were at that dinner last year and they announced her as honorable mention, I said we have to leave no doubt next year (2026). There were NOT 21 players in the state better than KyNia. And any college program that seeks her will get someone who will do anything you ask her to do to win.”

Hunt rallied the Kits in the second half along with her sister, who grabbed 9 passes for 107 yards, and one TD. The pair served as primary targets for Bellis, who was 38-for-58 passing for 388 yards overall. All three are single game passing records for ETHS, with the yardage wiping out the previous mark of 344 set by Maggie Conforti last year versus Deerfield.

The air show in the middle game of Saturday’s tripleheader also featured a staggering 443 yards from Lincoln-Way senior quarterback Angie Tadros. Tadros torched the Kit secondary for touchdown passes covering 85, 86, 86 and 86 yards while completing 14-of-27 attempts.

All of the scoring in the marathon contest with the Griffins came in the last three quarters, when both QBs heated up. Tadros connected on two long scores when ETHS defenders fell down in the secondary and left receivers wide open.

Evanston trailed 13-6 late in the first half but mounted a drive to tie the contest starting from their own 14-yard line. A circus catch by Hunt, a play where she leaped in the air, batted the ball with one hand and came down with it cradled in her stomach, resulted in a 20-yard gain down to the Griffins’ 10 and set up Bellis’ 10-yard toss to Katie Lindsay-Ryan to knot the score with 15 seconds left.

Bellis also converted the PAT pass to Harper Wesenberg, then cranked up her arm for a big second half that included scoring passes to Emma Reese (30 yards), Rosemond (24 yards) and Ella Martin (2 yards) to clinch the victory following Hunt’s long pick six effort.

It was a solid bounce back effort for the Evanston sophomore, who threw three interceptions in the first half against Maine South --- she finished with four picks overall --- after turning the ball over just three times via interceptions in Evanston’s first four games.

Bellis mustered just 13 completions in 32 tries in the Central Suburban League showdown against the Hawks, for 95 yards.

The only Wildkit scores both came on Hunt’s 88 yard return of an interception to paydirt in the third quarter, and Bellis’ 27-yard pass to Rosemond with 23 seconds left in the game.

Maine South’s Emerson De La Cruz, who has switched from wide receiver to quarterback this year, was a thorn in Evanston’s side all day, rushing for 68 yards and passing for 144 more, including three TD passes.

“Maine South played well, and they’re good enough to capitalize on all the mistakes we made,” Coach Rosemond noted. “We got ourselves in a big hole (18-0) in the first half. It’s very hard to overcome mistake after mistake after mistake.

“There was a lot on Ava’s plate today and I thought she played better in the second game. She had to see some adversity to learn how to operate against it. Sometimes she didn’t handle it, and sometimes she did. She led a masterful drive to tie the game right before the half (against Lincoln-Way).

“I’m happy with the split, as long as we learn and get better.”