Kits Turn Up The Heat For Flag Football Upset

Defense really DOES win championships.

Evanston’s girls proved that cliché in convincing fashion Wednesday as the Wildkits earned their first flag football regional championship with a 20-8 upset win over the No. 2 sectional seed, Maine South, in the title game of the ETHS Regional played at Lazier Field.

Evanston avenged two regular season losses to the Hawks and advanced to the semifinals of the Lane Tech Sectional with the jarring win. Evanston, now 15-8, will meet Glenbrook South, which knocked off No. 3 seed Prospect 12-6, in the semifinals next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Rockne Stadium.

Interceptions by Brielle Rosemond and KyNia Hunt set up scoring drives and the Wildkits limited Maine South quarterback Aribella Spandiary to 11 completions in 20 passing attempts for a mere 83 yards, knocking the Hawks out of the postseason picture with a final record of 19-2.

ETHS head coach Carlton Rosemond had his team dial up the defensive pressure against Spandiary, who had all afternoon to throw in a pair of previous meetings with the Kits. This time, sophomore pass rushers Camille Calixte and backup Nikki Dandelles took turns turning up the heat and Spandiary’s longest completion went for just 19 yards.

Calixte registered quarterback sacks on two of the last four plays of the game to seal the victory and trigger a celebration on the Evanston sidelines.

“I’d hate to have to play against our defense. I do it in practice and it’s pretty frustrating,” said Evanston quarterback Maggie Conforti, who threw touchdown passes to Hunt (3 yards and 16 yards) and Brielle Rosemond (44 yards) while completing 19-of-27 attempts for 193 yards for the winners.

“This feels great. I’m still in a state of shock. We could see the Maine South girls laughing and giggling when they first came here today, like they didn’t expect to lose. They didn’t expect us to come out and punch them in the mouth like we did. The last two times we played them, the chemistry just wasn’t there for us and I think we were a little scared because they were ranked 2nd in the state. Today, we just came together and executed really well.”

“The first time we played them we were still trying to figure things out because it was our first game of the year,” Coach Rosemond pointed out. “And we didn’t get much of a rush the second time we played them, either. If you allow any quarterback seven seconds to throw back there, she’s going to pick you apart, and make no mistake, that Maine South quarterback is a good one.

“We wanted to minimize the damage No. 13 (Emerson De La Cruz) did today and make the others make plays for them. We have three legitimate pass rushers since we called Nikki up (from the junior varsity team). She gives Camille a few minutes when she needs a break and she was brought up primarily for that reason. She had a sack yesterday (against Regina Dominican) and she did a great job today, too.

“This was a total team effort today. They really bought into what we’re trying to do, and when we do that, we can beat anybody in the state. I haven’t seen a better defense in the state than ours. We force you to throw into some tight windows, and that’s where our ballhawks can go get the ball.”

Calixte plays a unique position in the sport as the designated pass rusher and that means she’s sprinting into the opposing backfield on almost every play. That’s a tough pace to maintain physically for anyone, even when the clock keeps running.

“This is so exciting, so much fun!” Calixte exclaimed. “We just didn’t want to leave our seniors, we didn’t want this season to be over. I haven’t seen a better defense and we proved who we are today.

“In my position, you’re sprinting the whole time, so it’s really great to have someone like Nikki behind me.”

As he promised, Coach Rosemond opted to play defense first --- that’s how much he trusts his girls on that side of the ball --- after winning the coin flip. After the Hawks went three and out, Conforti drove the host team 61 yards for the first score of the game, converting a 4th and 6 situation for a 23-yard gain by flipping a pass that Brielle Rosemond carried down to the 3.

Two plays later, Conforti connected with Hunt for the go-ahead touchdown.

Rosemond grabbed a wobbly deep pass from South’s Spandiary to set the Wildkits up at the 45. Evanston’s fourth down gamble on that drive paid off when Rosemond went the distance for a 44-yard scoring play, and Conforti’s PAT pass to Hunt extended the lead to 14-0 with about five and a half minutes left in the first half.

The visitors responded thanks partly to a personal foul on Calixte, who stepped on Spandiary’s foot while closing in for a possible sack. Maine South marched to the ETHS 26 and tried some 4th down trickery as Spandiary pitched a short pass to center Maria Korovilas, who lateraled back to the QB attempting to run for a first down.

But before the lateral was completed, ETHS senior linebacker Kennedy Murray yanked the flag away from Korovilas and the play was whistled dead. That effort ended the first half threat.

Hunt’s interception helped the Kits put the game on ice midway through the second half. Conforti completed four straight passes, was sacked by South’s Ella Rice, but shrugged off that misfortune on the next play when Hunt made a leaping grab in the end zone for a 16-yard TD pass.

South did manage a consolation score when Spandiary raced to the end zone around left end for an 8-yard TD run with approximately nine minutes left on the clock.

“I know Maine South’s game plan coming into the game was to focus on No. 14 (Hunt) because KyNia is such a tremendous athlete. She’s definitely first-team all-conference and she could be first team All-State,” said Coach Rosemond. “But Brielle (also the coach’s daughter) has been our unsung hero all year and she can make just as many plays as KyNia. We’ve got more than one athlete out there.

“I thought Maggie (Conforti) was phenomenal out there today, too. She sees the field the way we need her to see it and today was a true testimony to her grit. Our offense was very efficient and I thought the first two drives really set the tone for us.”