Livatino Gives Them Something To Talk About In 42-33 Loss

Now that he’s earned the starting job as the varsity quarterback for Evanston, football has become even more of a family affair for Colin Livatino.

And with his parents, grandfather, aunts and uncles watching from the sidelines Friday night at Lazier Field, the junior turned in a record performance in only his 5th game at the controls.

Livatino threw for a single game school record of 406 yards, including 4 touchdowns, but couldn’t prevent a 42-33 loss to Glenbrook South in the Central Suburban League South division opener.

“My family has been to a lot of games already. And at one point I looked up in the stands and saw one of my uncles, whose kids went to GBS,” said the Evanston junior. “I wanted to do well, because you want to be able to sit down at the dinner table at Christmas and really have something to talk about.”

Now he does. Livatino let his right arm do the talking, completing 17-of-20 pass attempts on his way to a record total of 406 yards. Bryan Kelly held the previous ETHS single game mark at 299 in 2003 against New Trier.

Livatino connected with Keron Pryor (81 yards), Demarion Timberlake (55 yards), Emmett Robinson (81 yards) and Pryor again (30 yards) for TDs as the Wildkits suffered their fourth straight loss. Timberlake added a 15-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.

So why didn’t the Kits win? Because the Titans ran all over them led by halfback Nate Canning, who scored 6 rushing touchdowns and amassed 285 yards on 25 carries. Glenbrook South, which scored its first victory after four straight defeats to open the season, piled up a total of 427 yards on the ground.

“406 yards for Colin? Wow, that’s a lot!” exclaimed ETHS head coach Mike Burzawa. “He had a breakout game tonight. The receivers ran their routes well and now that Emmett’s back (after missing the first two weeks with an injury) we have some weapons on the outside. Colin played a very good football game tonight. We made some explosive plays and we’ve been lacking those before tonight. We saw some matchups we liked and he took advantage of them.

“Colin’s preparation is really consistent. He studies film so much and some days he’ll have about five pages of notes about what the (opposing) defense does. He prepares, he asks a lot of questions and he really puts in the time. It’s really exciting to see the way he’s developing.”

Livatino felt he was due --- if not overdue --- for a breakout performance.

“To be honest, I haven’t played too well the first 4 games,” he said. “I think offensively this was one of the best weeks of practice we’ve had. Everyone knew what we had to do, and I could feel a good game was coming. I’m at a loss for words as far as the record goes. It’s an honor. I don’t want to say it was easy, I was just getting the ball to the guys like we did in the summer. I think we’re going to be a really good team once we put it all together.

“It was nice to get all those yards but it stings not to get the one stat you want --- a win.”

Livatino’s deep throw to Pryor on the first play from scrimmage, and a screen pass that Timberlake took the distance helped the Wildkits build a 14-0 lead before the crowd had even settled into its seats.

But a blocked punt turned the tide in favor of the Titans. That special teams play set up an 18-yard TD run by Canning, and he added scoring efforts of 9, 63, 8, 56 and 20 in a career game. The Wildkits had yielded a school record effort the previous week by Palatine’s Dominik Ball and if Canning’s totals didn’t add up to a new mark at GBS, they must have come close.

The Kits just couldn’t get any stops when they needed them.

“We just didn’t get the job done,” Burzawa admitted. “We got off to an excellent start, but I think that blocked punt was a pivotal play because it gave GBS life. We felt like the recipe to beat them was to get ahead and make them play catch-up football. That shift in momentum really hurt us.

“They ran right over us in the second half. We only had the one turnover (a lost fumble), but it was a one score game at that point and we were ready to tie the game until they got that big hit.”

Evanston was ready to respond, at least on offense, after Canning dashed 63 yards to paydirt on the first play of the second half to break a 14-14 deadlock. A roughing the kicker penalty kept the ETHS drive alive, and so did a leaping catch by Robinson for a 22-yard gain. But the drive stalled at the South 24 when Sam Shure coughed up the football after catching a pass on third down.

Seven plays later, Canning found the end zone again and it was the hosts who were in catch-up mode the rest of the way.