Maine South Buries Kits With Record First Half

No one’s mentioning Maine South’s name when the conversation turns to potential state football champions this fall.

But the Hawks still have Evanston’s number.

Maine South, which hasn’t lost to the Wildkits since 1999, put up a record 51 points in the first half Friday night in Park Ridge and buried Evanston by a 51-13 margin.

The defenseless Wildkits fell to 5-3 on the season after yielding a 72-yard touchdown run, an 89-yard kickoff return, and a 64-yard touchdown pass in the first 15 minutes of the blowout.

South led 51-6 at halftime. The ETHS record book shows that to be a record against the Kits for a half, with the possible exception of a 55-0 loss to Oak Park-River Forest way back in 1919.

The home team scored on 7 of 8 possessions in the first half, not counting a kneel down to run out the clock. And the only stop Evanston got didn’t matter much because the Hawks’ defense scored a safety on the next play.

South, now 7-1, scored on the third play from scrimmage on a 72-yard burst from Matt Schlenhardt and the rout was on. Before the half was over, Indiana University-bound quarterback Jameson Purcell added a 64-yard TD bomb to Joe Ragona and a 23-yard pass to Keaton Vitel; Vitel returned a kickoff 89 yards to payrdirt; and Schlenhardt and Payton Donaldson contributed a couple of rushing touchdowns for the winners.

“They scored on 7 of 8 possessions in the first half? It’s hard to win games when you can’t stop them. That is just unacceptable,” said Evanston head coach Miles Osei.

The Hawks intercepted ETHS quarterback Aiden Payne three times in the first half. Payne did throw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Roseman with 2 minutes, 46 seconds left in the game.

Evanston senior Juan Gomez got the visitors on the scoreboard twice in the first half with field goals covering 40 and 21 yards.

The Wildkits will play New Trier at 7 p.m. next Friday at Northwestern University.