Maine South QB Steps Up In Battle Of Flag Unbeatens

Top flight quarterbacks wearing the Maine South uniform have come into Lazier Field and tortured Evanston every fall for almost 30 years.

Now that tradition for outstanding quarterback play has a female side to it.

Senior Aribella Spandiary manipulated the Wildkits with her arm and her legs Wednesday night in a battle of flag football unbeatens, tossing a pair of touchdown passes to account for all of the scoring in a 14-0 Maine South victory.

Spandiary threw a touchdown pass in each half and completed 21-of-32 attempts for 190 yards overall. She hooked up with Nellie Ossmo for a 34-yard score in the final two minutes of the first half, narrowly avoiding a sack attempt to complete that play, then added an 8-yard strike to Amelia Fernandez on the first play of the fourth quarter for an insurance score.

The senior standout seized the upper hand against an Evanston defense that ranks among the best in Illinois, dropping ETHS to 3-1 on the season. Maine South, the defending Central Suburban League South division champion, improved to 8-0 overall.

The host team, meanwhile, mustered just 15 yards passing in the first half and quarterback Maggie Conforti was sacked three times in the first two quarters. Conforti’s final numbers showed 12-of-20 passing for 107 yards, and she also suffered her first interception of the season.

The Wildkits just couldn’t get anything going on offense.

“Maine South is a good team, but I won’t give their defense any credit, not a lick,” said ETHS head coach Carlton Rosemond. “It’s all about execution and we were sloppy offensively tonight. Maggie (Conforti) had a really bad game right from the start. When she starts (a play) thinking about running right away with the ball, that’s a big problem for us. When she was more precise in the second half, we were able to move the ball better.”

Don’t get the idea that the coach is just throwing the QB under the bus following a tough loss. Quarterback play is even more important in the girls version of the 7-on-7 game than in “regular” football, even at the high school level, because they’re the players who must make the majority of the plays.

And Wednesday’s game definitely brought out the best in Conforti’s counterpart on the other sideline.

“Aribella (Spandiary) is one of the top two or three quarterbacks in the state,” Rosemond pointed out. “She was very poised tonight when she needed to be and that’s what the top quarterbacks do, they execute what they need to do. She did a good job of manipulating our defense.

“We didn’t use two rushers against her much in the first half and we didn’t put any pressure on her. She’s such a good quarterback that you can’t give her the same looks over and over again. I tip my hat to her because she made us work hard on defense.”

An interception by South’s Emerson De La Cruz, after teammate Fernandez tipped a Conforti pass to her, set the stage for the only scoring drive of the first half for either team. Spandiary flipped an 8-yard completion to Kathleen Noone, down to the ETHS 34, and after two incompletions, found Ossmo for a TD as pass rusher Camille Calixte was just a split second too late yanking the flag off the quarterback’s hip.

Evanson put together a march from its own 14 to the Maine South 39 on the opening drive of the second half. But the drive fizzled and Conforti was sacked for a 6-yard loss on fourth down by South’s Kristen Sumang.

The Hawks put the game out of reach at the end of the third period, moving 69 yards in eight plays to paydirt.

South entered the showdown with payback in mind after being upset by Evanston in the regional championship game a year ago. That loss came after the Hawks tripped the Wildkits twice during the regular season, including a victory in conference play.

Now Evanston will need help from another CSL South foe if they hope to at least share the division title in 2025.

“We didn’t want to lose tonight. But this isn’t our Super Bowl, because we have bigger goals in mind,” Rosemond explained. “Winning the conference is the first goal we can get, that’s a smaller goal inside of our larger goals. We came in with a good game plan, and we just didn’t execute.

“We have one of the toughest conferences in the state and we can still win it. Glenbrook South is a good team, and New Trier is decent, too. We’ll just take it one game at time and try to learn from this, like we always do.”