Philbin Drives GBN Past Wildkits, 28-21

Jack Philbin didn’t drive the team bus from Northbrook to Evanston Friday night.

But the senior quarterback did everything else for Glenbrook North’s football team, leading the Spartans to a 28-21 victory over Evanston that ended a 6-game losing skid for the Spartans.

The slippery QB scored all of North’s points while running the most basic offense the Wildkits have faced all season. But the Kits couldn’t tackle Philbin, who rushed 27 times for 228 yards and completed 5-of-11 passes for 79 yards.

Only one defender laid a hand on Philbin on his game-winning touchdown dash, a 60-yarder with 2 minutes, 57 seconds remaining in the contest. He also scored on runs of 1, 2 and 83 yards and added a successful PAT run for the winners, now 2-6 overall and 1-3 in Central Suburban League South division play.

Evanston dropped to 3-5 overall and 2-2 after their last offensive drive stalled at the GBN 35. The Wildkits conclude their season next Friday at Maine South.

“We knew coming into the game that No. 5 (Philbin) was a football player with a lot of heart,” said Evanston head coach Mike Burzawa. “He does a lot for them, he plays quarterback, he punts, he plays defense. We told our guys all week that GBN was still playing hard (despite that losing streak) and they were able to get the momentum late. Give their coaching staff (led by Matt Purdy) credit, because they had a lot of opportunities to fold tonight and instead they kept coming after us.

“They were hungrier for a W at the end than we were. I’m disappointed, and I’m frustrated. We didn’t finish --- and they did.”

The hosts seemed poised for a full-blown Senior Night celebration after Emmett Robinson snatched a 24-yard touchdown pass from Colin Livatino to boost the Wildkits back on top at 21-13 with 10:48 to play.

But Philbin had all the answers after that, on the ground and even through the air. His 36-yard completion to Northwestern University recruit Patrick Schaller on the next drive moved the ball to the ETHS 23, and Philbin found the end zone 5 plays later on a 2 yard scramble. He plowed in for the 2-point conversion over the right side to knot the score at 21-all.

After an Evanston punt, Philbin broke through the left side of the line and didn’t stop running until he had scored his fourth TD of the game.

Ironically, the defeat came on a rainy night when the Wildkits finally got their act together on special teams. After struggling with bad center snaps and poor field position due to kick returns all season, Evanston blocked a key extra point --- courtesy of Yohanness Jean-Francois after Philbin’s second score --- and Enijel Shelton’s 52-yard punt in the third quarter shoved the Spartans into a hole at their own 2 that led to a 3-yard TD run by Damarion Timberlake (31 carries for 133 yards and two scores).

But the hosts lacked the finishing touch they needed to pull out a win, or at least send the game into overtime. Taking over at their own 20, they reeled off three first downs but then the Spartan defense stiffened.

Two running plays and an incomplete pass set up a fourth-and-4 situation at the GBN 35, but Livatino’s pass in the general direction of Keron Pryor fell incomplete with 40 seconds left.

“We didn’t have the best week of practice,” added Burzawa, “and that was reflected at times in this game. There were a lot of emotions with Senior Night and the time change (early start due to anticipated bad weather) and we didn’t handle it well.

“But this senior group has showed a tremendous amount of character this season and we’ve had great leadership from them. We just didn’t get it done tonight.”