Record Seven Turnovers Add Up To First Grid Loss

Miles Osei is justifiably proud of the fact that the football programs at his previous coaching stops --- Elk Grove Village and Kankakee --- set school records on offense during his tenure there.

But the first-year Evanston coach had to endure another kind of record performance last Friday night in Burbank.

The Wildkits committed a school record 7 turnovers in one game --- five lost fumbles and a pair of interceptions --- in a 37-21 non-conference loss at St. Laurence.

Dropped snaps from center --- the simplest play to execute for most offenses even in a shotgun formation --- were a problem all night long for quarterbacks Jake Everds and Amare Jones as the Kits fell to 1-1 on the season. Evanston’s defense almost never came off the field until the second half, when the visitors outscored the Vikings (2-0) thanks to a fumble return for a touchdown by linebacker Mike Pryor and a TD run by Jones.

Evanston’s self-destruction allowed St. Laurence, which advanced to the Class 4A state playoff quarterfinals last season, to build a 31-6 halftime advantage.

Osei and his new coaching staff approached summer workouts and preseason practices at a faster clip than in the past even though none of the quarterback candidates had much prior varsity experience. That increase in the tempo of play, however, might turn up still another notch this week as the Wildkits prepare to face unbeaten Fremd next Friday night in another road game.

“I’ve never been a part of, I’ve never seen, anything like that,” Osei confessed about his squad’s “hot potato” approach to handling the ball on offense in perfect weather conditions, and against a Viking defense that really couldn’t be credited for forcing those miscues. “You face a lot of pressure in games like this, and ultimately we as coaches need to do a better job of preparing them for that pressure, so they do the little things right.

“That’s been a main priority for us in practice, and it’s something we’ll continue to work on. The details matter. We felt like we were prepared going into the game, but you can’t be successful if you don’t do the little things well.

“As I’ve said before, we just need a quarterback to step up and manage a game for us. Amare did a nice job on the last two drives, but there wasn’t as much pressure on him playing against St. Laurence’s backups. I think there’s going to be a competition at quarterback all the way through this season.”

Everds, who had a handful of varsity snaps under his belt coming into the season, marched the Wildkits 81 yards in 11 plays to open the game. Junior Sean Hopson’s 41-yard scamper down the left sideline brought the ball down to the St. Laurence 6, and two plays later Everds connected with Amari Watson for a 9-yard TD pass.

It was all downhill for the Kits and Everds after that.

St. Laurence got on the scoreboard with a 28-yard field goal from Danny Leahy, and Pryor coughed up a fumble operating out of the Wildcat formation. St. Laurence didn’t score that time, but when Everds fumbled the ball away on the next ETHS possession, the mistakes really started to pile up on the visitors at that point.

Sean Rice returned another Everds fumble for a 20-yard TD and by halftime the hosts held a 31-6 edge. Pryor also lost another fumble, but partly made up for it in the second half by ripping the ball away from a Viking runner and taking it the other way to paydirt.

Osei did single out seniors Pryor and Towan Jackson for praise despite his team’s first defeat.

“That TD was a great moment for Mike,” said Osei. “He could have been really frustrated after those two fumbles, but he wanted to make a play for his teammates. And TJ (Jackson) is really an offensive guy in the line, but he ended up playing a lot both ways --- and showing us a lot of leadership --- when another guy had a hamstring issue and told us he couldn’t go anymore.

“We always want to be able to learn from our mistakes. We can’t ignore what happened --- we have to learn from it.”