Tough Flag Schedule Brings Out Best In ETHS Girls

Evanston’s girls almost pulled off the first tripleheader victory ever in one day in flag football Saturday.

But the Wildkits couldn’t quite get the job done.

After scoring victories over Elk Grove (38-0) and Glenbrook North (18-8) Saturday morning, Coach Carlton Rosemond’s squad fell 28-14 to undefeated Hersey in the final game of the Evanston Jamboree.

The three-game test concluded a grueling week for Evanston, a schedule that featured 7 games in 6 days. And while Rosemond wasn’t happy to see a short four-game winning streak come to an end, he expressed satisfaction at finishing 5-2 for the week --- and improving to 6-4 overall.

The Jamboree brought together six different programs over two days. ETHS also whipped Mother McAuley 40-6 on Friday.

Saturday’s tripleheader included three running clock games in a span of just over four hours for the hosts. It was an endurance test that the Kits passed after never even having played two games in the same day leading up to this weekend.

And it might have been a perfect tournament showing except that Evanston matched up against Hersey without the services of two-way star Payton King, who suffered an injured knee in the middle game versus GBN and was held out of the Hersey contest.

“The fact that we went 5-2 this week is definitely promising,” Rosemond said. “It’s unheard of to play that many games in a week. It’s tough playing a format like this today. When we invited teams to the Jamboree, we didn’t know how many other games we’d have on the schedule this week. But we wanted to play some good competition and I’m OK with the way it turned out.

“We’re hoping to make this a tournament (where an actual champion could be crowned) in the future. Every team here was super excited to be involved in it, and we scheduled this tournament to promote girls flag football.”

After a slow start to the season, the ETHS offense shifted from neutral to overdrive behind junior quarterback Maggie Conforti this week. On Saturday, she tossed a season-high 6 touchdown passes against Elk Grove, completing 25-of-32 passing attempts for 332 yards; came back to connect on 21-of-29 for 3 scores and 285 yards versus North; and concluded a prolific day with 2 TD passes and 292 in the air while completing 22-of-34 against Hersey.

Conforti was only intercepted twice all day and is starting to provide the steady play that Rosemond is seeking from his field general.

“When the game slows down for Maggie, she’s one of the better quarterbacks the state of Illinois has,” said the Evanston coach. “She was very calm out there against GBN, and outside of that one pick (interception) against Hersey, she made the throws she needs to make against them, too. I’ve definitely seen some growth from Maggie and she’s taking instruction better now. We just need her to do the job and be efficient.”

Conforti connected with senior Rachel Durando-Cohn for three touchdowns --- covering 51, 2 and 2 yards --- in the rout of a weak Elk Grove squad. The Evanston QB spread the scoring wealth with TD passes to Hannah Honore (22 yards), KyNia Hunt (35 yards) and King (11 yards), too.

It was a breakout performance for Durando-Cohn, whose role in the attack could increase going forward.

“Rachel didn’t play well in the first three or four games, but now she’s settling into her role,” Rosemond explained. “She’s in a lot of clubs, she’s the student council president and she’s also an ice skater, so she has a lot on her plate. She’s starting to figure out how to balance things so that will give her a chance to enjoy flag football even more. Today has to be a confidence booster for her.”

Evanston’s defense shared the spotlight in the Glenbrook North game. After a 4th down sack by Camille Calixte on GBN quarterback Stefani Pecaro halted a long Spartan drive at the ETHS 28, the Wildkits marched 72 yards in 7 plays to seize a 6-0 advantage on Conforto’s swing pass to Hunt for a 14-yard score.

No one scored again until the second half. Evanston’s second score came on a sensational, twisting grab in the end zone by Brielle Rosemond, who leaped high in the air to beat the Spartan secondary on 4th-and-11.

Freshman safety Ella Martin knocked down a 4th down pass on North’s next possession, and that set up another scoring drive that climaxed with a Conforti-to-Hunt 2-yard TD pass to make it 18-0 with about 8 minutes left in the game.

King, who has accounted for a team-high 6 interceptions so far this season, was injured in the second half of the win over the Spartans and was held out as a precautionary measure. The sophomore standout, who also started for the Wildkit varsity girls basketball team as a freshman, was definitely missed in the tourney finale.

Hersey burned the Evanston secondary with a scoring bomb of 49 yards from quarterback Ciara Brown to Abby Bailitz, who got behind the defense for a back-breaking score to make it 22-14 in the Huskies’ favor with just 23 seconds left in the first half.

Brown’s 8 yard pitch to Gabby Felman provided the clinching score with seven and a half minutes left in the contest.

“When a player like Payton goes down, you’re missing some elements on offense and on defense,” Rosemond noted. “She’s really been impressive this year for a sophomore with all of those interceptions. She sets the tone for what we can do on defense. With her not back there, whoever else it is --- it’s just not Payton.”