Turnovers Send Wildkits To Third Loss In A Row

Nothing is more basic to the success of a football team at any level --- high school, college or pro --- than taking care of the football.

But so far that’s a lesson that Evanston’s quarterback candidates still haven’t mastered.

The Wildkits turned the ball over five more times Friday night against unbeaten Hoffman Estates and wasted an inspired defensive effort in a 24-7 defeat at Lazier Field, their third straight loss this season.

Ball security was an issue again Friday for junior Amare Jones (two lost fumbles, two interceptions) and senior Jake Everds (one lost fumble) as Evanston slipped to 1-3 on the season.

No one is pointing a finger at any individual, or even at the offense as a whole, and that’s a credit to the culture that first-year head coach Miles Osei and his new coaching staff are attempting to build. It’s been an issue for past ETHS teams once the losses start to mount up and the tendency is to try to find someone to blame.

Yet no one can play defense all night long. And after trailing just 10-7 at halftime, Evanston wore down on defense in the second half and surrendered two more scores to the 4-0 Hawks.

And, just like in a loss at St. Laurence two weeks ago when the Kits committed a school record 7 turnovers, you’d be hard-pressed to say that the opposing defense actually “forced” the turnovers that led to Evanston’s demise Friday night.

Careless ballhandling made it impossible for the hosts to gain any traction on offense. ETHS mustered just 48 yards passing and 155 yards rushing, including a 62-yard dash by junior Sean Hopson (11 carries, 112 yards).

The Wildkits only managed three first downs the entire second half.

Osei, a former quarterback himself, knows the Kits have been their own worst enemy on offense for much of the 2025 campaign to date. Evanston opens Central Suburban League South division play next Friday at defending champion Maine South.

“Our defense played with great effort for three quarters of the game tonight. The offense still has to figure things out,” Osei said. “We have to take better care of the ball, because our defense was on the field a long time tonight. We had guys who came through with a lot of big stops, but the kids and the coaches all need to step up and do the little things right.

“We have to focus on us, on the details we don’t handle and that we have to fix. No one on defense was complaining tonight about having to go back on the field when we turned the ball over. They just went back out there to do the job again.”

Already leading 3-0 on a 40-yard field goal by Simon Howarth early in the second quarter, Hoffman Estates was turned away in the red zone after recovering a kickoff the visitors purposely left short and that no ETHS player managed to grab. The Hawks regained possession on the Evanston 29, and scored six plays later on an 18-yard slant pass from Austin Lezniak (16-of-33 passing for 208 yards) to T.J. Bond.

Evanston answered with a two and a half minute scoring drive of its own with Everds at the helm of the offense following Jones’ two lost fumbles earlier. The Wildkits beat the clock as Justin Johnson tallied on a 1-yard run out of the Wildcat formation with just one second remaining in the half. Jasper Barney’s PAT pick pulled the hosts to within 10-7.

Lezniak threw a 25-yard TD pass to Bond on the Hawks’ second possession of the second half, and when Everds coughed up a fumble at his own 16, that set up an insurance score for the visitors on a 4-yard run by Landon Ford (26 carries for 87 yards).

Cash Nelson (interception) and Tristan Wilcox (fumble recovery) were among the defensive standouts for the losers, along with linebacker Mike Pryor and Towan Jackson.