Wildkit Girls Pass Open Book Test In Flag Debut

Evanston opened up more pages in the flag football playbook in Monday night’s season opener at Niles North.

And the Wildkits certainly showed that they’re ready to write another winning chapter in what could be a best seller by season’s end.

Three different players threw touchdown passes --- a program first in a single game --- and the defense pitched a shutout in a 26-0 win over Niles North.

Maggie Conforti threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Brielle Rosemond on the first Evanston drive, and Camille Calixte took a direct snap from center on a fly sweep and ran 5 yards for a score as the Kit girls built a 14-0 halftime lead.

Head coach Carlton Rosemond kept the momentum going with sweeps, fake sweeps and reverses in the second half, and interceptions by Ella Martin and KyNia Hunt set up touchdown throws by Martin --- a double pass from Conforti to Martin to Ava Sacluti for a 10-yard TD --- and Hunt on a halfback option to Harper Wesenberg for a 7-yard score.

Rosemond’s offense is more complex this season for a variety of reasons. He’s able to incorporate having two quarterbacks (Conforti and Martin) in the backfield at the same time and is using both Martin and Calixte, two starters on the defensive side last year, more on offense.

The ETHS coach is also keeping players in motion and letting them grab direct snaps as a way to counter the new pass-rushing rules in the sport, which moved potential quarterback sackers closer to the line of scrimmage.

“It’s a combination of all of those things,” Rosemond said. “We put more plays in the playbook this year because when you have the skill set these girls have, then the sky’s the limit. Those jet sweeps are to try to slow the rushers down and make them think about something else. If they have to second guess what they’re doing, that gives us time to do what we need to do.”

Martin’s passing ability isn’t the only reason she’ll get more snaps on offense. She came up to the varsity midway through last season because of an injury and earned the starting job at safety, where she thrived. But she can also set screens to shield off potential pass rushers in a sport where actual blocking isn’t permitted.

“Ella is such an unselfish player and we’re going to use her as a ‘screener’ a lot,” said Rosemond. “But she’s already told me that she doesn’t want to come out of the games at safety. She really loves playing back there.

“We scored right off the bat tonight, but I felt like we struggled a little bit against their defense after that. We saw what the other team put in our way and then we adjusted.”

Conforti (8-of-19 passing for exactly 100 yards) marched the Wildkit girls 36 yards to paydirt on the first drive and also hooked up with Hunt for a 2-point PAT pass in the first quarter. Dropped passes stalled the next two Evanston drives, but the visitors got back on track and only needed six plays to cover 41 yards.

Brielle Rosemond broke a couple of tackles after grabbing a pass from Conforti for a 24-yard gain down to the 5, and Calixte snatched the next snap and sped into the end zone with 4 minutes, 37 seconds left on the clock.

Vikings’ quarterback Molly O’Hara tried to rally the hosts in the second half and did rush for 80 yards. But she was sacked four times in the contest --- twice by Calixte --- and was just 4-of-18 passing for a total of 7 yards on the night, including those second half interceptions. Two of those completions went for minus yards against a sharp Evanston defense.