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Taft’s girls piled up plenty of yardage against Evanston’s defense Wednesday night in the championship game of the Lane Tech 2 Sectional tournament at Rockne Stadium in Chicago.
But not when it counted most.
The Wildkits denied the top-seeded Eagles three times inside the red zone and punched a ticket to the first Illinois High School Association flag football state tournament finals with a nerve-wracking 14-12 victory.
Sophomore speedster KyNia Hunt raced 92 yards with a pass for the winning touchdown, then broke up a PAT pass that could have tied the score with some four and a half minutes left in the game. Back-to-back quarterback sacks by Camille Calixte on the last two plays of the contest clinched Evanston’s 8th straight win — and a trip into the history books to go with that sectional championship plaque.
The Wildkits, now 17-8 on the season, will meet Palatine Fremd in the first Elite Eight game set for Friday at 4:30 p.m. at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park.
Other quarterfinal games will match Chicago Perspectives/Leadership (21-0) against Bradley-Bourbonnais (16-2) at 5:45 p.m., Willowbrook (21-5) against Whitney Young (18-6) at 7 p.m., and Lane Tech (19-4) against Rockford Guilford (19-0) at 8:15 p.m.
Quarterfinal winners will return on Saturday for semifinal showdowns at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. The third place game is slated for 2 p.m. and the state championship game is set to start at 4 p.m.
With less than 24 hours to prepare for a foe they’d never seen before, the Kits had enough moxie and character to survive another stiff postseason test. Taft, like many Chicago Public School teams, relies more on the running game than the passing game in the 7-on-7 scenario in the sport and presented a big challenge for ETHS.
The Wildkits rose to the occasion despite allowing 116 yards on the ground and a surprising 209 through the air. Taft quarterback Maylin Nunez completed 16-of-21 pass attempts for 209 yards, including touchdown passes to Maddie Beazley (12 yards) and Niah Reyes (48 yards).
“Taft is different from any team we’ve faced before and all we had was a 30-minute film session today to get ready for them. I thought we did really well against something that was so new to us,” said senior linebacker Charlie Kingsbury. “Once we got into a groove against them, we were ready for anything. I’m really excited about the way we played.
“I believe in our defense and I believe in our offense, I’m always telling the other girls that. I’m proud of where we’re at as a team — and I’m proud of where we’re going!”
“Taft smacked us in the face on that first drive. But I saw us getting a little bit tougher inside the 20, and when we started to buckle down like that, and get some stops, I thought we’d be OK,” said ETHS head coach Carlton Rosemond. “I think we’re one of the top five defensive teams in the state and I told them the numbers [yards gained by the Eagles] didn’t matter, that what happened inside the 20s would decide the game. And we got the stops we needed to get at the end of the game.
“Tonight we didn’t play our best game and some of the tough mistakes we made really cost us. But we just moved on after that and made the next play. To hold Taft to 12 points is really an accomplishment and we know we can play with anybody. We’ve only given up a total of 26 points in our playoff run and two of those games were against the top two teams in the state, Maine South and Taft.”
Taft led 6-0 after the opening scoring drive and marched to the Evanston 15 on its next possession. But the drive stalled right there as the Eagles mustered only 5 yards on 4 tries and turned the ball over on downs.
Evanston answered with a 9-play, 90-yard march to pull even at 6-6. Quarterback Maggie Conforti scrambled 17 yards for a key first down, then tossed a 27-yard scoring pass to Brielle Rosemond with 2:38 left in the first half. Hunt caught the extra point pass but was ruled out of bounds.
She more than made up for that, and a couple of other missed passes, with her effort in the second half.
ETHS freshman safety Ella Martin intercepted a deflected pass attempt from Nunez at the 8-yard line, on a play where Nunez had all night to throw the ball but directed her toss toward two Taft receivers apparently running the same route.
That reprieve allowed Evanston to catch its collective breath. And one play later, Evanston fans — and Hunt in particular — were left gasping for air again when Conforti passed to the sophomore down the middle seam of the defense and watched her race the 92-yard distance for the longest score of the season.
Hunt, in fact, was hyperventilating on the sidelines after the play and had to sit out for a couple of plays to regroup physically. While she rested, Brielle Rosemond grabbed the PAT pass from Conforti to give Evanston an 8-point cushion.
“It’s just so great to see us all succeed together like this as a team,” Hunt said. “I really feel great for the entire team.
“It was definitely tiring when I scored that touchdown. I just found an opening and they couldn’t catch me. I don’t think that’s the fastest I’ve ever run because I do run track too. Once I got in front of them I just kept edging toward the sideline so they couldn’t catch me.”
“I’ve seen KyNia run faster in track too,” acknowledged her father, Coach Rosemond. “When I called the play it was originally a run although I like to see what the defense will do when KyNia and Brielle line up stacked together like that. I was just looking for a first down, but once she got the ball it was off to the races. That was a season-saving touchdown.
“And Brielle had a contested catch on the PAT that I thought was even more impressive!”
Hunt contributed another season-saving play on defense after the Eagles responded with their second touchdown. On the PAT try, Nunez zipped a pass into the end zone but Hunt knocked it to the turf and the Wildkits got ready to rev up their celebration.
“I was paying attention on that play,” Hunt said. “I knew the girl behind me was covered so I had to take another girl. I knew it would cost us if I didn’t get it but we all worked together under pressure. I kept missing passes earlier and put some pressure on myself and that put my self-confidence down for awhile. But I knew that if we executed, we’d get this great win.”
Calixte, the team’s designated pass rusher, scored a sack in the first half on Taft’s PAT attempt but after that couldn’t get close enough to Nunez to make a difference — except when it mattered most at the end.
“The entire game I spent trying to make up for my mistakes,” she added. “When I got her the last time [a sack at the 22 as time ran out], at first it didn’t register. But then I heard screaming — and I knew we were good.
“It’s so exciting to go to state. I hoped that this was possible all season because I love these seniors so much.”
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The Evanston RoundTable is the community’s leading source of news about local government, schools, civic and artistic activities, and other important issues facing our city. We seek to foster civic engagement and empower people to address complex issues facing our diverse community, promoting a better understanding and appreciation of people of all races, ethnicities, and income levels.
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