Sports

ETHS Football Exits State Playoffs With 23-8 First Round Loss

An interception and a failed run on a punt led to a pair of first half touchdowns for host Barrington Saturday night and the Broncos downed Evanston 23-8 in a first round Class 8A playoff matchup.

Written by Dennis Mahoney.

The difference between an 8-1 team and a 5-4 team in the Illinois High School Association state football playoffs can sometimes be just a couple of mistakes.

An interception and a failed run on a punt led to a pair of first half touchdowns for host Barrington Saturday night and the Broncos downed Evanston 23-8 in a first round Class 8A playoff matchup.

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Take away those two mistakes and there really wasn’t much difference between the No. 2 seeded Broncos and No. 15 seed Evanston, which exited with a final record of 5-5. It marked the fourth straight year that coach Mike Burzawa’s squad has been one-and-done in the postseason.

“It’s a positive thing when you make it to the playoffs four years in a row. When you can sustain success like that, it shows that you’re moving in a positive direction,” Burzawa said. “Now we’ve got to take the next step.

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“Our defense kept us in the game tonight. But we didn’t execute the way we wanted to on offense, and because of that, it’s painful for us to let a group of seniors go that we weren’t ready to let go. We had good field position in the first half, but we just weren’t able to get in a rhythm. We’ve been a big play offense all year, but we weren’t able to get any big plays tonight.

“I’m proud of our kids. They battled hard and the seniors have battled through a lot of adversity. The life lessons they learned this year are the most important thing, not our won-loss record.”

Barrington only out-gained the losers 261-213 but prevailed as quarterback Dan Kubiuk threw touchdown passes covering 35, 13 and 28 yards in the first three quarters.

Evanston finally snapped its scoreless streak in the fourth quarter when senior quarterback Chris Little (15-of-31, 3 interceptions, 112 yards) hooked up with classmate Sam Bordo for a 19-yard score with 5 minutes, 25 seconds left in the game. Bordo also caught the ensuing PAT pass.

Barrington marched to the Evanston 2 late in the first quarter, but had to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Chase Lesniak because ETHS linebacker Andre Wallace smacked down running back Dylan Abel for a 2-yard loss on third down. Three plays later, linebacker Jake Coon picked off a Little pass to set up Kubiuk’s first TD toss to Miller.

Instead of facing a manageable 10-point deficit at halftime, ETHS trailed 17-0 when punter Nate Brown opted to run on fourth and 11 from his own 36. He was dragged down for a 3-yard loss and it only took the Broncos three plays to get on the scoreboard again.

“We didn’t call for a fake. Nate just took off and ran,” Burzawa admitted. “We overcompensated for No. 31 (Barrington star linebacker Colin Castagna) with our blocking and I guess Nate felt like he couldn’t get the kick off. That was a big play, to put seven points on us like that right before the half.”

Barrington drove 72 yards in 9 plays to open the second half with another score. The Broncos only mustered two more first downs after that drive, with defensive back Linval Rose providing the biggest play for the Evanston defense when he sniffed out a fake punt and sacked holder Mike Carbonara for a 4-yard loss with 4 minutes left in the third quarter.

Evanston, which was shut out in its final two regular season games, finally got untracked behind the running of Julian Bohannon-Smith and maneuvered 63 yards in 11 plays. Quarterback Little stretched for a first down on a 4th and 2 run, then found Bordo in the end zone.

Burzawa and his coaching staff used an influx of talent from the once- beaten sophomore team in an effort to spring an upset. 6-foot-5 sophomore Naquon Jones started at tight end --- the first time in two years the Wildkits have used a tight end other than in goal line situations --- and more than held his own blocking against the touted Barrington star, Castagna.

Another soph, Travion Banks, also earned a start on offense. He contributed two receptions for 2 yards and rushed for 18 yards in three attempts, but did most of his damage on special teams, returning 5 kicks for 89 yards.    


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