Maine South’s fast start sinks New Trier, sending the Trevs into ‘must-win’ showdown with Evanston

An early mistake can put you behind the 8-ball. Several miscues against one of the state’s best? That’s sure to bury you in the pocket.

The Maine South Hawks took full advantage of a sluggish start from New Trier football, hanging 21 straight points on the Trevians in the game’s first 13 minutes en route to a lopsided 35-7 win on Friday, Oct. 3, on Robert Naughton Field in Northfield.

New Trier turned the ball over on each of its first four drives of the game (two turnovers-on-down and two interceptions), allowing the Hawks to build a sizable early advantage that the Trevians could not overcome.

“We didn’t play well enough to win a game tonight and we didn’t play good enough to be competitive throughout the game, which we need to do,” New Trier head coach Brian Doll said. 

“I think it just comes down to execution,” Doll later added. “We did not execute well, we did not play well, and just a lot of things went wrong. It had a bad feel right from the first five or six minutes and you can’t have that happen against a good football team.” 

How it happened 

Maine South wasted no time starting the scoring Friday night. After returning the opening kick-off to New Trier’s 44-yard line, the Hawks went on a seven-play scoring drive that was finished off on a 1-yard run by their star quarterback Jameson Purcell. 

The Trevs drove the ball to just outside the Hawks’ red zone on their first series but could not convert a fourth-and-4 attempt.

After taking over at New Trier’s 28, it took only a couple of plays for Maine South to move the ball inside Trevians territory. The Hawks then found the end zone for a second time when Purcell fired a 37-yard touchdown strike to put South up 14-0 10 minutes into the game.

The game script went from bad to worse for New Trier on the next series when the Hawks’ Fintan Lennon intercepted a New Trier pass and returned it 54 yards for a touchdown. Lennon also intercepted another pass later in the first half as well.

New Trier got on the board late in the second quarter when backup quarterback Marco Black, who also is a starter in the defensive backfield for the Trevs, tossed a 32-yard touchdown pass to Emmett Koshkarian. Black entered the game as quarterback for one play after starting quarterback Jackie Ryder’s helmet came off on the prior play, forcing him to sit a play, per state rules.

The late-half score appeared to set New Trier up with an opportunity to close the gap, but the Hawks had other ideas. Maine South took the ball 71 yards in under two minutes to take a 28-7 lead into halftime.

Purcell threw for 66 yards on that drive alone and he again capped the series with a 1-yard touchdown run. 

Maine South embarked on an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter to add on to its lead. Running back Niko Kokosioulis scampered to the end zone from 20 yards out to put the Hawks up by the eventual final score of 35-7. 

“I think that (for us) tonight, the moment was a little bigger than some kids were able to handle,” Doll said. 

“This is the first time I’ve seen (this group) freeze a little bit,” he later added. “We have to look at the film, talk about this as a staff and talk to our leaders — and I don’t really have a lot of answers about what went wrong tonight other than we didn’t really play well. Sometimes, you don’t play well, but … I expected a better effort. I expected, actually, a really close game tonight against them.” 

Defensively, the Trevs struggled to find a solution for the Hawks’ fierce passing attack led by Purcell. The Indiana University commit completed 17 of his 23 pass attempts for 232 yards with one touchdown throwing and two rushing.

It was the second time in three weeks that New Trier faced an opposing quarterback (Fremd’s Johnny O’Brien) who’s headed to play in the Big Ten, one of the nation’s best collegiate football conferences. 

“Jameson and Johnny O’Brien are great quarterbacks that we’ve seen this year and that’s why they’re going to play at Big 10 schools,” Doll said.

New Trier finished the evening with just over 250 yards of total offense (164 passing, 91 rushing) but its inability to convert on key downs proved to be especially costly during the Week 6 matchup.

New Trier was unsuccessful on all four of its fourth-down attempts. Those plays, along with a pair of interceptions, accounted for the Trevs’ season-high six turnovers. 

Koshkarian led the way for New Trier with five receptions for 71 yards. Luke Mastros hauled in two passes for 49 yards. Running back Declan O’Meara had 53 yards rushing while Alex Rafeedie also chipped in 25 yards on the ground. 

Evanston on deck

After three straight games at home, New Trier will head back on the road next Saturday for a 1 p.m. showdown with its rival, the Evanston Wildkits. 

Doll said he told the team the Week 7 game is a “must-win” for the Trevs as New Trier enters the contest needing to win two of its final three games to qualify for the state playoffs. 

“We’re going to be excited to go over there,” he said. “It’s a great rivalry, it’s still one of the longest ones in the state of Illinois and we’ll be excited to play them at their home. Anybody who’s ever been to a New Trier-Evanston game knows there’s a lot of fireworks in them, so we know we’re going to get their best and they know they’re going to get our best.”

The Wildkits have dropped five consecutive games after an opening-week win over Niles North. But New Trier is not overlooking Evanston one bit as the Wildkits have defeated the Trevians each of the last two seasons.

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