Trevians flag youth movement hits snag against Wildkits

An influx of youth can bring loads of excitement and potential to a program. It can also create some growing pains along the way.

The latter showed up for New Trier flag football Wednesday, Sept. 9, when the Trevians fell 25-0 to the archrival Evanston Wildkits at Murney Lazier Field.

New Trier’s offense started the game with what looked like to be a promising opening series, but the Wildkits delivered their first big play of the night, derailing the Trevs’ momentum by intercepting a pass.

The Kits wasted no time taking advantage of the turnover as they went on to score on the first play of the ensuing series when quarterback Ava Bellis found Emma Reese for a long touchdown.

Evanston’s offense doubled down on its fast start with another quick strike — a touchdown catch from star senior KyNia Hunt, who for the second season in a row was a thorn in New Trier’s side all night — on its second drive. The Wildkits went 57 yards in three plays to jump out to a 12-0 lead over the Trevs.

New Trier’s defense settled in after the opening two drives and stood tall for the rest of the half. The Trevians stopped the Wildkits on back-to-back fourth-down attempts on the following two possessions.

Evanston put its potent passing attack on display to start the third quarter. The ’Kits completed seven straight passes before ultimately scoring a touchdown to take a three-score lead.

The Trevs’ defense did not give in and went on to force a pair of late turnovers via interception. Junior Audrey Carlton picked off an Evanston pass on the last play of the third quarter, and in the fourth quarter, junior Mia Alford nabbed an interception as well.

Senior Olivia Iacobelli, as well as juniors Sadie Seeman and Lizzy Wold and freshman Finley Singer, made big plays for the Trevians defense throughout the night as well.

New Trier knew coming into the contest that slowing down Evanston’s offense would be a challenge.

“I feel like we had a good game plan coming in but I think they’re got some kids who go grab that ball and they want that ball in their hands and they’re aggressive with the ball,’ New Trier head coach Mark Colegrove said. “So, we need to get to a place where we attack the ball on defense like they do on offense.”

In addition to the early turnover Evanston forced, the Wildkits also had a second-half interception that they parlayed into a touchdown.

“That’s what good teams do: good teams take advantage of the opportunities and we need to learn from Evanston on how to take advantage of some of those,” Colegrove said.

New Trier’s offense was able to move the chains throughout the game, but the Trevianss could not find the right combination of plays to reach the end zone.

Quarterback Kathleen Ellis, and skill position players Tessa Bondar, Vic Wainscott, Iacobelli, Lulu Martin and Annabel Nitekman all made contributions on that side of the ball.

It’s been an up-and-down year thus far for the Trevs, who as of press time sit with a 3-5 record. And despite a bumpy midseason stretch, the team still believes it’s growing each and every day.

“I think we’ve grown a lot,” said Iacobelli, who’s been part of New Trier flag football all four years of her high school career. “There’s a lot of new girls on the team, a lot of growing on offense because we have a lot of new players on offense, and on defense, we have a couple new additions as well, so I think we’re all just growing and learning together on where to be and everything throughout the season.”

Being with the program for four seasons is something Iacobelli cherishes. She also is proud of the improvement she’s seen each season.

“It’s been great,” she said. “Every year, more and more girls sign up, the program keeps on growing. I think it’s been amazing seeing the team continue to grow … and how we just continue to improve every year and just keep on trying harder.”

Colegrove said the young additions to New Trier — most notably on offense where several of the team’s key contributors are freshmen and sophomores — have transitioned well to the varsity level.

“They’re doing great,” Colegrove said. “They’re coachable and they’re trying to do everything that we’re asking of them and that’s all you can ask. We have a great group of coachable kids across the board and we’re really proud of what they’re trying to do together as a group and that’s one of our standards: to be a good teammate. And they’re trying to be good teammates.”

Moving forward, the Trevs have their sights set on “competing in every game,” doing “the right things” and “living by the program’s standards,” Colegrove added.

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