Girls flag football: Yorkville downs Joliet West as first flag football season kicks off

YORKVILLE – It wasn’t Friday night and the sun was up when the game came to an end, so there were no lights in Yorkville. It was a one-sided result and was over in just under an hour. But Thursday night in Yorkville, there’s was football yet again in the state of Illinois.

Of the girls flag variety.

After a bit of a delayed start this week because of the excessive heat throughout the area, flag football was in full swing Thursday night. Yorkville High School hosted Joliet West for the Foxes second game in two days and the Tigers’ first. The experience showed as the Foxes raced out to an early lead and never looked back en route to a 25-0 victory.

The Foxes (2-0) were explosive on offense, picking up chunk play after chunk play on the arm of quarterback Brooke Ekwinski. The junior signal caller was on fire from the get-go, finishing 10-of-15 passing for 170 yards and all four Yorkville touchdowns. Kayla Kersting was on the receiving end of two of those scores and ran for 53 yards.

Add in a defense that pitched a shutout for the second consecutive game and you’ve got an effort the Foxes can be quite proud of.

“They’ve stepped out here two days in a row and haven’t really shown any nerves,” coach Clarissa Cooper said. “[The players] have set the expectation for the program and in just 14 days we’ve really progressed and built this program.”

The Foxes started the game with a bang. Ekwinski needed only three plays to drop a deep dime to Jackie Sledden who ran the rest of the way for a 67-yard touchdown that put the Foxes up 6-0 just two minutes in.

Initially, the Tigers (0-1) looked like they were ready for a shootout. A 40-yard run by Londyn Clemons was followed by a 20-yard pass from Maya Zanzola to Samantha Cassanova. Two plays later, it looked like Neveaha Simms tied the game on a 14-yard TD run, but the score was negated by a penalty on Joliet West. The Tigers were unable to reach the end zone afterward and turned it over on downs.

The Foxes worked their way down the field bit by bit on the ensuing possession. The drive was highlighted by a dazzling 37-yard run by Kersting to set the Foxes up at the 20. On fourth-and-goal at the inch line, Ekwinski tossed the ball to Julianna Gonzalez and made it 12-0 with 3:27 to go in the opening half.

After a three-and-out by West, Yorkville needed only two plays to hit pay dirt as Ekwinski followed a 17-yard run with a 22-yard touchdown pass to Kersting with 35 seconds left on the clock to make it 19-0 after a successful one-point try.

West started the second half with a three-and-out and Yorkville took over once again. After Kersting had a 39-yard TD run negated by penalty, the Foxes faced fourth down. Ekwinski stepped up big yet again, hitting Annabel West for a 22-yard pass to set up the Foxes at the 3-yard line. Two plays later, Ekwinski hit Kersting for the final touchdown of the game, giving the game its final score with 11 minutes to go.

“It’s awesome,” Ekwinski said. “It’s so special. Getting that first touchdown, too, was just so awesome.”

For the Tigers, it wasn’t the start they’d hoped for. They were forced to transition away from their run-based attack into a passing-oriented scheme to try and make up ground. Still, getting out and playing was an exciting feeling and they were aware of the reality that Yorkville had a game of experience while West had just nine practices.

“It’s a hard pill to swallow,” coach Tisha Evans said. “We’re a better team than that. We missed several calls, blitzes, defensive changes and all that. On the offensive side, ... we weren’t hitting [receivers] in the numbers and we were throwing too high. You could see [Yorkville] played together and we have not. We just have to work it out. It just stinks that that’s the first game.”

Yorkville’s next game is Saturday against St. Francis, while Joliet West plays Tuesday at Romeoville.