Brooke Ekwinski-Hannah Halbesma connection leads Yorkville to regional win over Rosary

SCHAUMBURG – Yorkville’s Brooke Ekwinski got knocked to the hard turf of Gary Scholz Stadium during Monday’s Schaumburg Regional semifinal against Rosary with the Foxes driving but time running out in the first half.

The junior quarterback got right back up.

After a roughing the passer call moved the ball to the Rosary 1-yard line and an incompletion, Ekwinski snapped the ball with 3.3 seconds left and rifled a pass up high for Hannah Halbesma for a touchdown just inside the end zone as the half ended.

Behind a big offensive night from Ekwinski and Halbesma, as well as a stellar defensive effort, Yorkville walked off Rosary, 31-7 with 1:24 remaining.

“I couldn’t even hear Brooke saying ready, set go,” Halbesma said about her second touchdown reception of the night from Ekwinski. “I was so scared for a second. It was fourth down. I just had to jump a little higher. I had No. 14 (senior Maddie Stumm) on me and she was very good. I applaud her.”

Halbesma’s spin moves on a 26-yard run helped set up the score as she took the Foxes down to the Rosary 19-yard line with 35.3 second left before the six-minute halftime break.

“I love to do a little move, it’s my favorite in practice,” she said. “I love doing it against our defense. It gets (senior teammate) Jayda (Stewart) all the time.”

That defense was what put the Foxes (12-6) in position to score rather than go into halftime only up 6-0.

Senior Gabby Vega intercepted a pass on Rosary’s first play of its fourth possession of the game. Her modest return took the game to the one-minute warning and the Royals’ 45.

“I would say I pull more flags than I intercept, for sure.” Vega said. “I don’t have that high of a number of interceptions. I like to rush.”

The Ekwinski-to-Halbesma connection was evident on the Foxes opening drive of the second half. The duo hooked up for 6, 13 and 24 yards on a drive that they finished with an 18-yard touchdown run from Ekwinski where she had a bit of spin move of her own.

Rosary (6-8) finally got to the Foxes with 9:55 remaining in the game to pull with 18-7. Clara Bello tossed a 7-yard touchdown to Elizabeth Tolentino. Bello then saw her PAT throw end up in unintended target Zoe Mesner’s hands for the only conversion in the game.

“The sideline definitely came alive again,” Foxes sophomore Bella Esquivel said.

Yorkville’s really came to life when Esquivel followed an Ekwinski-to-Halbesma 17-yard gain with a 52-yard touchdown run to make it 25-7 with 6:30 left to play.

“I think I had two girls closing in on me and then I kind of took the sideline,” she said. “I turned a little bit and just kept going up field.”

There was no doubt the Foxes had put a sluggish start behind them.

“On the way here our long bus rides are definitely a little tough on us,” Esquivel said. “But once we get going we start to come alive and get together as a group and just put our best effort out there.”

Foxes coach Clarissa Cooper said bus rides have been a challenge.

“I think the first half took us a little bit to wake up and our long bus rides notoriously kick us,” she said. “So that’ll be a challenge for Saturday. No school on Friday so it’ll be gearing up to get ready to go for the weekend. With Schaumburg we know it’s a challenge. It won’t be handed to them, but I think they deserve it.”

Losses over the weekend may have inspired a sense or urgency. This being the first postseason game in program history probably did as well.

“We lost two tough games on Saturday against St. Francis and Hersey,” Cooper said. “And not that I wanted to lose, but I think that put a little bit of fire under them. I’m excited for them. I’m glad that they’re here.”

Ekwinski’s third touchdown pass of the night went to senior Jackie Sledden for 18 yards, which finished off the Royals. In girls flag football, when a team is ahead by 20 points with under two minutes remaining the game ends.

The teams split during the regular season. Rosary won 20-18 in Yorkville’s second game of the year. The Foxes won 21-0 on Sept. 30.

Saturday’s regional final against Schaumburg (10-5) begins at 11 a.m.

https://www.shawlocal.com/friday-night-drive/2024/10/09/brooke-ekwinski-hannah-halbesma-connection-leads-yorkville-to-regional-win-over-rosary/