The rain was pouring and the Kits couldn’t stop scoring. 

Evanston came out on top 49-10 against Glenbrook North in a game that started on Friday night, but finished Saturday afternoon due to lightning postponing the game during halftime.

“You definitely don’t want to lose that Friday Night Lights experience on Homecoming, but there are things you can’t control,” head coach Mike Burzawa said. “It took five, six minutes for us to wake up a little bit because we were starting early, but football is football, you play any time, any place, anywhere.”

As Burzawa said, ETHS didn’t start off pretty due to the kickoff time change to 5 p.m. instead of 7:30. Sophomore quarterback Sean Cruz threw two interceptions in the first quarter but bounced back tremendously, showcasing his strong arm by throwing an 86 yard touchdown to senior Peter Braithwaite and a 78 yard score to junior Jeremiah Lasley, completing 8/13 passes for 242 yards.

“I talked to my coach in the headset and he told me ‘you have to bounce back, you owe me three touchdowns,’” Cruz said reflecting on the first quarter. “I had to bounce back, stay positive, and I had two touchdowns and made up for the rest of it today.” 

In addition to Cruz’s two touchdowns, senior running-back and Miami (OH) commit Quadre Nicholson tallied two touchdowns of his own in his first game this season after missing the first four weeks due to injury. Nicholson ran for 101 yards on 13 carries to help the Kits establish the run game.

“It felt pretty good [to be on the field],” Nicholson said. “Right now I’m not feeling 100 percent, but I think I’m ready enough to help get my team wins.”

Cruz and Nicholson weren’t the only ones to put together a strong game, as the defense played phenomenally, limiting the Spartans to 10 points and scoring a pair of touchdowns on a pick-six from senior De’Vaughn “Muscles” Bell, and a 50 yard fumble return touchdown from 6’2” 325 pound defensive tackle Khiyran Monroe.

The win improves ETHS to 2-3 on the season snapping a three game losing streak. From here on out, the Kits look to keep on moving forward to make another run to the playoffs.

“I hope we can keep this momentum that we had today; we were very positive, everybody was dialed into the game, everybody was working as a team, nobody had their head down, so I just hope we stay positive,” Cruz explained.

The Kits will make the trip to Maine South next Friday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m, as they take on the 3-2 Hawks, looking to even out their record at 3-3.