Evanston's flag football team saw its eight-game winning streak end Wednesday, Sept. 23, in a 38-6 loss to unbeaten Glenbrook South at Lazier Field.

The Wildkits played without two key defenders. All-State candidate KyNia Hunt sat out with an ankle injury suffered Saturday, Sept. 19, against Mother McAuley, compounded by illness early in the week. Harper Wesenberg remained in concussion protocol after going down against Lane Tech the same day, according to the Evanston Roundtable.

Their absence showed in the second half.

GBS quarterback Jillian Kramme scored twice in the first half on runs of 20 and 7 yards to build a 12-0 halftime lead, Patch reported. Evanston answered on its first possession of the third quarter. Brielle Rosemond's 10-yard punt return set up a five-play drive capped by a 4-yard touchdown pass from Ava Bellis to Ella Martin, cutting the deficit to 12-6.

The momentum lasted one play.

On the next snap, a missed flag pull turned a short completion into an 86-yard touchdown pass from Cooper Godbout to Lucy Clark. The Titans never slowed down. Godbout added a 51-yard touchdown run, and Alexis Conlon returned an interception 45 yards for another score as GBS piled on 26 second-half points. The game finished under running-clock rules.

"The story of tonight was all of those missed flag pulls," head coach Carlton Rosemond said. "If we had stayed disciplined with our pulls, we'd have been right with them. We proved that for two quarters."

Rosemond, who is also Hunt's father, said he chose to hold her out rather than risk her health in a regular-season game. Bellis finished 17-of-35 passing for 105 yards with two interceptions.

The loss dropped Evanston to 12-2 and knocked the Wildkits out of the Central Suburban League championship picture. GBS improved to 13-0. The Titans entered the game ranked No. 3 in Illinois by USA Today and No. 22 nationally, according to the Evanston Roundtable.

The Wildkits close their regular season with two games: Thursday, Sept. 24, at 6:30 p.m. at Maine West and Saturday, Sept. 26, at 9 a.m. at home against Willowbrook, ranked No. 1 in Illinois and No. 5 nationally by USA Today. The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) postseason follows, with the Wildkits seeded No. 2 in the Evanston Sectional.