Clay Czyzynski, seen here in earlier action this fall, came up with a strong performance in NT’s win over Evanston. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEORGE PFOERTNER
New Tier senior quarterback Clay Czyzynski dropped back to pass, sidestepped a couple of Evanston pass rushers, scrambled left, stopped, pivoted and scrambled right to give him enough space to chuck a football on the run.
The ball ended up in the hands of 6-foot-7 junior wideout Brian Kaiser for a 53-yard completion on Sept. 23.
Fifty-three yards — or about the number of yards Czyzynski had traveled before releasing the ball. Had he been wearing a Fitbit, the Fitbit would have begged for mercy if the Fitbit could scream.
The second-quarter play was the most exciting, easily the most exciting, in New Trier’s convincing 38-17 defeat of visiting Evanston in Northfield, and it preceded senior running back Francis Fay’s three-yard touchdown run. The win in the Central Suburban League South opener for both schools halted the Trevians’ brief losing streak at two games.
Double-threat Czyzynski finished with 156 yards passing (9-of-19) and 97 yards rushing (11 carries). He tossed two TD passes — a 33-yarder to Kaiser in the second quarter, a 39-yarder to senior running back Max Rosenthal on a first down in the fourth quarter — and amassed nearly 60 percent of NT’s total yardage of 432.
Fay, also a defensive back, ran around as a tireless threat all night, gaining 123 yards on only 11 carries and tallying three TDs. His other scores covered 76 and six yards. Fay and several other teammates stopped a Wildkits ball carrier for no gain on a fourth-and-two from the Evanston 44-yard late in the second quarter.
NT (3-2, 1-0) led 21-7 at the half.
On New Trier’s only possession of the third quarter, facing a fourth-and-12 from Evanston’s 32-yard line, Czyzynski used his legs again to deflate the visitors. The 5-11, 210-pounder saw daylight during nighttime and raced around left end for a 14-yard gain.
Following four consecutive runs by Fay, the last a six-yarder, NT went up 27-10. Game over. Essentially.
A 25-yard field goal from Trevians junior Sam Rutherford, at 5:57 of the fourth quarter, capped the scoring for the victors.
Evanston (3-2, 0-1) pared NT’s 14-0 lead in half at 5:04 of the second quarter but struck for only a 37-yard field and a meaningless TD late thereafter on New Trier’s Senior Night.
Kaiser hauled in a pair of passes for 86 yards; Trevians senior linebacker Grant Higgins made two stops for no gain; senior DB Daniel Anderson (tackle for loss, pass breakup), senior defensive lineman Blake Field (big stop and QB pressure on consecutive plays in the first quarter), senior linebacker Chris Notari (tackle for no gain), and senior linebacker Max Bryla (best special-teams tackle of the night) also had impactful games for NT, which visits Niles North (0-5, 0-1) on Sept. 30.