During preseason practice in August, Glenbrook North football coach Bob Pieper said the quarterback competition between Nick Karis and Kevin Burnside was too close to call.
Karis, a senior, ended up winning the job and started the first two games of the season. The Spartans won both of them.
But Pieper said he wanted to get Burnside, a junior, some snaps before the Spartans started their Central Suburban North schedule on Friday, Sept. 25, at Highland Park. So Burnside made his season debut in Week 3, entering on Glenbrook North’s third series of the game against Evanston. The Wildkits won 28-14 on Friday, Sept. 11, in Northbrook.
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“We feel like we have two good ones in Nick and Kevin, and we practiced all week to play them both,” Pieper said. “They each do things well.”
After a three-and-out and an interception on the first two possessions, Burnside took over and led the Spartans on a 12-play scoring drive. He capped it by running for a 7-yard touchdown with 3 minutes, 51 seconds to go before intermission.
Burnside then started the second half and got Glenbrook North into the end zone again, pushing the Spartans to a 14-3 lead over the Wildkits.
“Both of them are good quarterbacks, and both of them are good in different ways,” Pieper said. “Kevin throws it a little better, and Nick runs it well. We like the mix of the two. But we are just trying to find our best team right now.”
For the game, Burnside finished 6-for-12 for 71 yards with one interception. Karis went 3-for-6 for 17 yards, also throwing an interception. He ran six times for 20 yards.
Burnside’s highlight happened on the scoring series to start the second half.
Facing a third-and-8, he dropped back in the pocket and completed a long pass to senior running back John Clark for 27 yards. More impressively, he did it with Evanston’s Naquan Jones, a 6-foot-4, 310-pound defensive lineman who has verbally committed to Michigan State, bearing down on him.
But Burnside was more concerned with what he did wrong against the Wildkits, like when he threw an interception in the red zone late in the fourth quarter.
“The team was counting on me to do well, and I feel like I let them down,” he said. “I didn’t throw the ball well in the second half and missed some receivers who were open, and I didn’t pick up some blitzes. I have a lot to learn.”
The good news for Burnside is that it appeared he has the support of his teammates. After the game, several of them stopped to pat him on the back and gave him words of encouragement.
“I was really nervous and jittery for my first start, but it was about getting my feet wet,” Burnside said. “I know I need to improve on things. I will go and watch film and better prepare myself for the next game.”
The Spartans have one more Central Suburban crossover game — at Waukegan at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19 — before they begin conference play.
Twitter: @harnesspreps