Shortly after Evanston senior running back Ben Easington gained the second-most rushing yards in a game in school history, Wildkits sophomore coach Brent Nance fired off a text about the performance.
Easington’s 336-yard effort on 43 carries in a 42-35 Central Suburban South victory over Niles West on Friday, Sept. 30, is second only to the 387 yards Siaka Massaquoi gained on 52 carries against New Trier in 1997. Nance decided to let his friend Massaquoi know his record was still intact, but just barely.
Now an actor in Los Angeles, Massaquoi wrote back to Nance, and Nance showed the response to Easington the following morning.
“He wrote that he was very proud of me, and that I had more (average) yards-per-carry than him, so that was kind of funny,” said Easington, an Evanston resident.
When Massaquoi turned in his record-setting effort in a 28-20 win over the Trevians, he already was a celebrated running back who had verbally committed to Iowa. Massaquoi played for the Hawkeyes in 2000 and 2001.
Easington’s memorable night came in just his sixth game ever at running back.
“I think that makes it even more impressive (than it might seem), he’s only played six games at running back his entire life,” said Evanston junior fullback Charlie Gruner, an Evanston resident who was the lead blocker on 38 of Easington’s carries. “That is a true testament to who Ben is as a person and a player. All the work he put in has really paid off. He’s just running over people. No one can take him down on the first hit.”
The 5-foot-10, 195-pound Easington started at outside linebacker as a junior and said he occasionally participated in fullback drills, but never played the position in a game.
During the offseason, Easington said he identified running back as a position of need for the Wildkits in 2016, and he set out to convince the coaches he was the man for the job.
“I made sure I was going to fill that gap,” said Easington, who scored two touchdowns against Niles West. “I knew I was going to do it. I worked my butt off trying to get faster and stronger, and it paid off.
He added: “Every week, I feel I’m learning on my feet. And I have a great line and blockers and great coaches like (running backs coach) Mike Partipilo, who is teaching me a lot about it.”
Easington, who has slowly transitioned away from linebacker, rushed for 213 yards in a 24-17 win at Conant in Week 3. In that game he scored on a 98-yard touchdown run.
However, Easington said he had been somewhat disappointed by his performance against New Trier in a 38-17 defeat in Week 5.
“I kind of messed up a few times against New Trier,” Easington said. “I wasn’t focused on playing downhill (running straight ahead). That was a big focus (against Niles West).”
Easington said he had expected to have a fairly busy evening against Niles West, though he was not anticipating getting 43 carries. But the Wildkits’ 22-Iso play was working, so Evanston kept calling the play, which involved Easington following Gruner through a gap between senior center Christian Nielsen and senior guard Morgan Brown.
“Brown and Christian were the two guys in the middle and Charlie popped that linebacker. Once the linebacker was gone, I was able to get in the secondary, and it’s hard to tackle me in the open field,” Easington said. “Everyone blocked tremendously and we were all in rhythm in the game.”
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The Wildkits (4-2, 1-1) collected a whopping 448 yards rushing against Niles West (4-2, 1-1). Evanston coach Mike Burzawa said it was the most rushing yards one of his teams has gained in a game in his 21 years as an assistant and head coach at Driscoll and Evanston.
“It was a great Homecoming win for the school and community and football program,” Burzawa said. “We felt we could exploit Niles West’s defense and it really started up front with our offensive line and S back (Gruner). Once (Easington) gets going, he gets stronger as the game goes on. We love how he runs the football.”
Dan Shalin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @danshalin