Dawkins, Brown dandem lead Evanston

Updated: March 22, 2011 4:14PM

He didn't want to use the cliche, but the opportunity was just too perfect to pass up.

Evanston receiver James Brown smiled as he stood on the Deerfield football field Thursday after his Wildkits pounced the Warriors 39-10, thanks in large part to his three long touchdown receptions.

Brown was thinking about all the times quarterback Byron Dawkins and he practiced connecting on long passes when the cliche slipped from his lips.

"Practice makes perfect," Brown said with a grin. "That's what happened tonight."

Brown was on the receiving end of 40, 38 and 39-yard touchdown passes Thursday, the second of which helped put the Wildkits ahead for good. With five minutes left in the third quarter and his team trailing 10-7, Brown lined up on the left side of the field and simply sprinted toward the end zone. When he got to the goal line, the ball was waiting for him thanks to a perfectly lofted pass from Dawkins that split two Deerfield defenders.

With that Evanston (3-1) was off and running. The Wildkits added four more touchdowns in the final 15 minutes of the game to blow the game wide open. Two of those scores came from the defense: a 20-yard interception return by Kerrington Toney and a 98-yard interception return by Mark Williams II in the closing minutes of the game.

"We had a chip on our shoulder from last week," said Williams, referring to the 37 points the defense gave up to Niles North in a wild 38-37 victory. "We let the team down last week. We had to come out this week and handle our business."

The victory was the third straight come-from-behind win for Evanston, which beat Homewood-Flossmoor 52-49 in the second week of the season.

Dawkins finished the game 11 of 17 for 179 yards and the three TDs, while running back Rendell Messie ran for a game-high 107 yards.

Deerfield's only touchdown came on the ground from Jeremy Kritt, who finished with 90 rushing yards in the loss.

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