Hinsdale C. blanks St. Charles N.
The St. Charles North defense had a great stand late in the second quarter of Friday’s season-opener at Hinsdale Central, stuffing the Red Devils on fourth-and-goal on the 3-yard line.
Unfortunately, the North Stars couldn’t come up with nearly enough similar defensive plays to stop the balanced attack of the Red Devils, losing convincingly, 30-0.
St. Charles North (0-1) surrendered nearly 500 total yards while only mustering 129 of its own.
“We knew they had a lot of guys coming back and figured they’ve be pretty good at quarterback,” St. Charles North coach Mark Gould said. “There were a lot more diverse offensively then they showed last year and with that size up front, it’s 270 (pounds) across the board. That’s tough to stop when they get some momentum going down field.”
After forcing the Red Devils to settle for a 42-yard field goal from John Andrews late in the first quarter, the North Stars proved capable of moving the ball, turning the chains twice before punting the ball away. The North Stars punted seven times. The Red Devils didn’t punt once.
“We weren’t able to run the ball and we’ve got be able to run it much better,” Gould said. “There were times where we were able to throw it and our quarterbacks made some nice throws and even when they scrambled they completed some passes. I think we’ll be able to throw the ball but we have to block better and run it.”
The North Stars only had 22 rushing yards and George Edlund accounted for 21 of them.
Hinsdale Central (1-0) took a 17-0 lead into halftime on a pair of touchdown runs from Jack Adams. It was a night of redemption for Adams who broke his foot in last year’s season opener between the schools.
“I’m happy to be back after getting hurt at the beginning of last season,” Adams said. “We came out firing and usually we don’t come out like that in the first half. We drove the ball down and attacked their defense like we should be doing.”
Unable to do anything on offense on the opening drive of the second half, the North Stars soon found themselves trailing 24-0 when Hinsdale Central quarterback Brian Owners connected on a 38-yard touchdown to 6-foot-6 junior Ian Bunting.
“We controlled and moved the ball like we wanted to,” Hinsdale Central coach Rich Tarka said. “I’m not sure what the time of possession was, but it felt like we had it a lot.”