St. Charles North ends drought vs. rival
Beating crosstown rival St. Charles East for the first time in 7 years was something to remember for St. Charles North's football team Friday night.
Clinching its first playoff berth since 2009 in the process was something to cherish.
Senior quarterback Nathan Didier completed 11 of 16 passes for 204 yards and 3 touchdown passes while senior linebacker Carson Schmitt, senior defensive end Jordan Bergren and junior nose guard Quinn Calcagno anchored a stingy defensive effort as the North Stars (6-2, 4-2) blanked the Saints 42-0 at St. Charles North.
“It feels really good to get this win,” said Schmitt. “Two of my brothers didn't beat (St. Charles) East so I kind of have something over them now. I have bragging rights in the household.”
Second-year St. Charles North coach Rob Pomazak was more interested in the fact that his team's sixth victory of the season sealed a postseason berth.
“That's the big one,” said Pomazak. “We talked this week about it being about us. Everybody calls it East week but we made it a point about making it about North.”
Special teams plays helped slant the field in the North Stars' direction during the first half.
After the North Stars' defense forced a 3-and-out series on the Saints' second offensive possession, Jake Chantos blocked a punt and Brendan McCarthy pounced on the ball at the Saints' 10.
Three plays later, junior tailback Dominick Sidari (19 carries, 75 yards) scored on a 4-yard run and the North Stars grabbed a 7-0 lead.
Midway through the second quarter, Bergren recovered a fumbled punt at the Saints' 33 to help set up Didier's 33-yard TD pass to Blake Kastein for a 14-0 advantage.
After another 3-and-out series, a shanked 7-yard punt again gave the North Stars excellent field position at the Saints' 35.
On 4th-and-7, Didier tossed a 31-yard TD pass to Kyle Novotney (4 catches, 101 yards) as the North Stars extended their lead to 21-0.
“The timing with our receivers has gotten a lot better,” said Didier, who began the season as the backup quarterback to Novotney. “I felt real comfortable with our scheme going into the game.”
With 19 seconds remaining before halftime, the North Stars used a little trickery to make it 28-0 as Novotney took a reverse handoff from Didier and fired a 16-yard touchdown pass to Kastein.
“The kids really executed,” said Pomazak. “We talked about three phases this week and we had to be good on all three. I thought the kids really answered the bell.
“This was the week where we thought if we gave up 7 points we would win the football game,” added the coach. “Once we got midway through the second quarter, we had a good feeling for what we were doing.”
St. Charles East, held to minus-2 yards of total offense in the first half, also had a 40-yard kickoff return by Ramon Lopez nullified because of a block-in-the-back penalty.
“We really got them going early with some mistakes that we made,” said Saints coach Bryce Farquhar. “We gave them short field position a few times and then the offense just wasn't able to move the ball. We had too many mistakes up front and they capitalized on them. We really didn't give our quarterback time to do anything.”
Sophomore Zach Mitchell, starting his second varsity game, accounted for 54 of the Saints' 56 total yards on a night where sloppy field conditions and the North Stars' defense slowed down St. Charles East's biggest offensive threat — Lopez (15 carries, 24 yards).
“The field conditions were poor,” said Farquhar. “He just couldn't get it going. That let them play the pass a lot more. When Ramon's not on, we're not on.”
Didier threw a 32-yard TD pass to Tyler Mettetal in the third quarter before Billy Duhownik's 1-yard TD run closed out the scoring for the North Stars.
“It's the best feeling in the world,” Pomazak said of reaching the playoffs. “I can't describe a better feeling other than my twins being born and getting married.”