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St. Charles North's size will challenge Cary-Grove

The eye tends to follow the football once it is snapped, but savvy watchers are in for a treat if they pay attention to the interior line battle between No. 1 Cary-Grove and No. 9 St. Charles North in a Class 7A second-round matchup Saturday at 2 p.m.

Cary-Grove's potent triple-option offense has averaged 39 points and 350 rushing yards behind a line that features center Scotty Topole (6-foot-5, 240 pounds), four-year starter Michael Gomez (6-0, 260) and Notre Dame-bound Trevor Ruhland (6-4, 280).

St. Charles North counters with a physical defense led by the Upstate Eight River co-defensive player of the year, end Jordan Bergren (6-4, 225). He had 8 tackles and 2 sacks last week in a 34-22 win over No. 8 Rolling Meadows. Lineate Dalton Young (6-0, 185) led the North Stars last week with 12 tackles and a sack.

Right behind them loom nimble-for-their-size senior linebackers Jack Callaghan (6-3, 220) and Brendan McCarthy (6-2, 220).

"Their linebackers are real big, they play physically and they run to the ball real well," Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg said. "They've got a lot of good pieces in place. I think the games where we've been able to control the line of scrimmage, we've usually have a lot of success on offense. The games where we don't, then it's really a grind."

There haven't been too many grinds this season for the team ranked No. 1 in 7A for most of the season by The Associated Press. Fullback Tyler Pennington enters with 1,244 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns. He is closing in on the single-season program record of 26 touchdowns set by Kyle Norberg during the Class 6A runner-up season of 2012, though Norberg's record of 2,320 yards rushing in a season is safe for now.

The Trojans pick their spots when throwing the ball and usually do so successfully. A 60-percent passer, 6-foot-4 senior quarterback Jason Gregoire has completed 30 of 50 attempts for 605 yards and 8 touchdowns, including last week's 20-yard throw to Matt Sutherland and 30-yard strike to Jimmy Freskos.

"When you start falling asleep with the run game that's when they hit you with the pass," St. Charles North second-year coach Rob Pomazak said.

North's read option offense is triggered by quarterback Nathan Didier (6-0, 185). Last week he scored 3 rushing touchdowns and completed 15 of 25 attempts with an interception as North tied its school record for wins.

The running back duo of Eric Lins (116 carries, 521 yards, 8 TD) and speedster Dom Sidari (75 carries, 417 yards, 8 TD) is complemented by 315 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns from Didier, who can also throw it. The senior has completed 66 of 109 attempts (60.6 percent) for 939 yards and 10 touchdowns (4 interceptions).

Cary-Grove defensive backs Sutherland and Willie Hartke have 5 interceptions for a fast 3-3-5 hybrid defense that limits opponents to 11.1 points per game. Linemen Ray DiMatteo (6-0, 210), Gomez and Ruhland will try to disrupt the rhythm of Didier and the North Stars.

"I think defensively, just keeping them off-balance is going to be a key," Seaburg said. "Making their receivers uncomfortable, not letting them run uncontested routes, getting pressure on the quarterback. There are a lot of things we need to do to stop a very good offense."

The winner advances to a state quarterfinal against the winner of Saturday's 2 p.m. clash between No. 5 Hononegah (9-1) and No. 4 Geneva (9-1).

Dave Oberhelman contributed to this report.

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