St. Charles North handles Streamwood
St. Charles North's football team appears to be rounding into playoff form at the opportune time.
Scoring touchdowns on their first 3 possessions, the North Stars (5-2, 2-2) built a 24-0 halftime advantage and stretched the lead to 38-0 through 3 quarters on the way to a 38-6 Upstate Eight Conference River Division triumph over Streamwood (3-4, 2-3) Friday night in St. Charles.
"Next week is going to be a big week for us," said North Stars coach Rob Pomazak, whose squad visits crosstown rival St. Charles East next weekend. "Each week is a playoff week. Eligibility was this week. An automatic bid is next week and (playoff) seeding is Week 9. We're in playoff mode already."
The North Stars grabbed a 7-0 lead with an 8-play, 73-yard drive on their opening drive that was capped by Eric Lins' 1-yard touchdown run.
One play after a holding penalty negated a 31-yard TD pass, North Stars junior quarterback Zach Mettetal (17 of 23, 319 yards) connected with 6-foot-4 junior receiver Griffin Hammer (5 catches, 121 yards) for a 41-yard pass play just prior to Lins' TD run.
After the defense forced 4 straight incompletions from its own 20, St. Charles North marched 80 yards in 5 plays to make it 14-0 on Mettetal's 5-yard TD pass to senior wide receiver Jayson Reckards.
Early in the second quarter, Mettetal, who completed his first 10 pass attempts for 200 yards, lofted a 53-yard TD pass to Reckards as the North Stars extended their lead to 21-0.
"We want to make sure we can play at our pace," said Reckards. "Every time we can jump on them early is a good thing."
Junior kicker Adam Durocher added a 27-yard field goal to make it 24-0 at halftime.
Midway through the third quarter, the Mettetal to Reckards combination struck again as the North Stars' quarterback dropped a picture-perfect, 45-yard TD pass into the speedy receiver's hands.
Reckards, who finished with 8 catches for 155 yards and 3 TDs, felt Mettetal made his job look easy.
"You never really have to work for it," said Reckards. "Zach just puts it where it needs to be. He is a fantastic quarterback."
"Obviously, Jayson is pretty fast," said Mettetal, who capped the North Stars' scoring with a 4-yard TD run late in the third quarter before earning a well-deserved rest. "Once I saw him get even with the corner (cornerback), I just kind of threw it up for him. He gets to everything."
"I give all the credit to Zach and Griffin and Jayson and Eric for running the football and the guys up front," said Pomazak. "The boys executed."
Sophomore call-up Chris Edlund, who entered the game midway through the third quarter, added 109 yards rushing on 14 carries.
Streamwood spoiled the shutout bid on a 5-yard TD pass from Brendon Marton (10 of 19, 135 yards) to Timothy Crom with 7:53 remaining.
"We put some drives together," said Sabres coach Don Guindon. "We only had one 3-and-out series in the first half but it's that little edge. We're missing that big play to score."