St. Charles North rolls over Bartlett
Lucas Segobiano enjoyed a unique Friday night in St. Charles.
"I have had rushing and receiving touchdowns before, but I have never had a defensive touchdown," the St. Charles North junior said.
Segobiano scored on the ground to open the North Stars' 42-0 Upstate Eight Conference crossover football game with Bartlett and later added a 37-yard scoring reception to close out the third-quarter offensive St. Charles North attack.
But Segobiano saved his best for the Hawks' ensuing possession.
Bartlett (1-1) had enjoyed its only sustained drive of the game late in the third quarter, largely courtesy of a 32-yard connection between quarterback Joseph Daum and Matteo Jones.
But on the Hawks' next third-down conversion attempt, St. Charles North junior Chris Edlund struck Daum as he was in a throwing motion.
The ball flew straight up into the air.
"I looked up, and the ball just fell into my hands," said Segobiano, who raced 74 yards for his final touchdown to give the North Stars' an insurmountable five-score lead to begin the fourth quarter. "I'm going to take it and run."
The score came nine plays after Segobiano eased into the end zone on the final pass attempt from quarterback Zach Mettetal.
"It was a blown coverage," Segobiano said. "I was wide open."
Mettetal, the Memphis pitching recruit, was nearly flawless in engineering the North Stars' unrelenting offensive attack.
The senior completed 15 of 19 passes for 196 yards; his first scoring strike - Nathan Dehut's 23-yard score right before the break - gave St. Charles North a 21-0 lead at the intermission.
Mettetal was more pleased about the North Stars' ground game.
"Last week we were too pass happy," Mettetal said. "We wanted to come in and run the football. Back-to-back weeks we have dominated with our skill players. It's nice to win like that."
Hitting a quintet of different receivers in his impeccable 7-for-7 opening quarter, Mettetal orchestrated consecutive scoring drives to open the game for St. Charles North.
St. Charles North (2-0) outgained Bartlett 144-29 in the first 12 minutes as Segobiano and feature back Eric Lins had touchdown runs of 3 and 11 yards.
Lins virtually took a siesta after rushing 10 times for 58 yards in the North Stars' 67- and 69-yard scoring marches to open the game.
The senior only carried once for 6 yards the remainder of the game.
Segobiano ended with a game-high 5 catches for 64 yards.
North Star backup quarterback Michael Hohensee initiated a running clock early in the fourth quarter when he found Thomas Nelsen for the longest play from scrimmage on the night - a 56-yard catch and run along the left sideline.
"We learned some important lessons," Bartlett coach Eric Ilich said. "With the character of the guys we have in our locker room, we will clean it up."