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St. Charles North builds early lead, knocks off WW South

What a difference a year makes.

Last year Wheaton Warrenville South edged St. Charles North, 12-10. The North Stars didn't want to see a repeat this year.

This time they grabbed an early 14-point lead and rolled to a 35-20 DuKane Conference victory in St. Charles.

Senior quarterback Will Vaske threw for 2 touchdowns to Jake Furtney and ran for another, and workhorse Drew Surges ran for a pair of scores for the North Stars (2-1, 1-0).

Vaske was efficient, completing 15 of 20 passes for 223 yards. He connected with Furtney on touchdowns of 7 and 53 yards in the second half.

"I was trusting my guys. We've got a lot of athletes on this team," Vaske said. "Just going through my progressions. Our coaches made it clear for us, simmering it down to just a few things that I had to keep an eye out for and other than that things went pretty smooth. All the preparation paid off."

Jake Mettetal was Vaske's favorite receiver on the night, hauling in 7 balls for 75 yards including some key grabs to keep drives going.

"He's my guy," said Vaske. "We've been friends for awhile, we've got a special bond. We kind of think on the same page, and he's played the quarterback position as well so he's got that perspective and we connect on that level."

After a scoreless first quarter, the North Stars struck twice in a span of less than 3 minutes. After Vaske's 6-yard run put St. Charles North ahead, the defense forced a 3-and-out and the North Stars got the ball back in good field position and Sturges did the rest. He hauled in a 34-yard strike from Vaske, then covered the last 3 yards on the ground.

The Tigers got on the board just before halftime when Luca Carbonaro hit Braylen Meredith with a 13-yarder.

Furtney's first TD catch and Sturges' second run put the North Stars ahead 28-7 after 3 quarters.

The Carbonaro effect paid dividends for WW South as he led two fourth-quarter scoring drives to keep the Tigers in it. Jake Vozza and Matthew Crider paid it off with short scoring runs.

After completing just 5 of 9 passes in the first half, Carbonaro heated up after the break. He hit on 7 of his first 8 second-half passes and finished the night 16 of 23 for 122 yards. Meredith led the way with 7 catches.

But the Tigers' running game could never get off the ground, as they finished with just 64 yards on 30 carries. Vozza led the way with 46 yards on just 9 carries for the Tigers (1-2, 0-1).

After Crider's run made it 28-14 in the fourth quarter, Vaske's longest completion of the night, a 53-yarder to Furtney for a score gave the North Stars some breathing room.

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