Surges sets St. Charles North touchdowns mark in triumph over Lake Park

The St. Charles North football team put visiting Lake Park on the ropes early Friday night.

The Lancers got off those ropes and put up a fight late, but the North Stars prevailed 27-13.

"I was proud of them. They set the tone going up 21-0. It's a challenge to keep focus," said St. Charles North coach Rob Pomazak. "That's a good (Lake Park) team over there. I give them a lot of credit. Chris Kirkpatrick is a great coach and I'm glad he's in the DuKane Conference."

It was a huge night for Drew Surges. The North Stars senior running back scored all of his team's touchdowns and rushed for a game-high 173 yards.

But his big achievement came on the third touchdown when he became the school's all-time touchdowns leader.

"It's awesome. It was one of my goals to be the best," he said.

But with every successful running back usually, there's an equally successful offensive line.

Guards Chris Smith, Jessie Moreno and Gabe Tate along with center Evan Goede and tackles Henry Warsaw and Cole Schertz.

"They are a great group of guys. We're super close. They block and they know I'll make the right move," Surges said.

The spark that started the North Stars' surge in the first quarter came when Alex Valenzuela blocked a Lake Park punt and it was recovered by Alex Kuchta.

That led to Surges scoring on a 2-yard run on a 4-play drive with 7:21 left in the first quarter.

About two-and-a-half minutes later, the offensive line opened some big holes and Surges outsprinted the Lancers' defensive secondary en route to a 68-yard run.

The subsequent Lake Park possession was short as Drake Javorek recovered a fumble and Surges made good on a 1-yard run.

"(Surges) is just a tremendous athlete on a different level. I don't think I have seen that type of athlete in 21 years," said Pomazak, whose team improved to 5-1 and 4-0 in the DuKane Conference. Lake Park dropped to 1-5, 1-3.

St. Charles North got 35- and 40-yard field goals from Hunter Liszka in the second half.

The Lancers got on the board in the second quarter with just 32.3 seconds remaining on a 3-yard pass to Matthew Rodriguez from Michael McCormick

Lake Park got to within two scores on a 1-yard pass to Michael Pitello from Dominic Pellegrino with 5:11. The Lancers recovered the onside kick, but could not reach the end zone again.