North Stars enjoy spoiler role while keeping title hopes alive

On the 14th annual kick-a-thon in St. Charles, it wound up being St. Charles North who delivered a swift kick right to St. Charles East's gut.

The Saints' undefeated Upstate Eight Conference record? Gone.

The Saints' outright Upstate Eight title? They will probably have to share, possibly with the last team they want to, their cross-town rival.

The Saints' No. 10 ranking in the Class 7A poll? Likely a thing of the past when the new rankings are released.

And you think St. Charles North didn't enjoy all that?

"We crushed their dreams," said Jonathan DeMoss, who scored a pair of touchdowns. "Our quote was to crush East's dreams and we did it."

St. Charles East entered the game 6-1 to St. Charles North's 4-3, and with three straight wins in the series. They also entered getting their share of the headlines.

Or more than their share?

Flash back seven weeks to the Saints' season-opening win at Batavia. The St. Charles East players used a lack of respect in the local newspapers as part of their motivation in beating Batavia.

Maybe what goes around comes around. DeMoss said the exact same thing about the attention St. Charles East has received.

Hey, it's no fun making people mad, though evidently our area newspapers are doing wonders for helping teams play better.

"No respect at all. Today reading the newspapers it was East, East, East, East. It was incredible," DeMoss said. "Definitely, definitely, definitely motivation."

DeMoss repeats the key words to emphasize his point, just like St. Charles North emphasized it was ready to play on the opening kick -- a 38-yard return by DeMoss.

"We just rolled from the beginning," DeMoss said. "It was amazing."

As much fun as DeMoss and his teammates had denying St. Charles East an undefeated Upstate Eight record, the win does much more for the North Stars themselves.

They are likely back in the playoffs, and with a win over Neuqua Valley next week, back in a tie for the Upstate Eight championship. If they get there, they've done it against a much tougher schedule that includes Bartlett and Neuqua Valley unlike past years.

And they've evened the Cross-town Classic at 4-4 in the closest game of the eight. I'd give this one a slight nod over the Saints' 40-35 win in 2005 as the most exciting in what has fast become a can't-miss game.

"Back and forth and to make a stand on the 2-point play, that's got to be one of the all-times," St. Charles North coach Mark Gould said. "Rivalries, I guess this is what starts making them classics."

The annual kick-a-thon at St. Charles always is a wonderful night, with over $200,000 raised in its 14 years for a great cause -- kicking out cancer.

The North Stars wound out helping out their own good cause, picking up a fifth win that should put them in the playoffs for the sixth straight year.

They can thank the 2-point conversion stand late and the fast start early. If there was any doubt in their mind whether they could play with the Saints, it left when they led 7-0 just 1:25 into the game, and later 14-0 and 21-7 midway through the first quarter.

"It's all a confidence thing," Gould said. "Once you jump on them right away, the kids started believing we can play with these guys. I think going into a game sometimes they think they can, but you have to do a little bit to believe you can."

Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What goes down as one of the best victories in Gould's tenure at St. Charles North looked completely different to his counterpart.

A St. Charles East team that had played smart football in starting 6-1 struggled all night. It started by failing to pick up a St. Charles North kickoff, then committing a penalty on 3rd down when they had a drive stopped, which put them in a 14-0 hole less than four minutes into the game.

The Saints tried to play catch-up all night but never quite got there, coming as close as a yard away when St. Charles North held on a late 2-point conversion.

"We played like garbage," St. Charles East coach Ted Monken said. "That first quarter was a comedy of mistakes. Special teams, offense, defense. All three phases of the game played like we weren't ready to play. That first quarter was some of the worst football we have ever played and we basically handed them the game in the first quarter and weren't able to recover.

"Losing the game hurts because we like bragging rights for the city and all that fun stuff. But I'm more upset about the way we played."

The good news for the Saints is that they have time to correct the mistakes and get back to playing the way they have all year.

And the good news for St. Charles fans -- besides another great night for the community raising money to fight cancer and watching a hard-fought, exciting football game -- is we should have a pair of St. Charles schools to share the headlines in the playoffs.