St. Charles North hoping to repeat history in Moline

There's no truth to the rumor that St. Charles North football coach Mark Gould will be driving the team's chartered bus to Moline Friday.

But he certainly knows the directions westbound on I-88 and probably remembers several mile markers along the way.

"I kept telling the coaches last year that it took 2 hours and 15 minutes to get there so just hold on," Gould recalled. "They were worried that we were leaving too late for the game."

The "game" Gould was referring to was the North Stars' memorable 14-13 first-round Class 7A state playoff victory over host Moline -- historic because it marked St. Charles North's first postseason win in 5 tries. Well, guess what?

When the Illinois High School Association state football playoff pairings were announced last Saturday night, Gould learned that his team would be making the exact same trek to Moline some 364 days later.

"Last year, they had some good juniors in the backfield and a few good juniors playing other positions," said Gould. "I remember we looked at that and said, 'Man, they'll have some good kids coming back (in 2007).'

"Little did we know that we were going to be meeting them again?"

Being familiar with an opponent can work two ways.

"Yes, I think there are positives there," said Gould. "We can watch films from last year. But I'm sure they're thinking it's a positive for them, too. They have films on us from last year and kind of know what we can do."

Moline, which captured its first Western Big 6 Conference outright title since 1996 this season, has added motivation.

"They've got a revenge factor because we came back and won it (last year)," said Gould. "They really thought they were going to win their first playoff game since 1991. You could really tell they were disappointed after the game. I'm sure this year there's extra added incentive not only to win their first playoff game in a long time but also to get a chance for revenge against the team they think they should have beaten."

While the North Stars figure to have their hands full trying to contain Western Big 6 scoring leader Bennett Welser, Gould is still trying to figure out his own team heading into Week 10.

After suffering a 36-6, Week-5 setback at the hands of Bartlett, St. Charles North regrouped and strung together three consecutive victories -- the biggest being a 28-26 win over cross-town rival St. Charles East two weeks ago.

Then there's also last weekend's embarrassing 45-0 loss to Neuqua Valley.

"It's figuring out high school kids, too," said Gould, "and that's a tough thing to do. We've had a lot of talks with them.

"It's like, 'Which team is going to show up?' Is it going to be a really highly motivated team or is it the team that can be deflated quickly? Sometimes you get years like that."

The first quarter might be the best barometer for North Stars fans to follow Friday night.

"When we start off well, it gets that inner confidence going," said Gould. "When we start off poorly and things go bad at first, it doesn't look like we have that confidence."

Receiver Tim Ohlrich, tailback Nic Higgins, defensive lineman Tim Janeway, and linebackers Jake Juriga and Tommy Najarian are among a small group of players that gained valuable postseason experience in Moline a year ago.

As his team prepares to make its sixth straight playoff appearance, Gould desires more.

"We don't want to be satisfied with making the playoffs," he said. "As the whole school matures, we've got to get away from thinking small and taking these small little steps -- and start thinking bigger."

Sign of things to come?

For the first time, Batavia (5-4), Geneva (9-0), St. Charles East (7-2) and St. Charles North (5-4) are all positioned in the lower portion of the Class 7A playoff bracket. If all 4 teams prove victorious, next weekend's second-round pairings will pit St. Charles East at Geneva and St. Charles North at Batavia.

"It's exciting to have four area teams in the same bracket," said Gould. "Sometimes the state (IHSA) has a tendency to group teams together like that.

"Batavia and Geneva are not getting smaller -- they're getting bigger so chances are they'll remain in 7A. And we all make a nice southern quadrant with the usual 3-4 schools that make it from downstate.

"I anticipate this is something that we do see more often."

Sounds good to me.