Huxtable, SCN quell Storm
St. Charles North football coach Mark Gould wants to find ways to get junior running back Jordan Huxtable the ball in open space.
Huxtable found plenty of clear running room Saturday afternoon, particularly in the fourth quarter, to help the North Stars to a 35-24 victory over South Elgin at Millennium Field.
"Once he gets (into the opening field) he can do some nice things," Gould said. "Fortunately we were able to do that, especially in the second half."
Of Huxtable's 246 rushing yards none were bigger than his 52-yard scamper in the fourth. The Storm (2-4, 1-2 Upstate Eight) regained the lead, 24-21, on an 18-yard pass from Patrick Rae to Josh Smith with 5:14 remaining. The North Stars (4-2, 2-1) started on their own 48 after a 29-yard kickoff return from Conner Mohs. On the first play, Huxtable took a pitch to the left, cut back to the middle and ran past the Storm defense for the eventual game-winning touchdown as North took a 28-24 lead with 4:53 left.
"We started picking up the middle linebackers. We made a little change on some of our running plays and that opened cutback lanes," Huxtable said. "I'm a cutback runner. The holes opened up and I just took off."
Huxtable, who had 29 carries, scored his third touchdown of the game with 1:10 left, breaking free outside for a 56-yard TD. He had 176 yards rushing in the second half.
"In the second half, we did a better job of staying on our blocks longer and giving Jordan some open field," Gould said.
North scored on its opening possession of the game, a 1-yard run by Huxtable, to take a 7-0 lead. But the rest of the first half belonged mostly to South Elgin.
The Storm tied the game with 10:57 remaining in the first half on a 17-yard TD pass from Rae to Jake Kumerow. They took a 14-7 lead on a 5-yard score from Rae to Phillip Kawabata with 4:15 remaining.
After a 38-yard field goal by David Reisner gave South Elgin a 17-7 lead in the third quarter, North's offense finally got going again. The North Stars drove 65 yards on 8 plays, capped by a 5-yard run by Michael Ghanem on the first play of the fourth quarter. On the Storm's next drive, Rae was hit behind the line and fumbled. The ball was recovered by North at the Storm's 19.
The North Stars took the lead, 21-17, with 9:10 left on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Sean McGushin to Jeff Stolzenburg.
South Elgin, which saw its two-game winning streak end, answered when Rae hit Smith before Huxtable quickly quieted the South Elgin homecoming crowd.
"We're still at that point as a program where we need to learn how to finish a ballgame," Storm coach Dale Schabert said. "The fourth quarter last week (a 20-19 victory over T.F. South) we stumbled a little bit. It happened again to us this week."
Rae completed 22 of 32 passes for 340 yards and 3 touchdowns. Smith had 10 receptions for 201 yards.