Kuczaj, Wheaton North push past St. Charles North
Wheaton North, ultimately, stuck to their motto: Finish.
The Falcons certainly have a litany of exemplary moments of that to pick from in their ultimate 35-23 victory over St. Charles North on Friday to open DuKane Conference play.
Knotted 21-all headed into the fourth quarter, the Falcons capitalized on their chances. It began with defensive end Joe Barna sacking North Stars quarterback Ethan Plumb on their first possession of the final quarter to force turnover on downs.
The Falcons took advantage, as quarterback Max Howser and junior wideout Rich Schilling soon combined for a pivotal third-and-23 conversion to move the sticks. Two plays later, Howser connected with him again for a 37-yard completion to set the table for a 1-yard rushing score by Howser with 3:42 remaining to take a 28-21 lead.
"Rich is really coming into his own as a junior for us," Falcons coach Joe Wardynski said. "He played up last year as a sophomore, and his confidence is just growing every week. Max has confidence in him throwing the ball."
The ensuing possession, Plumb initially fumbled in traffic, picked it up and threw up a heave - right into the waiting arms of Kuczaj for an interception. Walker Owens converted on a 1-yard score to make it 35-23 Falcons with 3:11 left.
The Falcons again forced turnover on downs. Despite Howser - who also punts - taking an intentional safety to drain as much clock as possible, Wheaton North emerged with a big conference win.
" ... Last year, we weren't able to finish against this team, and this year we were able to do it so it felt great," Schilling said following his own six catch, 114 yard performance.
Falcons quarterback Max Howser finished 15 for 19 with 224 passing yards. Kuczaj had five catches for 50 yards.
St. Charles North (2-1, 0-1) and Wheaton North (2-1, 1-0) traded blows in a busy first half.
The Falcons struck first on a 10-yard touchdown completion to Schilling, but the extra point was muffed. The North Stars punted, but defensive back Brogan Sons got his offense the ball back with an interception. Plumb later improvised for a 10-yard run to take their first lead 7-6 with 45 seconds left in the quarter.
Wheaton North answered with Owens' 2-yard score, plus the successful two-point conversion from Howser to Kuczaj to take a 14-7 lead with 9:10 remaining in the half.
The North Stars punched back. After a promising drive was stalled, Kuczaj muffed the punt, which was recovered by St. Charles North. Plumb's 1-yard score tied it at 14.
St. Charles North successfully converted an onside kick and Plumb found Jake Furtney for a 23-yard touchdown with 3:49 in the half to take the 21-14 lead. Howser was later intercepted on a developing drive by Jaden Harmon and Hunter Lizska's 47-yard attempt right before the end of the half fell short to set the stage for the eventful finish.
North Stars quarterback Ethan Plumb finished 19 for 36 with 204 passing yards, two rushing touchdowns and one passing score.
"We start [with our learning opportunities] by playing smarter football," North Stars coach Rob Pomazak said. "Too many false starts [five] and got to work on the ABC's: Tackling, understanding the scheme, understanding leverage. We didn't play our best game. There's a lot of room for improvement.
"We hung in there, despite all of it, but you can't do that against a really good football team like Wheaton North," Pomazak continued. "And, expect to win. We made a fourth down call [the first turnover on downs]. We want to keep the ball on our side. We feel like we got to steal possessions and it didn't go well for us. But, we got to come back because we have a tough game next week."