St. Charles North's high-powered attack too much for Saints
St. Charles North has a deep stable of weapons surrounding quarterback Ethan Plumb and another one emerged Friday night.
Aedan Hayes caught 2 long touchdown passes from Plumb, Jake Mettetal accounted for 2 scores and the defense pitched a second-half shutout as the North Stars downed St. Charles East 40-14 in a DuKane Conference matchup at Norris Stadium.
Plumb also ran for a score and Hunter Liszka kicked a pair of field goals for North (4-2, 2-2).
North raced out to a 17-0 lead. East pulled within 17-14 on a 60-yard scoring run by Brandon Swartz and a 4-yarder by quarterback Mac Paul. But the North Stars scored the last 23 points.
A 27-yard completion to Mettetal with 13 seconds left in the first half made it 24-14 at the break. After a scoreless third quarter, the North Stars put the game away in the fourth.
Hayes caught a 39-yarder in the first quarter to make it 14-0, then caught an 87-yarder to make it 37-14 in the fourth. Plumb found Hayes in the clear about 15 yards downfield. Hayes turned around and had nothing but turf in front of him, racing the last 70 or so yards for the score.
He finished with 163 receiving yards on 3 catches.
"Defensively we flew around the ball, did a great job in the second half of extending the lead even more," said North coach Rob Pomazak. "Some big third and fourth down plays. Our kids won on third and fourth both on offense and defense, and that's how we were able to extend the lead."
The North Stars played according to plan in extending the lead late.
"We were just talking about finishing teams and extending leads, and we talked about how we wanted to finish the game, and they played a complete game today," Pomazak said.
The Saints were their own worst enemy at times, committing 11 penalties for 84 yards, many at critical junctures.
East had a chance to get back in it after halftime when Gage Garland fell on a North Stars fumble near midfield. The Saints got a first down, but back-to-back penalties put them in second-and-30. Swartz turned a swing pass into a 29-yard gain, but a third-down run was stopped cold, another penalty backed them up, and a fourth-down pass fell incomplete.
The North Stars then drove 69 yards the other way, with Mettetal capping the drive on an 8-yard run.
Plumb finished 14 of 19 passing for 305 yards and ran for 62 more.
Paul completed 25 of 38 attempts for 200 yards and ran for 69. Charlie Bolsoni was his favorite target, hauling in 8 catches.