Plumb’s five touchdowns help St. Charles North get back atop the DuKane Conference with win over Geneva
Ethan Plumb has played in a lot of football games in his time at St. Charles North.
But when the four-year starting quarterback was asked where Friday’s game against Geneva ranked for him all time, he knew his answer right away.
“It’s at the top, because you’ve got to live in the moment,” Plumb said.
And with a chance to secure a share of the DuKane Conference title, he did just that.
Plumb recorded five total touchdowns (three rushing and two passing) to help the North Stars come from behind to take down the previously unbeaten Vikings 35-21 for their second conference title in three years.
With the win, North earned a share of the conference title with Geneva and Batavia, who won their final game of the season against Glenbard North to move to 6-1 as well. It’s the second time that the DuKane Conference title has been split, with the first coming back in 2019, when the Bulldogs shared the honors with the Panthers.
“This team just fights like hell, and I’m so proud,” Plumb said. “This entire week we were working for it, and we just never gave up. We’re just never out of a game.”
With the game tied at 21-21 heading into the fourth quarter, North head coach Rob Pomazak put his trust in Plumb with the ball, and he delivered. The senior recorded two five-yard rushing scores in the span of three minutes that gave the North Stars their first and only advantage in the game. He ended the game with 106 rushing yards.
“This is his game,” Pomazak said. “He deserved every run. At the end of the game, I said that I want the ball going to nobody but him. He deserves this. He’s worked really hard.”
The North Stars (8-1, 6-1) entered halftime trailing 14-7, but managed to make up the deficit quickly into the third quarter after Plumb found Braden Harms for a 51-yard touchdown. The North Stars managed another quick response later that same quarter, with Plumb connecting with Keaton Reinke from 12 yards out just a minute after going down again.
“When you’re only down 14-7 at half against a great team like Geneva, I just told the boys that we just needed to get it to a one-score game,” Pomazak said. “If we got it to a one-score game, then we got it.”
Along with the offense, the North Stars’ defense made some key plays down the stretch, with Wyatt Brandt hopping on a fumble to set up Plumb’s final score, as well as an interception from Reed Raczka to ice the game.
“We talked about working the ball on these guys because we saw they were a little lax,” Pomazak said. “They followed out the game plan. And I thought that our defensive backfield played tremendously.”
The Vikings (8-1, 6-1) got out to a 14-0 lead in the second quarter thanks to two rushing touchdowns from quarterback Tony Chahino. The senior finished the game with 35 yards on the ground to go with 201 passing yards and an 11-yard passing score to Finnegan Weppner (four catches, 103 yards).
Despite the loss, Geneva still ends the season sharing the honor of being DuKane Conference champions, their first conference title since 2010. While the hopes of an undefeated season are gone, head coach Boone Thorgesen said that the mind set is that with the playoffs on the horizon, its time for a clean slate.
“I told them that it didn’t matter what we did in this game, everybody’s 0-0 in the playoffs,” Thorgesen said. “Obviously, we wanted to win this last one to be the outright conference champs, but it just didn’t happen, and it wasn’t our night.”