St. Charles North edges Carmel in entertaining 7A matchup

Declan Smith and the St. Charles North defense knew it had to go all out on the final play.

With the North Stars only up three with 44 seconds remaining over Carmel, they had a chance to slam the door with a stop on a fourth-and-10 at their 33-yard line.

But even with the lofty yardage needed, Smith didn’t want to take any chances. Especially with Nebraska commit Trae Taylor under center.

“As a defensive linemen, we knew we had to put the pressure on, but I told all of the backfield not to fall asleep because he can easily throw it 65 yards,” Smith said. “We just wanted to put the pressure on and not get on our toes and make the play come.”

Luckily, the defense did more than enough.

The North Stars got the stop on defense, securing a 26-23 victory over the Corsairs in the rain to advance to the Class 7A quarterfinals for the second time in four years.

The North Stars (10-1) will take on Brother Rice, who won its second-round matchup against Jacobs 46-0, in next week’s quarterfinals.

“I’ve got to give my offensive and defensive coordinators so much credit,” North Stars coach Rob Pomazak said. “All week, we had a great game plan and great week of practive. We knew the elements were going to be here, and we didn’t back away from it. We went right into it and used it in our favor.”

Carmel finished the season 8-3 with the loss, a heavy improvement from its 3-6 record from a season ago.

“It’s football weather, you’ve got to perform in the elements,” Corsairs coach Jason McKie said. “You can’t keep stubbing your toe and not expect that to hurt. That’s going to catch up to you and that’s what it did.”