Scouting Neuqua Valley @ St. Charles North

Neuqua Valley (2-4, 2-1) at St. Charles North (5-1, 3-1)

Game time 7:30 p.m. today

Last year St. Charles North 20, Neuqua Valley 0.

Last week Cathedral (Ind.) 63, Neuqua Valley 34; St. Charles North 35, Streamwood 13.

Outlook "This has quickly turned into somewhat of a grudge match," Neuqua Valley coach Bryan Wells said. In 2007 his Wildcats made the playoffs on a 45-0 win over the North Stars, and last season St. Charles North knocked Neuqua out with that Week 9 shutout. St. Charles North coach Mark Gould has pretty much figured out what Neuqua plans to do defensively - stop the run. Wells admitted that reigning in St. Charles North's Ben Hodges, Dirk Schmitt, Max Novak and quarterback Jake Bergren on the ground will be the goal of his active defense, which gets a good start at nose tackle with senior Christian Eble. The Neuqua coach, happier with last week's loss in Indianapolis than the score might indicate, said, "We feel like if we can shut their running game down and minimize things to No. 5 (Jeff Stolzenburg) we'll be in pretty good shape." The North Stars' 6-foot-4 receiver lit up somebody again last week, returning a kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown on top of 6 receptions for 115 yards against Streamwood. "He's kind of like a home run hitter that's always dangerous at the plate," Wells said. Neuqua has its own slugger in quarterback Joey Ippolito, who seems assured of receiving one of the Upstate Eight's top-four offensive honors at the end of the year. The Wildcat offense goes through him almost exclusively - into the Cathedral game the 6-foot-3 Ippolito had accounted for some 85 percent of Neuqua's offensive yardage, though after three 100-plus ground games the senior's been held below that the last three games. Wells has constantly tried to get more out of receiver Bobby Herzberger and back Trent Snyder, but it always comes back to Ippolito. "The big thing is we can't get sucked in, we have to contain him," Gould said. "We can't think he's a normal quarterback with normal speed, he's got great speed." Ippolito is also a load, so collisions with Stars monster man Connor Mohs should echo. St. Charles North senior night will also feature 6-4 junior receiver Josh Mikes returning from a back injury that's sidelines him since he caught 7 passes in last year's playoff game. With playoffs an obvious goal, the North Stars have work ahead these last three weeks. "We know this is it, this is the season," Gould said. "If we are 5-4 I don't think we make the playoffs."

Next Neuqua Valley at St. Charles East (4-2, 4-0), Oct. 16; St. Charles North at South Elgin (5-1, 2-1), Oct. 16.