Football: Plumb keys experienced St. Charles North defense
Senior linebacker Matthew Plumb wasn’t originally planning on being the cornerstone of the defense when he started playing football for St. Charles North.
Much like his older brother, Ethan, Plumb began his high school career as a quarterback with the hopes of leading the offense one day.
Three years later as a senior, the Central Michigan commit is putting his knowledge of quarterback to good use. Just on the opposite side of the ball.
“It’s really helped me just on the defensive side of the ball, because I know what the opposing team’s mindset is as a quarterback,” Plumb said. “They’re trying to manipulate defenses, but I can get the read on them. So I get to keep tight in the line, and that translates to help me on defense and it all just works together.”
Plumb is one of the many North Stars who returned from their DuKane Conference title team from last season. The North Stars come into the season as one of the most experienced teams in the state, with 17 of their starters from last season returning in 2025. Of those returners, eight of them are returning to the defense.
Plumb isn’t the only big time returner on defense for the North Stars. There’s also fellow linebacker Aidan McClure, a Minnesota State-Duluth commit who was a turnover merchant for the North Stars in his junior season. He recorded four interceptions, three blocked punts, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles while also scoring four different times across defense and special teams.
And even knowing that the expectations for him are high after a crazy junior campaign, McClure said he’s ready to face the expectations head on in his senior year.
“Like we tell our guys, we just need to not be satisfied,” McClure said. “We know a lot of stuff already, so we’re trying to build our knowledge and build trying to go deeper into our playbook and really trying to put in more advanced stuff, because we got veterans on the defense that can really lead and really know what’s going on.”
North Stars coach Rob Pomazak said that having the two returning captains lead the defense once again is a great sign for the program, especially for the growth of the younger players joining the ranks this season.
“Their leadership is second to none,” Pomazak said. “Off the field, they do everything that we need them to do. And when two of your best players are some of your best leaders and hardest workers, it just kind of the trickle down effect, and it is pretty awesome.”
The North Stars begin their season with a tough road test against Minooka, who went 8-3 a season ago. But if the North Stars want to keep to their goal of shutting down offenses and getting their first state title in program history, Plumb knows the first step the team needs to make to make it become a reality.
“We’ve got to win Week One,” Plumb said. “It’s all about going 1-0. It’s the biggest thing our coaches tell us each week to go 1-0 and we’ve got to win Week One, so we’ve got to prepare and go do our job.”