Scouting Streamwood at St. Charles North

Streamwood (1-2, 0-1) at St. Charles North (1-2, 0-0)

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

Last year: St. Charles North 35, Streamwood 13

Last week: Elgin 37, Streamwood 2; Neuqua Valley 49; St. Charles North 12

Outlook: Streamwood won the first meeting between these schools in 2001. The North Stars have since won eight straight in the series. The Sabres led Elgin 2-0 at halftime last week, but turnovers at inopportune times swung the momentum to Elgin in the second half. "We had three great opportunities to put up scores, but we fumbled on the 2, threw an interception from the 12 and another interception from about the same spot," Streamwood coach Cal Cummins said. "Those are opportunities you just can't afford to give up and it turned the ballgame around. I thought our defense played exceptionally well. We held them to 20 yards in the first half until they got a drive going in the third quarter." Elgin held Streamwood running back Alex Morrow to 57 yards on 12 carries last week, but the junior still leads the Fox Valley area in rushing with 412 yards (5.4 avg.). The North Stars have struggled defensively. St Charles North has allowed an average of 50 points and 483 total yards per game against South Elgin, McHenry and Neuqua Valley. "I think both teams are really trying to figure out where we are, really," Cummins said. "They've played some tough people and have been able to put up some points and done some good things. We're running the ball OK, but against Elgin it was one of those things where we weren't throwing the ball well, which allowed them to put more pressure on our running game in the second half. That part needs to improve this week."

The big news out of St. Charles North is the return of Jake Bergren, who last season won a three-way battle for the starting quarterback job (that included current starter Matt Schiltz) and proceeded to set a program record with 14 touchdown passes while helping the North Stars to the Class 7A quarterfinals. That's a mouthful. The senior - cleared Monday to resume activity after sustaining a fractured left throwing hand as a result of an errant summer league baseball pitch in late July - can't be expected to immediately pick up where 2009 left off. Yet North Stars coach Mark Gould said Bergren will definitely contribute in several spots offensively - though the coach didn't pinpoint exactly which positions - as well as at safety. "He had a couple hits on the goal line (in practice this week) that we haven't seen in awhile, and that picked us up," Gould said. Hitting by the likes of safety Pat McGushin and linebacker Sam Skorby was up overall last week, one of the bright spots in St. Charles North's Upstate Eight Conference crossover loss that saw Schiltz both run and pass for touchdowns. "It's tough when you see that final score, what it was, but we saw some positives," Gould said, also noting the play of offensive guards Kyle Breith and C.J. Van Petten. Continuing that aggressive play and simply executing is the goal in the North Stars' debut in the UEC's River division. The defensive focus is containing Streamwood's trio of quarterback Dalton Lundine, fullback Vince Williams and particularly junior running back Alex Morrow. "We've played a couple really tough teams, real physical teams," Gould said, "and now it's time to show what we've learned."

Next week: Streamwood at East Aurora (0-3), Sept. 24; St. Charles North at Geneva (1-2, 1-0), Sept. 24.