Scouting St. Charles North at South Elgin
St. Charles North at South Elgin
Game time: 7:30 p.m. today at Streamwood's Millennium Field.
Last year: South Elgin 10, St. Charles North 7 (OT) in the regular season; St. Charles North 28, South Elgin 16 in the playoffs.
Outlook: This will be the third meeting with South Elgin in St. Charles North's last six games. South Elgin returns 17 of 22 starting positions while the North Stars bring back no defensive starters. That should give St. Charles North coach Mark Gould and his staff a fair idea of what and who to look out for, as compared to Storm coach Dale Schabert, who now are facing each other in a nonconference situation. Each of the Storm's players who scored in that regular-season overtime win - an 80-yard touchdown pass to Dom Failla from quarterback John Mencken (1,412 yards passing, 14 touchdowns, 11 interceptions), with the winning 27-yard field goal by David Reisner in overtime - return. As do running back Brad Birchfield (137 yards, 497 yards, 5 touchdowns), defensive linemen Derek Hurschmann, Jake Randich and Andre York, cornerback Robbie Green and starting linebackers Dillon Gardner and Justin Wright, to name a few more. Thus, with that firepower back from a 7-3 record in the Storm's first playoff season, and juniors and seniors who each went 9-0 on the sophomore level ("They've really taken it to us," Gould said), Schabert's team is favored in the Upstate Eight Conference's Valley division. St. Charles North, which will figure strongly in the UEC River, will lack quarterback Jake Bergren (broken hand), who threw 1 touchdown pass and ran for another against South Elgin in the playoffs. They do return the receiver to whom he completed the touchdown pass, 6-foot-4 Josh Mikes (10 receptions, 185 yards, 2 touchdowns), who is healthy after missing the first eight games of the 2009 season with back stiffness. The North Stars return running back Dirk Schmitt, who also scored against South Elgin, on a 1-yard run, and senior Matt Shiltz will take his first snaps at quarterback since Week 3 of 2009. Defense wins most games, however, and while St. Charles North will gear up for the spread offense, Gould said: "They ran the ball more than what we expected... They had some nice sophomore running backs, I kind of expect that they're going to be a better running team."
Next week: St. Charles North at McHenry, Sept. 3; Metamora at South Elgin, Sept. 4.