Senior QB Ethan Plumb looks to make the most of his final season with St. Charles North

ST. CHARLES – Ethan Plumb knows his time at St. Charles North has been a privilege.

Not only has he been able to spend his first three seasons playing at the varsity level against some of the best teams in the state, he’s one of two remaining players from the North Stars’ DuKane Conference winning team from 2022.

So with Plumb’s senior season and fourth season on varsity officially beginning Monday and the first game against Palatine only a few weeks away, he knows what’s expected of him.

Pass down the knowledge he’s picked up over the past few years and use that knowledge to get St. Charles North its second conference title in three seasons and its first-ever state title.

Head coach Robert Pomazak couldn’t be more thankful to have Plumb at the position.

“If there’s a kid who I’ll put myself behind, whether we win, lose or draw, it’s going to be Ethan,” Pomazak said. “He just does it the right way, and it’s like having another coach out there. And we’re super excited about having him be the leader of our program.”

After getting plenty of playing time in his first two seasons, last season was Plumb’s first full season as the primary quarterback for the North Stars. He threw for 2,546 yards and 20 touchdowns and had 10 rushing scores in 2023.

While North mainly focused on passing the ball last season, Plumb expects the attack plan to be more balanced this year and as a result, unpredictable for opposing defenses.

“Being able to have that balance on offense is going to be huge for us,” Plumb said. “But at the same time, we know that we can have the ability and confidence to switch those numbers around at any time and we’re going to be OK. But this year, if we have a more balanced run game compared to last year and if we set up the pass game, we’re going to be a lot more effective and give guys a lot more chances to have bigger games.”

Plumb’s experience at quarterback is something that many teams in the DuKane Conference will be lacking this fall. Of the eight teams in the conference, only Plumb and Wheaton Warrenville South’s Luca Carbonaro are returning.

While the North Stars know that programs with new quarterbacks have the chance to keep up, especially powerhouse programs such as Batavia and Wheaton North, Pomazak said the experienced Plumb may give St. Charles North an extra boost.

“Senior year is a really special year for a lot of quarterbacks,” Pomazak said. “You look at Ryan Boe last year, you saw him explode as a senior for Batavia because of the great coaching he got over three seasons. And I think that’s going to be similar with Ethan. Seniors lead and seniors win in the DuKane Conference.”

Plumb isn’t the only returner in the backfield for the North Stars. Senior running back Joell Holloman, who’s the only other player on the roster to have been part of a conference champion, also is coming back. Last year was Holloman’s first full season as a starter.

Holloman, who’s been playing alongside Plumb since they were 10 years old, said having a dual-threat quarterback in Plumb in the backfield really opens up the game for both him and the entire offense.

“It just opens up our pass option abilities more so we can either throw the ball, give it off to me or just keep it for himself,” Holloman said. “It’s just mad threats and mad options for us, which makes us a lot more hard for defenses to guard.”

Holloman, who added 10 pounds in the offseason, hopes to get his numbers up from last year. He finished with 897 scrimmage yards and eight touchdowns.

Pomazak thinks Holloman’s last season could be one for the record books.

“I don’t think there’s very many backs who come with the tools that he does,” Pomazak said. “He’s a 1,000-yard rusher waiting to break out and in my opinion he might be the breakout player of the year for us. If we can block up front and keep people honest in the pass game, it’ll open up some holes for him and he doesn’t need a whole lot.”

While the backfield is going to look relatively familiar for the North Stars, the players at wide receiver and on the offensive line will be a little bit different after losses to graduation. North graduated seven of its 10 receivers, including the top three receivers from a season ago.

But with players such as junior Keaton Reincke waiting in the wings, along with the addition of Marmion transfer Braden Harms, offensive coordinator Brian Flynn believes Plumb can have an effect very similar to a longtime quarterback from his favorite NFL team.

“Both he and [quarterbacks coach Brian] Townlake are big Packer fans, so we’ve compared it to the fact that they never drafted receivers and Aaron Rodgers will make those receivers better,” Flynn said. “We’re not saying that he’s the next Aaron Rodgers, but we’ve made the analogy that now that our experienced players are gone, the onus is really on the quarterback to make those guys’ jobs easier.”

Plumb’s goal is to bring home a state title for St. Charles North this season. He saw the softball team win it all for St. Charles North in the spring and also saw the girls soccer team come a penalty kick away from a state title. With the success the school saw in the spring, he has only one question for himself and his teammates.

“Why not us?” Plumb said. “We’ve had teams at North that have been doing it and now we want it for ourselves. As long as you prepare for those key moments and the personnel get us ready for that moment, we’ll be ready and can get it done. It gives us a lot of motivation though. If other teams in other sports can make it that far, why can’t we do it as well?”