St. Charles North stuns Wheaton Warrenville South with two TDs in final minute

ST. CHARLES – Trailing Wheaton Warrenville South by nine points with 2:30 remaining, St. Charles North rallied with two touchdowns over a 37-second span to pull out a stunning 37-32 DuKane Conference victory Sept. 27 in St. Charles.

After quarterback Ethan Plumb’s 1-yard touchdown run trimmed the deficit to 32-30 with 51 seconds left, Braden Harms recovered teammate Lucas Tenbrock’s onside kick at the North Stars’ 46-yard line.

“We practice onside kicks every Thursday at 5 a.m.,” Harms said.

Plumb connected with Brogan Sons for a 14-yard gain at the Tigers’ 40, but an incompletion and 4-yard loss left the North Stars (4-1, 2-1) with a third-and-14 situation at the 44 with 25 seconds remaining.

Plumb completed a 26-yard pass to Keaton Reinke to the Tigers’ 18 with 18.8 seconds left before connecting on the game-winning, 18-yard fade pass to Harms in the corner of the end zone to give the North Stars a 37-32 lead with 14.1 seconds remaining.

“I’ve really got to give it to Ethan,” said Harms, who had six of his seven receptions for 68 yards in the final 2½ minutes. “He kept his composure, kept the team under control and he knows how to finish games.

“This is what we live for. That’s what I love about this team – there’s no give up in us.”

Plumb, who scrambled 15 yards on a fourth-and-12 play at the Tigers’ 27 to set up the touchdown that enabled the North Stars to pull to within 32-30, echoed his teammate’s sentiments.

“We’re never out of it,” Plumb said. “It was very similar to the situation we faced against Palatine (28-27 win in Week 1). It’s on us to make big plays. The belief never wavers.

“Anything can happen at any moment. The offensive line did a great job at the end giving me time, the receivers made plays, the defense got stops and we got the huge special teams play on the onside kick. I was thinking just give us one more chance and we’ll make it happen.”

It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Tigers (2-3, 1-2), who grabbed a 29-23 lead midway through the third quarter on a 6-yard touchdown by Owen Yorke and 2-point conversion pass from Luca Carbonaro to Yorke.

Brendan Hary’s 47-yard field goal stretched the Tigers’ lead to 32-23 with 2:30 remaining, but the Tigers couldn’t finish the job in the frenetic final minutes. Carbonaro’s desperation pass attempt near midfield was batted down by Kai Lincoln as time ran out.

“That’s a tough one,” Tigers coach Sean Norris said. “Honestly, I’m at a loss for words a little bit.”

St. Charles North got two onside kick opportunities after a penalty on the first attempt.

“There was an illegal formation called on the first kick, so it’s a dead-ball penalty,” Norris said. “That’s why there was a rekick.

“We practice onside kicks every Thursday and I felt like we were prepared for it, but we didn’t execute. I’ll take that on me because it felt like these kids fought their hearts out.”

Amari Williams caught six passes for 93 yards. Luke Beres had three receptions for 33 yards, including a 19-yard TD pass from Carbonaro in the second quarter.

North Stars tailback Joell Holloman rushed for 111 yards on 16 carries with a touchdown. He also had a 20-yard TD reception.

St. Charles North scores twice in final minute to stun WW South (dailyherald.com)