Ethan Plumb leads St. Charles North to fifth straight over St. Charles East

ST. CHARLES – St. Charles North’s Ethan Plumb may not have played the perfect game Friday night, but he wasn’t too far from it.

Plumb, a senior quarterback, completed 19-of-23 passes for 266 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for another score during the North Stars’ 42-7 DuKane Conference victory over crosstown rival St. Charles East (2-4, 2-2) at St. Charles North.

After the North Stars (5-1, 3-1) forced a three-and-out on the Saints’ opening possession, Plumb engineered an 11-play, 80-yard drive, capped by his 9-yard touchdown pass to junior receiver Keaton Reinke (7 receptions, 95 yards) to put the home team in front, 7-0.

Plumb was masterful on the North Stars’ first drive, completing all six of his passes for 83 yards to five different receivers.

“We said we wanted to come out and set a tempo,” said North Stars coach Rob Pomazak. “It felt like our tempo was going to be an advantage. We saw on film that the perimeter was there.”

During the drive, Plumb completed passes to EJ Mondesir, Brogan Sons, Joell Holloman, Braden Harms and Reinke.

“That’s what is so special about our team,” Plumb said. “Keato (Reinke) is a great receiver and I love him, but we have so many weapons on offense that teams must prepare for every single one of our guys we have out there.

“It makes us very dynamic.”

The Saints took the ensuing kickoff and drove all the way to the North Stars’ 3-yard line before being turned away on a fourth-and-goal play from the 5.

On their next possession, the Saints once again found themselves in the red zone before the drive ended on Jack Shannon’s interception in the end zone.

“If we finish those drives, it’s a totally different game,” said Saints coach Nolan Possley, whose team was without starting quarterback JT Padron (injured knee) and wide receiver Sheko Gjokaj (suspended for a game after being ejected last week).

“With the situation we’re in and with a young team we have, those things are going to happen.”

From there, the North Stars, who have beaten the Saints five straight times, seized control, scoring three second quarter touchdowns on passes from Plumb to Harms (25 yards) and Reinke (27 yards), and Aidan McClure’s blocked punt and 10-yard return, to make it 28-0.

Plumb connected with Mondesir on a 4-yard touchdown strike to make it 35-0 midway through the third quarter before scoring on a 5-yard keeper to set off a running clock with 2 minutes left in the period.

“It doesn’t matter who we play – at the end of the day, it’s not the team we’re playing, it’s the team in the mirror,” said Plumb, who rushed for 63 yards on eight carries while accounting for 329 total yards of offense. “We know that we’re as good as how we perform, and the more we perform, the better we are. If we do our thing, the performance will speak for itself.”

The Saints got on the board on a 1-yard touchdown run by senior Dominick Micaletti (7 carries, 86 yards) with 11:51 remaining.

“From a team standpoint, this is one where we’d like to compete a little bit more, but I’m just happy the guys came together and the way we’re fighting through adversity,” said Possley.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20241004/prep-football/its-st-charles-norths-night-vs-rival-saints/