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ST. CHARLES – Drew Surges might rack up the headlines and rushing yards, but the five individuals in front of him are paving the way for him to do so.
Surges, St. Charles North’s senior running back, ran for over 200 yards in the North Stars’ 35-20 win over Geneva last week to remain the lone team unbeaten in DuKane Conference play.
Playing to the whistle, while could perhaps be considered cliché, is an aspect North linemen Henry Warsaw, Jesse Moreno, Evan Goade, Chris Smith and Cole Schertz embrace each snap.
“We all really play with passion,” said Warsaw, a senior left tackle. “I mean, that’s been one of our biggest things since the start of the season: We all just want to get after it every play.”
Warsaw, in his second varsity season, flipped from right tackle to the blindside during summer camp following the graduation of standout Paolo Gennarelli.
Finishing their assignments all the way through is a source of pride.
“That factor of being the more dominant force in a game, we just feed off of it,” Warsaw said. “We feed off each other doing it and that’s how we get our momentum going as a line.”
Entering the sixth week of the regular season, the North Stars average 4.2 yards per carry and 75.5 yards per game on the ground.
“In the film room, we’re going in with a lot of confidence, especially the way we’ve been playing up front,” Warsaw said. “We want to get after it. That’s what we saw on film [preparing for Geneva] we just look[ed] like we want to get after it more.”
“Having Drew behind us, that’s probably the best running back you could ever hope for in the backfield because he doesn’t miss a gap. He always makes sure he hits the right gap and he takes off.”
Surges, who also stars at a safety/linebacker hybrid defensively, had an interception and broke up a pass late in the fourth quarter to Geneva wideout Talyn Taylor to effectively ice the game on the defensive end.
How he does all of it is in part of teammates.
“...Joell [Holloman] comes in and takes some of the running back reps so I can get a breather,” Surges said on Friday. “...My teammates really help me manage my stamina throughout the game.”
Plumb, North Stars offense settles in
In his second start of the season, quarterback Ethan Plumb and the North Stars’ offense took “what the defense gave us.”
Plumb, who played all but two snaps two weeks ago against Wheaton North and again started against Geneva in place of Will Vaske due to a sustained shoulder injury.
Plumb, who got the ball out of his hand quickly and took advantage of the Vikings’ secondary not pressing receivers much, finished 12-for-15 passing for 129 yards and a TD.
“I think we did an excellent job executing the game plan,” Plumb said last Friday. “Gosh, these guys balled. It’s hard to see some guys go down and stuff, but hats off to the O-Line...pancaking guys left and right.”
According to North Stars coach Rob Pomazak, the program will have Vaske back “soon”.
“You forget we’re doing this with our other quarterback [Plumb] in,” Pomazak said. “Will is on the side and we’ll have him back [healthy] soon, but that’s a tall order for any team to do. It’s a testament to Ethan’s ability that he can come in and manage a game like he did.”
“I want to give a little props to our other sophomore [Holloman], who ran the ball extremely well [for 25 yards]. Joell hasn’t really seen a ton of reps, but we just said: ‘be ready’ when his number is called. We kind of knew today would be a day. It’s just really great seeing these younger guys paying it forward and our message is: We’re all in this together.”