Another exciting "Game of the Week" on Saturday as St. Charles North had to come from behind late in the fourth quarter to beat underdog South Elgin 35-24.
Check out the highlights here.
Heading in, most would have thought that the North Stars would come away with a comfortable victory but South Elgin's aerial attack had North looking for answers for much of the game. Quarterback Pat Rae was consistently connecting with Josh Smith and Jake Kumerow down the sidelines and had the Storm (2-4) up 24-21 with just over five minutes left in the contest.
But the North Stars (4-2) responded. Jordan Huxtable ran for his second of three TDs on North's first play from scrimmage after getting the ball back and swung the momentum back in North's favor. A 4th-and-3 play on South Elgin's next possession was then stopped shy of the first by the Stars' JJ Weaver. North regained the ball, eventually tagging on another Huxtable score to push the margin into double digits.
"Our defense was playing tough," Huxtable said. "They made stops when we needed them. We always feel pressure on offense to score but that's our job and we put up 35 (points) today and that won us the game."
North trailed 14-7 at the half and didn't really get its offense going until the third quarter.
"There's some things at halftime that we (said) we were going to concentrate on and the kids came out and did pretty well with adjustments," SCN head coach Mark Gould said.
North was also without cornerback Mike Lefelstein for much of the game. Lefelstein had his left foot wrapped in ice for the entire second half. After the game, Gould said that he believed it was a sprained left ankle.
For South Elgin, it was a disappointing way to see its two-game win streak come to an end but the Storm still had lots to hang its hat on. It played one of the Upstate Eight's top teams from wire-to-wire and have seen its confidence improve dramatically in the last three weeks.
"We're starting to find some playmakers for us," South Elgin head coach Dale Schabert. "Kumerow's starting to step up and do a good job, (Gianluca) Pellegrino's catching the ball, Josh Smith came out and had a nice afternoon, (Trevor) Hansley's running the ball and give our offense line credit."
Stay tuned for week 7's "Game of the Week" between Larkin (3-3) and St. Charles North and look for the Courier Prep Football Weekly on Thursday with myself and Erik Jacobsen.
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