With the way senior quarterback Ethan Plumb was playing during the second half Friday night against Geneva, St. Charles North coach Rob Pomazak let something be known.
With the game on the line, he wanted the ball in the hands of his four-year regular.
“He would not be denied,” Pomazak said. “That’s just who he is. It was his game. He deserved every carry at the end of the game. I wanted the ball to go to nobody but him. He deserves this.”
Plumb rewarded his coach’s faith in him with an epic second half, helping the North Stars overcome a 14-point deficit to a 35-21 victory and forcing a three-way tie between Batavia, Geneva and North atop the final DuKane Conference standings.
Plumb accounted for all five touchdowns for St. Charles North (8-1, 6-1), with three on the ground and two through the air. He ran for 106 yards on 23 carries, including TD runs of 7, 5 and 5 yards. He completed 11 of 20 passes for 169 yards, throwing a 51-yard TD pass to Braden Harms and a 13-yard TD pass to Keaton Reinke.
Senior quarterback Tony Chahino tried to match Plumb for Geneva (8-1, 6-1), rushing for two TDs and throwing for another. He had TD runs of 5 and 6 yards and threw a 12-yard TD pass to Finnegan Weppner, who finished with four catches for 101 yards.
Plumb was humbled that his coach put the ball in his hands down the stretch.
“You play the game for moments like these,” Plumb said. “It’s just so special. You don’t want to take it for granted. We knew what we had to do. It’s special to have that faith in this team.
“It’s amazing.”
The North Stars forced a 14-14 tie on the 51-yard TD pass to Harms, but Geneva answered with Chahino’s TD pass to Weppner.
From there, however, Plumb started to dominate, and his TD pass to Reinke tied it at 21-21.
After the defense delivered a three-and-out, Plumb orchestrated a 10-play, 93-yard TD drive, capping it with his first 5-yard TD run to give the North Stars their first lead. He ran for 22 yards on three carries and completed 5 of 5 passes for 48 yards in that drive.
“I told the boys, we just have to get it to a one score game in the fourth,” Pomazak said. “If we can do that, we’ve got this game.”
Plumb then put the game away with his legs on the final two drives. He carried the ball 12 times during that stretch, rushing for 49 yards and a TD.
“Football is a team sport and our offensive line completely dominated,” Plumb said. “Coach just said that no team in the season has run the ball on Geneva like that.
“I can’t do what I do and I can’t gain those yards if there’s not a hole for me to run through. They dominated the point of attack.”
Geneva coach Boone Thorgesen wasn’t surprised how the experienced Plumb put the team on his back.
“He’s a four-year varsity starter,” Thorgesen said. “He’s a great player. They lean on him a lot and he made a lot of plays.”
The loss snapped an eight-game win streak, but Thorgesen quickly turned the page to the postseason.
“It stings,” Thorgesen said. “The first half is over. We’re still co-conference champs. Starting tomorrow everyone is 0-0. Obviously, you want to win this last one and be the outright conference champs, but it just didn’t happen.”
As for the North Stars, they rallied from an earlier 45-14 loss to Batavia to win a share of the conference title. And they’re playing their best football at the right time of the season.
“We’re never out of a game,” Plumb said. “We were down 14-0. This team just fights. Now, we’re going to take this into the postseason and we’re excited.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
