Sports
North Stars Football Faces Rough Home Opener
Touchdowns by Shiltz and Hodges provide the scoring for St. Charles North.
It was a tale of two halves for St. Charles North's football team Friday night.
Trailing just 21-12 at halftime, the North Stars (1-2) were unable to contain hard-charging Neuqua Valley (2-1) during the second half on the way to their 49-12 Upstate Eight Conference crossover loss.
Led by senior running back Trent Snyder (24 carries, 224 yards), the Wildcats tallied 28 unanswered second-half points to help spoil the North Stars' home opener.
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Despite the loss, there were several positives for the North Stars, who were playing without the services of senior quarterback Jake Bergren for the third consecutive week. Bergren, who helped lead the North Stars to a Class 7A state quarterfinal berth a year ago, suffered a broken hand in late July during the summer baseball regional tournament and isn't expected back for another week or two.
"Our defense was up to the challenge on a few series there," said North Stars coach Mark Gould. "We had some nice stops."
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One of those stops came late in the first half when a first-down tackle by Brian Sullivan inside the North Stars' 10-yard line was followed by a pair of incomplete passes on the last two plays of the second quarter.
Instead of being down by double digits, St. Charles North had some momentum heading into the second half.
"We felt pretty good at halftime," Gould said.
That feeling began to change in the third quarter when a fumble on the North Stars' first offensive play of the second half and a fake punt on the next series failed to generate a first down inside the Wildcats' 39-yard line.
Three plays later, Snyder took off on a 60-yard touchdown run that extended Neuqua's lead to 28-12.
"There's a fumble and we lose the ball," Gould said. "We wanted to come out with a little momentum and that took it away from us."
St. Charles North tallied its first touchdown on a 1-yard run by quarterback Matt Shiltz (6-of-13, 86 yards) before senior tailback Ben Hodges caught a 5-yard scoring pass from Shiltz midway through the second quarter.
Senior fullback Dirk Schmitt was the North Stars' top rusher, gaining 42 yards on 11 carries. He also had a team-high 46 receiving yards.
The North Stars return home to face Streamwood Sept. 17.
