St. Charles North pulls off frantic comeback against Palatine

PALATINE – Opening night of the football season turned out to be an unbelievable finish between St. Charles North and host Palatine on Aug. 30.

Palatine led 27-14 on a 27-yard field goal by Alek Huyser with 8:01 to play only to see the North Stars pull off a 28-27 nonconference victory with a 99-yard drive late in the fourth quarter.

An 11-yard touchdown pass from St. Charles North’s Ethan Plumb to Keaton Reinke cut Palatine’s lead to 27-20 with 4:16 to play after the extra-point attempt hit off the right upright.

On fourth-and-1 from its own 43, Palatine went for the first down and got it, but the Pirates were whistled for a five-yard aiding the runner penalty and had to punt with 2:34 to play.

“I trusted my offensive line, they got it done and they had it taken away,” Palatine coach Corey Olson said. “They made plays, we needed to make some stops and we didn’t make the stops.”

Plumb (19-for-24, 249 yards) marched the North Stars quickly down the field and hit Reinke for a 20-yard TD pass with 10.1 seconds left.

Plumb then connected with Braden Harms for the 2-point conversion that sealed the comeback win.

“It’s the stuff we do on a daily basis that when a moment comes like that, the team finds a way to get it done,” Plumb said. “It’s a team game. We had catches left and right and the defense had to get a stop there for us to even have a chance to score that TD.”

“We showed our resilience and it was a true team victory,” St. Charles North coach Rob Pomazak said. “Ethan is a four-year starter. He did the 99-yard drive with 1:50 left and one timeout left and he’s just a gamer.”

A 21-yard field goal by Huyser and a 2-yard TD run by Kole Fager gave Palatine a 24-14 lead with 5:37 left in the third quarter.

Neither team could establish the upper hand in the first half despite the host Pirates marching 80 yards on their opening drive. Ray Gaspard’s 3-yard TD run capped the drive and the extra point by Huyser made it 7-0.

A long kickoff return by the North Stars’ Joell Holloman put the ball on the 11-yard line before Plumb scored on a 4-yard keeper two plays later. The extra point by Lucas Tenbrock deadlocked the score at 7-7 with 4:44 left in the first quarter.

The Pirates scored on their second possession. A 4-yard TD run by Fager capped an 80-yard drive for a 14-7 lead with 28 seconds left in the first quarter. A 29-yard pass from Will Santiago (11-for-17, 127 yards passing) to Ryan Donnelly put the ball on the 4.

St. Charles North responded with 3:36 left in the first half when Plumb hit Reinke for a 9-yard TD pass to tie the score at 14-14.

Gaspard had 88 yards on 18 carries. Teammate Jesse Blake had 82 yards on 14 rushes.

Holloman had 60 yards on 12 rushing attempts for St. Charles North.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20240830/prep-football/plumb-st-charles-north-stun-palatine-with-last-minute-99-yard-td-drive/