North's Bergren hitting stride, receivers

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St. Charles North junior quarterback Jake Bergren has blossomed into a dual threat since winning the starting job in Week 4. (Jon Langham - For the Chronicle)

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ST. CHARLES – Jake Bergren’s pursuit of the starting quarterback job for the St. Charles North football team went overtime.

Bergren was embroiled in a three-way battle for the job with Connor McShane, a senior, and fellow junior Matt Schiltz, and North coach Mark Gould needed time to reach closure.

Bergren didn’t earn the full-time starting job until Week 4, rotating at the position in the early going. But Bergren’s lock on the position has tightened by the week. His quality stewardship of North’s offense is part of the reason the North Stars (7-3) are a victory Friday against Elk Grove Village from reaching the third round of the state playoffs for the first time in program history.

“To know that I didn’t get that first start, it was real heartbreaking,” Bergren said. “Growing up here watching the varsity, you always want to play under those lights, you always want to be one of those guys on the field everybody will watch all the Friday nights. ... missing that first game hit me kind of hard, but coach reassured me nothing was set in stone, and I took hope from that and kept working hard.”

Although the left-handed Bergren throws a nice ball, it’s his agility and knack for busting long runs that has most endeared him to his teammates. In his first game after being anointed North’s starter, Bergren dashed for a 60-yard touchdown run against Waubonsie Valley, and he has since added a handful of similar long scampers.

“At any time, he can break one,” North coach Mark Gould said. “He can make some things happen.”

Part of Bergren’s high-caliber agility might be owed to his hockey background. Bergren lived in Minnesota during elementary school, when hockey was his sports passion. He gravitated toward football and baseball after moving back to Illinois but remains appreciative of the imprint hockey left on his athletic progression.

“I think the biggest thing for hockey was just the amount of hard work you have to put in,” said Bergren, who has rushed for about 500 yards on the season. “You get that mindset where you have to go 120 percent for the three minutes you’ve got every shift, and you might only see a couple minutes every period. ... Just that going at it, going at it mentality is kind of awesome.”

His teammates have picked up on that determination. Senior fullback Max Novak said the junior QB has won the team over.

“First-year starters are going to make some mistakes,” Novak said. “We made sure that the whole team was behind him. It was a little shaky at first, but as time went on, we knew he was our guy.”

In receivers Jeff Stolzenburg and Josh Mikes, who missed the first six games with a back injury, Bergren has a pair of explosive 6-foot-4 wideouts who can pose matchup headaches for opponents.

Bergren has shown he is capable of taking advantage.

“When he was younger, we had to tone it down a little bit,” Gould said. “Everything was a bullet. Short passes, everything, was a bullet. Probably what he’s grown into is having a nice touch on the ball.”

Having proven himself at the position, Bergren said “that beginning pressure is lightening up a lot,” even as the stakes grow larger.

“I’m getting into that rhythm faster and faster,” Bergren said.

Spoken like a quarterback who doesn’t like the view from the sidelines.

 

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