Imbordino saves North Stars

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St. Charles North players celebrate their 20-14 win over Elk Grove in the second round of IHSA Class 7A playoffs Friday night in St. Charles. Sandy Bressner – sbressner@kcchronicle.com

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ST. CHARLES – St. Charles North linebacker Dom Imbordino had been taking extra reps with the North Stars defensive backs the last three weeks in practice after some trouble in pass coverage in a Week 8 loss to South Elgin.

He had no idea it would pay off the way it did.

After Elk Grove Village quarterback Nick Meyer and wide receiver Matt McEnery had connected 12 times for 123 yards in the first 47 minutes of Friday’s IHSA Class 7A second-round matchup, Imbordino came between the seemingly inseparable pair in the corner of the end zone with 43 seconds left.

Imbordino came down with the ball grasped tightly to his chest for his first interception of the year, preserving a 20-14 thriller and sending the North Stars through to the quarterfinals for the first time in program history.

“The ball went up, he hit it, I hit it, and then I just stuck my hands out and just grabbed it,” Imbordino said. “I rolled over, looked at the refs. I thought they might call no catch, and then they didn’t, and I just went wild.”

The interception on third-and-goal from the North Stars’ 5-yard line capped a wild second half in which North (8-3) seemed, time and again, to be letting the game slip away on special teams.

After a relatively uneventful 7-all first half, North’s problems in the kicking game started on its first possession of the second half on a punt from its own 22 that traveled negative-1 yard into a strong wind. It was scooped up by Elk Grove’s Brandon Datavs and returned to the North Stars’ 6.

Three plays later, Meyer found Joey Bishoff on a 3-yard touchdown pass to take a 14-7 lead.

North then marched 83 yards on 12 plays, and quarterback Jake Bergren found Jeff Stolzenburg on a fade for their second touchdown connection of the night on fourth-and-goal from the 4 with 1 second left in the third, only for the extra point to be botched on a low snap.

A quick three-and-out by the Grenadiers (7-4) gave North the ball right back with 11:05 left in the game, and it picked up offensively right where it left off on the previous drive. This time, the North Stars went 58 yards on nine plays.

Dirk Schmitt (89 yards on 18 carries) pounded what wound up being the winning score in on a 4-yard run up the middle, but it wouldn’t have happened had it not been for a 5-yard encroachment penalty on fourth-and 9 four plays before.

The Elk Grove penalty took North’s punt team off the field, and on fourth-and-5 from the Grens’ 35, junior Ben Hodges picked up the first down and more.

It was North’s second-half defense that made the 20 points stand against a potent Elk Grove passing attack that went over 300 yards the previous week. Meyer was able to buy time in the first half and find receivers, but North’s pass rush, highlighted by linebacker Spencer Swarts’ 21⁄2 sacks, was able to slow things down in the second half.

Elk Grove’s rushing game, meanwhile, managed just 23 yards on 24 carries.

“[We] tried to contain him so he’s not rolling out left and right, which our guys for the most part did a really good job,” North coach Mark Gould said of defending Meyer. “And then when he wants to run up the middle, the linebackers were there. I think our linebackers did as good a job on him as just about anybody did this year.”

After a slow start, North’s offense also showed some functionality. Schmitt, Bergren and Hodges each had big runs in key situations while Bergren was effective through the air in the red zone with two touchdown passes to Stolzenburg.

Still, without Imbordino’s game-ending play, the chance to play in the quarterfinals at today’s Glenbard West-Hononegah winner might never have happened.

“They spread you out and that quarterback can throw,” Gould said. “He’s very dangerous. But you could see Dominic had him covered really, really good. He turned his head at the right moment, went up for it. I mean, it was picture perfect. It saved us in many, many ways.”

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