North Stars find a way to rebound

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And then there was one.

That’s all that’s left of the Elgin area football contingent going into the second round of the state football playoffs after St. Edward, South Elgin, St. Charles East and Huntley all saw their seasons end last weekend.

St. Charles North is the only team still standing as it prepares to host Elk Grove in the Class 7A playoffs at 7 p.m. on Friday.

For St. Edward and South Elgin, the quick postseason exits brought an end to the area’s two biggest feel-good stories from the gridiron this fall.

The Green Wave reached its main goal for the season by reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2003. Advancing to the second round for the first time in school history proved too much to ask, though, as St. Edward lost at Mendota 27-13 on Saturday to end the year with a 6-4 mark.

While the disappointment of defeat likely still lingers for the Wave’s players, they can hold their heads high after becoming the first St. Edward team since 1994 to finish with a winning record.

South Elgin’s players also have plenty to be proud about after ushering their young program into the upper echelon of the Upstate Eight Conference with a 7-3 season and the first playoff appearance in school history.

The Storm won five games thanks to second-half comebacks this year, but a sixth wasn’t in the cards as St. Charles North avenged a Week 8 loss to South Elgin with a 28-16 win at Millennium Field on Saturday.

After the defeat, Storm coach Dale Schabert said his program plans to make trips to the postseason a regular occurrence. Judging from the personnel he has to work with going forward, it shouldn’t be a problem for South Elgin to live up to those expectations next year.

The Storm will welcome back a junior class that played a big part in lifting the program to new heights this fall. Quarterback John Menken, receiver Domico Failla and running back Bradley Birchfield are among the many talented contributors in the group, which has known nothing but success since coming into high school.

The juniors will only be bolstered by the arrival of a sophomore class that went 8-1 this fall at the sophomore level.

“There’s some talent here,” Schabert said. “The cupboard is not empty and we’ve got some kids coming along.”

St. Edward is in much the same situation. The Wave will miss a number of key seniors who helped get the program back to respectability, but this year’s junior class is more than ready to lead the program to back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time.

Among the key returnees will be quarterback Ben Lehman, receiver Sam Pozezinski and safety Nick Scholly. Plenty of reinforcements are also on the way from a sophomore team that enjoyed a 9-0 record this year.

While next year looks bright for St. Edward and South Elgin, the immediate future is the primary concern for St. Charles North.

The North Stars shook off overtime losses in the final two weeks of the regular season to knock off the Storm for the fourth time in five meetings between the schools. According to junior quarterback Jake Bergren, the tough defeats in Week 8 and Week 9 may have helped the team regain its focus.

“It’s one of those things where you don’t know what you’ve got until you don’t have it anymore,” Bergren said. “To lose a couple and then come into (the playoffs), it’s a whole different mindset.”

For North, the triumph marked only the second postseason win in nine tries for a program that throughout its history hasn’t seen consistent success in the regular season translate into postseason advancement.

“This was great to get off that one number,” North coach Mark Gould said of picking up career playoff win No. 2. “Couple that with the way things have gone the last two weeks with the two overtime games, it makes it feel especially good.”

Now the North Stars have a home game against Elk Grove and a chance to go where no team in school history has gone: the state football quarterfinals.