Hinsdale Central beats St. Charles North in overtime

Updated: August 27, 2011 3:00AM

St. Charles North and Hinsdale Central entered the season-opening game carrying 4-5 records from last year. It was the Red Devils who started the turnaround for this season with a 27-26 win in overtime on Friday in St. Charles.

“It was a tough game,” said North Stars quarterback Collin Peterson. “We have a lot of things that we can do better. Penalties killed us. We’ll cut down on them in practice and come back next weekend.”

In the fourth quarter, Peterson hit Benjamin Kaplan for 13 yards and a touchdown to give the Stars a 20-13 advantage. But the hard driving Red Devils scored with 6:53 left in regulation time. Quarterback Brian Owens ran the ball in from the 5-yard line to tie the game at 20 and set the stage for overtime.

Owens scored on a 4-yard keeper to give the Red Devils the lead 27-20 in extra time. The North Stars took over and scored on George Edlund’s 1-yard run. However, the Red Devils stopped Peterson’s run on the conversion attempt to seal the win.

“We called a pass play, but no one was open so I tried to take it right up the middle and go for what I could,” said Peterson. “We fought the whole game.”

The North Stars opened the scoring on a 5-yard pass play from Peterson to Zachary Kirby for a 7-0 lead at the end of the quarter.

“I thought Collin did a nice job,” said St. Charles North coach Mark Gould. “He did a nice job for his first start. He threw some nice passes and kept some drives alive.”

The North Stars had trouble moving the ball in the second half. Poor coverage on a Red Devils punt put the ball on St. Charles North’s 1-yard line. Two plays later Hinsdale Central defensive end Jake Alleman recovered a sloppy North Stars exchange to score a touchdown from the 1-yard line to tie the score at 7-7.

Red Devils coach Rich Tarka rotated quarterbacks, Owens and lefty Danny Callahan, throughout the game. Callahan sparked the Hinsdale Central offense in the first half, gaining 52 yards on five carries on the ground and passing for 81 yards including, a 46-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Kelleher to put the Red Devils in the lead 13-7.

“We have two quarterbacks competing for the job,” said Tarka, who is in his first year as head coach. “Both of them did very well. We have two starters as far as I’m concerned.”

Kaplan scored his first of two touchdowns with a 90-yard return on the subsequent kickoff to give the North Stars a 14-13 lead at the half.

Both teams settled down in the second half, playing tough defense in the third quarter.

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