Things did not start well Friday night for the St. Charles North football team.

Then, they got worse.

Somehow, the North Stars were able to recover from some early miscues that led to Minooka touchdowns and put together a comeback for the ages.

They got a 15-yard touchdown pass from Jesse Padron to Braden Harms with 55 seconds remaining to pull within a point.

St. Charles North lined up for a two-point conversion, but Padron wasn’t on the field. The ball was snapped directly to Keaton Reinke, who ran around the left end and got into the end zone for a 36-35 North lead. The North Stars prevented Minooka from scoring in the last few seconds and came away with a hard-fought road win.

Reinke finished with seven catches for 88 yards and two touchdowns, and ran in the winning conversion. Padron threw for 253 yards and three scores, while running back Carsen Durante ran for 89 yards and two TDs on 13 carries.

“We just put that play in this week,” Reinke said about the two-point conversion. “I was pretty psyched when it was called. It wasn’t a great start for us, but we have a lot of great leaders on this team and they didn’t let us get down. We just stayed with our game plan and kept working.

“We did a lot better with ball security in the second half. We didn’t panic and believed in ourselves and our coaches.”

On the game’s opening kickoff, Minooka’s Elliott Dahlberg forced a fumble that was recovered by teammate Mason Oostema at the North Stars’ 19-yard line. After two runs by Chase Nurczyk (26 carries, 94 yards), Dahlberg scored from 3 yards out.

Then, on St. Charles North’s first play from scrimmage, a handoff was fumbled and Minooka’s Jackson Miranda recovered it at midfield. Teammate Tyler Minda scored on a 5-yard run to make it 14-0 with 5:36 to play in the first quarter.

St. Charles North finally got its offense moving and answered with a 75-yard touchdown drive that ended with Durante scoring from a yard out. Minooka had a quick counter to that score, as Zane Caves hit Brady Hairald for a 77-yard touchdown.

Minooka’s Blake Larson then recovered another fumble at the North Stars’ 4-yard line but St. Charles North limited the Indians to a 32-yard field goal from Sean Sample for a 24-7 lead.

St. Charles North got a TD pass from Padron to Reinke and another Durante TD run in the second quarter to pull to within 24-21 at halftime.

Caves hit Hairald with a 31-yard TD pass late in the third quarter, and Miranda added the two-point run to make it 32-21. After recovering another fumble, Minooka got a 25-yard field goal from Sample early in the fourth to make it 35-21.

St. Charles North got a 16-yard TD pass from Padron to Reinke to make it 35-28 with just over seven minutes left. The North Stars recovered a loose ball on the kickoff, but Minooka stopped them on fourth down and took over with 6:20 to play. The North Stars forced a punt and took over on their own 44.

On fourth down, Padron connected with Harms for a 15-yard TD, setting up Reinke’s game-winning conversion.

“Keaton is a game changer for us,” St. Charles North coach Rob Pomazak said. “Our offensive line played great, and Carsen Durante ran well.

“It’s not easy to come on the road and beat a good team like Minooka. They came out with a point to prove and got us on our heels a bit early. But, our defense tightened up and we took care of the ball in the second half.”

Caves threw for 205 yards for the Indians, while Hairald had 111 yards on five catches.

“The kids fought hard,” Minooka coach Matthew Harding said. “We have to clean up our penalties. We had some that hurt us, but we also saw some real good things. We showed that we are a good football team, but we also saw that it’s a four quarter game. You have to play well all four quarters.”

https://www.shawlocal.com/friday-night-drive/2025/08/30/st-charles-north-rallies-to-beat-minooka-in-final-minute/