Carsen Durante knows what his role is on St. Charles North.

“I’m just out there doing my job,” Durante said. “Whatever coach (Rob Pomazak) tells me to do. If he tells me to run the ball, I run the ball. If he wants me to pass block, I pass block.

“Anything to get the team a win.”

And with three minutes left in the fourth quarter last Friday and the North Stars needing a first down to secure a victory over Geneva, Durante was given the job of doing what he’d done all game.

Pounding the rock.

“My coach told me at the end of the game that I was going to get the ball a lot and I just told him that I was ready,” he said.

It wasn’t the first time that Durante, who had 15 carries for 103 yards, had a majority of the carries against Geneva. Durante made his first official start against the Vikings in Week 9 of last season with then-starting running back Joell Holloman dealing with injuries. He finished with 12 rushes for 55 yards, both career-highs heading into the season.

“When I went in for Joell, they just tossed me in there as a junior and I just did my job,” Durante said. “And over the offseason, I realized that people are going to be depending on me more. I had daily meetings with our O-line, and they box perfectly for me.”

The offseason work has paid dividends so far for the 5-foot-5 senior. Through three games, Durante has rushed for 361 yards and has found the end zone five times (four rushing, one receiving).

“Carsen waited his turn last year,” Pomazak said. “We try to tell guys, when you run a program like ours, it’s not always going to be juniors starting. Sometimes, you have to wait. Sometimes, you have to be patient.

“It’s great to see guys that did and went through the process have success like Carsen did.”

That rushing presence has also helped add an extra “oomph” to the North Stars’ offense so far, especially with Northwestern commit Keaton Reinke, who had 10 catches for 106 yards in the victory, leading an experienced wide receiver room.

“It’s either we can run on the ground, and when they stop then we can just pass,” Durante said. “We have a great wide receiver corps, we have a great O-line. It’s just the recipe for a perfect offense.”

Kane County teams run wild

Durante wasn’t the only player to find success on the ground game in Week 3.

Six other players from Kane County teams finished the week with 100-plus rushing yards on the ground for their teams.

Of the five, three of them came from the DuKane Conference, with Geneva junior Nelson Wendell (21 carries for 104 yards), St. Charles East junior Johnny Solano (23 carries for 145) and Batavia senior Preston Brummel (16 carries for 103 yards) each eclipsing the century mark for the first time in their career. The Bulldogs also had senior Henry Hahn (11 carries for 90 yards) just miss out on the century mark.

Outside of them, Kaneland senior quarterback Jalen Carter (121 rushing yards) and Burlington Central senior QB Landon Arnold (26 rushes for 185 yards) each passed the century mark to help their teams move to 3-0 on the season.

Marmion tailback Henry Miller rounded out the performances, going for 144 yards off of 27 carries in the Cadets’ victory over St. Viator.

Geneva working through early-season troubles

It hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for the reigning Class 6A state runners-up.

After scoring on each of their first seven possessions in their Week 1 victory over Larkin, the Vikings have only managed to score one touchdown in each of their last two games, including in their Week 3 10-7 loss to St. Charles North.

Despite this, Geneva coach Boone Thorgesen said that the Week 3 loss was a stark improvement from their 35-6 defeat to Oswego in Week 2, especially with their ability to control the time of possession in the first half, as well as building drives.

And as the young offense, led by junior quarterback Ben Peterson, continues to gather varsity experience, especially in the DuKane Conference against teams like Wheaton Warrenville South and Batavia in the coming weeks, Thorgesen knows that his team can shake off the 1-2 start and can still manage a run for the playoffs.

“We’re excited about our team,” Thorgesen said. “I told the team we’re proud of our fight and how we cleaned up a lot of things from the week before. It wasn’t the result we wanted, but there are better days ahead because I really like the fight and character of my team.”

Still undefeated

Through three weeks of play, only four Kane County area teams have gone 3-0 to start the season, and are sitting pretty in terms of their chances to make the playoffs.

For both St. Charles North and Kaneland, it’s the second consecutive season the teams have started 3-0, with the North Stars suffering their first and only regular-season loss in Week 4 to Batavia while the Knights would move to 4-0 before falling to Morris in Week 5.

For two other teams, it’s a bit of unfamiliar territory. Aurora Central Catholic’s 3-0 start is their first undefeated start since 2016, when they won six straight to start the season before finishing 9-2.

But more far removed from its last perfect start is Burlington Central. The Rockets last 3-0 start came back in 2004, when they won five straight games to start the season before finishing 7-4.