St. Charles North‘s football team put its big-play capabilities on display Friday night.

The North Stars scored three touchdowns covering 70-plus yards in a 4½-minute span in the second quarter to build a four-touchdown lead on their way to a convincing 34-12 victory over DuKane Conference foe Wheaton North Wheaton North in Wheaton.

After grabbing a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter on wide receiver Braden Harms’ 30-yard touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone from quarterback JT Pardon, the North Stars (4-0, 2-0) displayed their explosiveness during a 24-point, second-quarter surge.

Facing a 3rd-and-14 from their own 26-yard line, Padron rolled to his right and lofted a 74-yard strike to EJ Mondesir (two, catches, 91 yards), as the North Stars extended their lead to 14-0.

After a 3-and-out series from the defense, the North Stars went right back at it, as senior tailback Carsen Durante took a handoff from Padron and raced around the left sideline for a 73-yard touchdown to make it 21-0.

Back-to-back incompletions forced another Falcons punt, and the North Stars struck quickly.

Padron dropped back and found senior receiver Keaton Reinke for a 71-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-0 with 3:10 left in the second quarter.

“When teams are covering me the way they have been, it allows other guys to get open,” said Reinke, whose first catch of the night came after the North Stars had already amassed 156 passing yards. “The main goal is to win games.

“When they can make plays, it makes it a lot easier.”

North Stars coach Rob Pomazak was pleased with his team’s big-play performance.

“Any time you can score quickly, it takes the need to execute to execute away – which is a good thing,” said Pomazak. “The run game and vertical game was there. I can’t complain.”

After the Falcons (2-2, 1-1) got on the board on Burke Neibch’s 10-yard TD pass to Tyler Kading (six catches, 66 yards) with 37 seconds left in the opening half, the North Stars drove 30 yards in four plays to set up Lucas Tenbrock’s 46-yard field goal as time expired in the half to make it 31-6.

Neibch connected with Kading again for a 22-yard TD on the Falcons’ opening possession of the second half, while Tenbrock closed out the scoring with a 42-yard field goal late in the third quarter.

Padron completed 13 of 23 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns, while Reinke had five catches for 122 yards. Christopher Akpede added 3 receptions for 52 yards.

Durante topped the 100-yard mark for the third straight game, finishing with 133 yards on nine carries, as the North Stars won their first game at Wheaton North since 2019.

“Any time you come to Wheaton North, you know you’re in for a battle,” said Pomazak. “Walking off the field with the W is always really nice.”

Senior tailback Max Serbick rushed for 144 yards on 27 carries for the Falcons, who committed four first-half false start penalties.

“We had a bunch of penalties in the first half,” said Falcons coach Joe Wardynski. “We got behind the sticks, and we’re not good enough to do that.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250919/prep-football/st-charles-norths-big-2nd-quarter-too-much-for-wheaton-north-to-overcome/