St. Charles' quick start pens Wolfpack
By Paul LaTour
There was little doubt St. Charles was ready for its IYRA playoff opener against St. Ignatius.
The hosts scored 17 points in the opening 10 minutes and outlasted the Wolfpack in a 37-21 quarterfinal victory Friday at Campton Hills Park in St. Charles.
David Jones, Cory Harmon and Connor Williams scored tries and Harmon added a conversion for St. Charles' opening run. Harmon finished with three tries, a penalty kick and two conversions.
“That was exactly what we needed, we needed to come out with fire,” Jones said. “Overall our team is bigger and stronger, so we pretty much had it.”
All three early tries resulted from long breakout runs through the Wolfpack defense.
Shawn Davidson gave St. Charles excellent field position with the first one on a drive that ended with a missed penalty from Harmon. However St. Charles blocked the ensuing kick and Jones eventually punched the ball across the goal line.
J.J. Yanni had an even longer run to set up a scrum near the 22-meter line. St. Charles broke it out and Harmon finished the play off to give St. Charles a 10-0 lead.
Williams added to the scoring burst with a run that started near the St. Charles’ 22.
“They came out sprinting and they’re faster than us,” Wolfpack senior Conor Healy said. “They were hitting their holes well and our defense wasn’t coming out flat enough. They found the holes and they exploited them.”
The Wolfpack finally got on the board a few minutes before halftime. Jake Rosner got the ball from a scrum near the goal line and then bowled through the middle for the try. Hunter Joosten added the conversion.
Another long run by Yanni set up the next St. Charles try. Wes Pasholk pushed it in from a scrum to make it 22-7.
It looked like the Wolfpack was going to answer with a try of its own before the half. Colin Applegate burst to the outside to for a long run deep into St. Charles territory.
The Wolfpack attempted to push it in from the goal line, but the St. Charles defense turned them aside until the half ended.
“We figured we had to pick it up after that,” Yanni said. “We realized how close they got and that started to scare us. We had to pick it up a little bit.”
A penalty kick by Harmon upped St. Charles’ lead to 25-7 early in the second half. Rosner scored again for St. Ignatius, but Harmon answered with a short run after getting a pitch from Jake Faulk.
The teams exchanged tries in the closing minutes to complete the scoring. Joseph Cunningham scored for the Wolfpack, while Harmon scored again and added the conversion.
The game was marred by an on-field fight late in the second half. Players from both teams were ejected.
St. Charles advanced to the semifinals. The 2007 and 2008 IYRA state titlist will meet the winner of the Monday Brother Rice-Waubonsie Valley match.
