The streak has been struck.

Heading into its season opener against Romeoville on August 21, Stagg had lost 10 games in a row and 15 of its last 16.

Thanks to some excellent team defense and an impressive performance from junior running back Damani Morris, the Chargers opened their season with a 6-3 victory over the host Spartans.

Stagg’s last win before last weekend came on Oct. 18, 2024 with a 20-14 decision over Thornwood.

In last season’s opener, Romeoville edged Stagg 20-19.

“This is huge, yeah,” Stagg coach Jacob O’Connor said. “A lot of this is just a belief thing. One of the things we did this year is go to two levels. We have a frosh and varsity. A lot of it was just a depth thing.

“The last couple of years, we were getting wear and tear as the season goes on. We were losing guys and just getting really thin in depth. I think we rotated nine or 10 guys on the defensive line (Friday). We were able to keep guys fresh and it worked well.

“We have a lot of numbers now on the varsity and we’re getting guys where for the most part we can platoon. We can let them focus more on one side of the ball and stay fresh. We saw the work this week and we’ll see how it does going forward.”

O’Connor said he is excited to see the development and maturation taking place with Morris, a 6-foot, 185-pounder.

He finished with 203 yards on 27 carries and scored on a 7-yard run.

“Damani has really grown the last couple of years,” O’Connor said. “He works hard in the weight room and he’s hit that little second growth spurt. He really ran hard for us and he was running his feet constantly.

“He has really, really nice vision and good patience. … This was an impressive game for him. A lot of (it Friday) night was the patience. He was waiting for the holes to open up and our line did a really nice job.”

As did the Chargers’ defense. Anchored by Zaid Dairieh, who had an interception, Stagg held the hosts to just a field goal.

“Our defense was fantastic,” O’Connor said. “It was nice to see them play as gap-sound as they did and the d-line did a really nice job of occupying blockers and letting our linebackers play free. Our safeties did an awesome job this week.

“It was huge. They did a great job of getting downhill and playing aggressively while still playing smart. (Safety) Trevor Wilson had an awesome game and Zaid, who’s our Mike (middle linebacker) this year, had an awesome game. He’s like the QB of our defense. He’s always setting guys up and communicating well.”