Everyone can see Naperville North junior forward Jaxon Stokes coming. Nobody, it seems, can stop him.

Stokes is having one of the greatest individual seasons in program history, electrifying fans and teammates and demoralizing opponents with his consistently sensational play.

“He’s such a gifted kid,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “He’s a goal scorer. A lot of high school players that score will do it because they use brute force. They just power the ball. Jaxon always has an eye on the ball, always has an eye on the defenders, and he’s looking to find a way to go all the time.”

Stokes, who heads to the postseason with a team-high 24 goals and six assists for the Huskies (17-1-3), is just the third player in Konrad’s 20-year tenure to score at least 20 in a season. The only one who has scored 30 in that time is Jake Fullerton, an All-American who played at Michigan State.

Reaching that mark is hard to do at any school but especially difficult at Naperville North, given its tough schedule and the fact that Konrad never allows the team to surpass six goals in a game.

But Konrad did expect Stokes to produce such feats.

“I told him this year, ‘I expect you to score 20, and we’re shooting for 30,’” Konrad said. “I’m taking no credit for this. Everybody knows he’s a special kid. He’s an explosive athlete, and I’m glad he’s on my team.”

So is sophomore defender Sam Hess, who also plays club soccer with Stokes.

“It’s his job to score, and it’s our job to keep a shutout,” Hess said. “Usually he scores, so it makes it a lot easier for us and helps take a lot of pressure off the whole defense.”

At times, the Huskies stand in awe of the plays Stokes can make.

“When he gets the ball, you just know that he’s going to weave through every defender,” Hess said. “Then he puts it in the net.”

Stokes, who scored 13 goals as a varsity rookie last season, is the son of Dan Stokes, who was an All-American at DePaul.

“I get my athleticism from him because he was a good college player,” Jaxon Stokes said. “He started his freshman year as a true freshman, and he scored a bunch of goals. He teaches me when to be selfish and when not to be selfish. He can get me insight into the game because he played at the DI level.”

Stokes likely will too. DePaul coach Mark Plotkin watched Naperville North beat Waubonsie Valley 4-0 on Tuesday, and Konrad expects more college coaches to scout Stokes in the playoffs. On Tuesday, the top-seeded Huskies will play either Batavia or Yorkville in the Class 3A Plainfield North Regional semifinals.

Anybody who hasn’t seen Stokes play is in for a treat. He scored four goals against Benet on Sept. 2, joining Chris Sullivan as the only Konrad-coached players to accomplish that feat.

Stokes hit the post twice in the opening six minutes and contributed one goal in a 6-2 rout of host Downers Grove South in Naperville North’s regular-season finale on Thursday. The Huskies, who have a 20-game unbeaten streak, cruised in that game despite resting stars Noah Radeke and Hindo Allie and limiting the minutes of Stokes and the other starters.

“You could see he held up a couple times because he was trying to get his teammates on the scoreboard,” Konrad said. “If he was a selfish kid, he’d probably have 35 goals. But he truly has the right mindset, and I love how hard he works defensively too.”

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The offense, though, is what people come to see. Stokes uses a mix of power and finesse.

“He hits such a good ball with both feet,” Konrad said. “That shot that hit the post in the first half was an inch off the ground for 20 yards.”

Stokes isn’t afraid to shoot from any angle at any time.

“My greatest strength is catching the defense off of the counterattack and getting quick shots,” he said. “I feel like I’m good at the no-angle shots.”

Stokes said he thinks he should have scored more goals. But he could have plenty of additional chances in the playoffs.

“It feels good, but we still have a lot of work because we make little mistakes in the game sometimes,” he said. “We can’t be perfect, but we can avoid the little mistakes, and that will make us better.”

Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.