Panthers give East Aurora all it can handle
Oswego falls 3-1 but goes down fighting in regional title game

 

By Steve Nemeth

As soon as Oswego trimmed a three-goal second-half deficit down to two, Saturday’s Bolingbrook Class 3A Regional Championship against highly-ranked East Aurora became a very intense and interesting battle.

The increased offensive attack and heightened sense of urgency were proof the OHS Panthers would only go down scratching and clawing.  However this has been, and continues to be, a magical year for EA’s Tomcats and thanks to a lot of saves and clears booted well out of bounds, the 3-1 tally became the final score.

It’s only the second regional plaque in East Aurora history --- joining the one that’s been orphaned in the trophy case since 1996.  Not too many people noticed the Tomcats as they amassed double-digit victories until they fought then No. 2-rated Neuqua Valley to a 0-0 deadlock. 

Since the Wildcats endured another tie, a final league road win gave East Aurora the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division crown --- the school’s one and only loop banner in 25 years of soccer.

If the Tomcats were once being overlooked, then Oswego was virtually forgotten following a lackluster start to the season.  Nevertheless, the Panthers at one point were in a meeting of league unbeatens hoping to wrest the Suburban Prairie Conference title from Plainfield Central’s perennial grasp. 

But when that loss was followed by another league defeat, OHS was dropped back into the pool of teams having sub-par seasons.

Then came the Bolingbrook Regional and there was Oswego again, looking for a second title within the last three years.

“This match was a microcosm of our season,” Panther coach Travis Carlisle said.  “We’ve got a bunch of kids with big hearts that went with one win in their first six matches and didn’t understand that most people figured they’d just keep on losing, but they fought back.  (And today) I’m sure East Aurora knows they had to play hard the whole game long, so I’m still very proud of our guys.”

Despite winning the coin toss and electing to utilize a gusty wind advantage for the opening half, Saturday’s contest didn’t get off to a positive start for Oswego.  Combining short, quick passes, East Aurora worked the ball up the field against the wind and when Eddie Llamas crossed the ball into the goalie box, teammate Eddie Gaytan was there for a five-yard tap that gave the Tomcats a 1-0 lead 7:27 into the contest.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, the 17 to 25 mile-per-hour gusts became more of a liability as East Aurora starting goalie Norberto Sanchez had little trouble winning footraces to every ball that seemed to carry or bounce too long for OHS attackers.  While Sanchez made one official save, he chalked up 10 “defensive cover/clears,” which indicate when a keeper gets to a potentially dangerous ball.

As much as you hope the wind can help you, it’s not necessarily an advantage at times and we saw that,” Carlisle said.

That 1-0 intermission lead doubled just 33 seconds into the second half when Llamas’ through ball assist led to Ricardo Camacho booting a wind-aided 35-yarder over OHS keeper Luis Gallardo but under the crossbar.  Four minutes later with his back to the goal, Camacho chipped the ball over his head and Llamas beat Gallardo with a seven-yard strike that made it 3-0.

“In the first half we knew we had to be patient against the wind and in the second half we tried to use it to our advantage,” noted Llamas, who raised his season totals to four goals and three assists.  “As long as we get something on the board, I don’t care if I have an assist or a goal.  Actually, just to be part of a play that leads to a score is what matters.”

But that’s when the deficit also began to matter to Oswego as the Panthers noticeably picked up the pace.  Fernando Chavez used Max Calderon’s pass to blast home a 12-yard strike from the right side against Jose Vasquez, who had taken over the net-minding for the second half.  Unlike Sanchez, Vasquez’s defensive cover/clears were on top of five saves as OHS doubled its first-half effort in matching East Aurora in overall attempts with 15.

“I would’ve wanted us to play all year with the sense of urgency we showed at the end,” Carlisle added.  That probably would have produced something other than their final 9-11-2 record.

 “I believe we played a lot of good teams very well, so our record didn’t reflect how good a team we were,” senior Nathan Kyes insisted.  “Just like today’s match, I think we kept fighting in every contest, we just didn’t always finish or get the outcome we wanted.”

To its credit, Oswego was actually aiming for a third straight post-season victory over a team it had played during the regular-season. When it came to the rematches, the Panthers swept Plainfield East and avenged a regular-season loss with their semifinal triumph over Plainfield Central.

“They were a team that just wouldn’t give up, and that’s why they beat Plainfield Central,” East Aurora coach Jason Rollins said.  “We knew all along we had to fight and couldn’t take anything for granted.  They got the momentum in the second half and we basically just took care of business to slip by with a win.