Tigers lose in overtime to SPC co-champion Wildcats

 

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By Ken Ryan

Plainfield Central senior Josh Rosenbaum admits nerves were starting to set in late in Tuesday’s game against rival Plainfield North.

The host Wildcats needed a victory to earn a share of their program-record sixth consecutive Southwest Prairie Conference championship, but were down a goal.

His emotions quickly changed to elation after scoring a goal with 4:17 remaining in regulation and then adding the game-winner with 3:37 left in the first overtime to give Plainfield Central a thrilling 2-1 victory.

“It was nerve-racking,” said a relieved Rosenbaum, who has contributed to the last four SPC titles. “Plainfield North played one heck of a game, but we stepped up and played fantastic. I’m proud of the team. Winning the conference championship again means a lot. I feel honored that we have won it all four years that I’ve been here. Hopefully next year they can just keep it going.”

Central (14-6-2) finished 6-1 in the conference to share the championship with Oswego East (6-1 in SPC), which beat Plainfield South Tuesday to earn its piece of the crown.

The Wildcats, who were celebrating Senior Night, won their final five conference contests after losing to Plainfield South 1-0 early in the season.

“Every year it’s amazing,” Central senior midfielder Edgar Chavez said. “It’s the best feeling ever. That’s all you want to do is win and that’s all we’ve ever done since I got here (as a freshman). We always stayed positive. We were taking a lot of shots and they just weren’t going in. We knew at one moment it was going to go our way and thank God it did.”

North (8-9-1, 3-4) nearly played the role of spoiler to perfection.

Sophomore Tyler Petprachan knocked a perfectly-placed free kick from just outside the box into the upper-left corner of the net to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead with 11:19 remaining in the first half.

That lead held up until the dramatic final minutes.

“I give them a lot of credit,” North coach Jim O’Hara said. “We’re up 1-0 pretty much the entire game and there is a lot of pressure on them. They all knew that the conference was on the line and they didn’t give up and were able to put one in the back of the net.

“I think our team didn’t back down. I thought we played extremely tough and extremely well. It was a very good high school soccer game. We just came out on the short end. It shows us going into this final stretch and into regionals that anytime you take the field, you’re in the game and have the opportunity to win. If we play like we did tonight, we have a chance to win against anybody.”

Central applied heavy pressure in the final 12 minutes of regulation, but wasn’t able to score the equalizer until junior Dan Rosenbaum centered the ball in front of a crowded goal that his brother, Josh, was able to deflect into the net to even the score at 1-1 with just over four minutes left in regulation.

Josh Rosenbaum struck again in overtime when he headed in a header from Nick Belom off a pass from Nick Castellucci to set off a wild celebration.

“That was the most important goal I’ve scored in a high school game,” Rosenbaum said. “Right behind that, though, was when I scored the game-winning goal against Morton when they were ranked first in the state last year. This was huge.

“North came out ready and guns firing. They played really well, but even though we let in that free kick, we still stepped it up and played just as hard. We had a good mentality going into the game and I feel like we all did our individual roles to help the team.

Everyone stepped up and did their parts and we won the game as a unit. We did what we had to do.”

The most important save of the game likely came with 23:40 remaining in regulation.

Central goalkeeper Tyler Badertscher was on the ground after trying to gain possession of the ball when North’s Niko Tapia took a shot that appeared headed towards, but defender Nick Giocolo got his foot up high enough to tap the ball out of harm’s way for an impressive non-goalie save that prevented the Tigers from taking a commanding 2-0 lead.

“I saw it coming and just had to give it everything I had because I knew we couldn’t lose this game,” said Giocolo, who also had two non-goalie saves in last year’s upset over Morton. “I was just in the right place at the right time.

“Winning conference is always important for the school. We needed to keep the tradition going. It was important to us. It was a challenge after we lost to South, but we were able to pull through with heart.”

Chavez had the difficult task of marking the always dangerous Colin Donnally, who wasn’t able to seriously threaten the entire game.

“My assignment was to shut him down and he didn’t score,” Chavez said. “We wanted to take him out of the game and we knew we could win if we shut him down. They played us really tough. They wanted to ruin our senior night and conference championship, but somehow we got over the hump. We didn’t play as well as we wanted to, but at the end the result went our way.”

Central seniors Giocolo, Karim Al-Musawi, Gordon Rey, Chavez, Jon Iniquez, Josh Rosenbaum and Aaron Henson were recognized before the game.

Keeping the conference championship streak certainly didn’t come easy for Central this season.

Not only did the Wildcats lose to Plainfield South, but they squeaked out a 3-2 double overtime win over Plainfield East and 2-1 penalty-kick victory over Minooka before Tuesday’s nail-biter.

“They found a way,” Fitzgerald said. “Give credit to North. That’s a tough game for either team to lose and man did they play well and hard. It’s one of those games where you almost feel as bad for them as you feel good for us. I know a lot of our guys were drained (going into overtime), but I told them if you score a goal you’re not going to feel tired. What an ending.

“I’m indifferent about the streak. Obviously none of these guys were here for all six. It’s a nice program accomplishment and speaks to the kids that have come through here. It kind of sets the bar for the next group, which is nice. They have something to live up to and nobody wants to be the group that loses.”