Mustangs drop crosstown battle to DG North

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By Matt Le Cren

Throughout his team’s struggles with injuries, inexperience and inconsistency, Downers Grove North coach Brian Gervase has repeatedly said the Trojans are better than their record indicates.

They certainly were Thursday night.

Junior forward Byron Perez recorded the first two-goal game of his career and Downers North rallied to upset host Downers Grove South 2-1 in their annual battle for crosstown bragging rights.

The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Trojans (4-12-1), who started only one senior against the Mustangs.

“This is win No. 4, so they’re all big,” Gervase said. “This is a good win for their energy and we’re not a four-win team. We’ve gone through a lot of transition. You see a lot of guys sitting on the bench with injuries. We start one senior today.

“I’ve always said seniors are the key to a great season, so we have a lot of pretty young players and they’re learning on the job. It’s good for our confidence.

“They get down a little bit but at the same time, they realize that there’s a state championship ahead of them today and a state championship next year. That’s something that we keep building towards. We’re going to have a great senior lineup next year but for right now we feel like we can make a lot of noise this year.”

Perez certainly made a lot of noise, much to the Mustangs’ chagrin. Downers South (5-8-2) did a good job of not letting North’s leading scorer, Cullen Cummings, beat them, as he had only two shots, but the hosts were unable to clamp down on Perez, who scored both of his goals on terrific shots in the second half.

The Mustangs led 1-0 after a first half in which North had only one shot against a wind that stiffened to over 30 miles per hour as the match went on.

But Perez stunned everyone by scoring on a counterattack with 32:29 left. Running up the middle of the field, Perez unleashed a 32-yard shot that went over South goalie Nick Tannenbaum’s head and into the upper left corner of the net.

“They didn’t pressure me so I just took advantage of that,” Perez said. “I finessed it and the wind did what it did.”

The wind played no role in Perez’s second goal, which put the Trojans ahead with 6:20 to play. This shot was a 10-yard rocket from a sharp angle that somehow made it between Tannenbaum (three saves) and the right post and into the top netting.

“We were tied 1-1, not a lot of time left,” Perez said. “I think Reid Melton crossed it into me. I saw that I wasn’t going to make [beat the defender] so I kind of backed off a little bit and then when I saw that opportunity I just hit it.”

Gervase was impressed with both of Perez’s strikes.

“He hit both corners today,” Gervase said. “He hit both corners today. It looked like Downers South was packed in a little at the end and Bryon took a run and he had some space and that’s what we encourage him to do, take a [long] shot.”

Perez now has five goals, two behind Cummings for the team lead, and will be an important offensive weapon in North’s quest to improve.

“It was important for us,” Perez said. “Not only was it our crosstown rivalry, but we’ve got to prove ourselves. We’re much better than what our record says.

“I think it’s starting to come altogether now. We’re a young group, but we can definitely compete with the older [teams].”

Downers South had taken a 1-0 lead at the 21:54 mark of the first half on sophomore Jack Freko’s second career goal. Freko settled the ball at the top of the circle and calmly lofted a perfectly placed 23-yard shot over North goalie Aaron Menyes’ head and under the bar.

But that was the only ball that got past Menyes. The varsity rookie finished with three saves, including a great diving effort to knock an open shot in the box from Sam LaLonde wide right with 26:10 to go in the second half. Menyes also snagged LaLonde’s 48-yard free kick with 2:20 remaining and aggressively charged off his line to force South shooters to miss high on two partial breakaways.

“It feels really good coming back,” Menyes said. “I haven’t played much time lately. Going down 1-0 was tough. You’ve got to keep your head straight. You can’t put your head down and say this is over, so when they put that one in I was mad at myself but I was like, We’ve still got this, they’re not that tough.’ We ended up coming back and winning it.”

The Trojans did that thanks to Perez. Menyes, who faces Perez in practice, was impressed with Perez’s goals but not awed.

“Those were two good goals for him,” Menyes said. “I’ve been friends with him for a little while and in practice I save those, but that’s because I’ve seen how he shoots.”

Menyes said the Trojans came out in the second half and played harder than the Mustangs. North did have more of the few chances on offer after the break, but South did have an opportunity to increase its lead.

“It was really a very good game. I thought both teams played well,” Stapleton said. “I thought we had chances early in the second half. Jack had a chance for a second goal, Sam had a good opportunity and got in behind. You bury one of those, now you’re [up] 2-0 and it might have been a little bit different

“I think that was the difference. The few opportunities we gave them in the second half they finished and the few chances we had we didn’t. But as I told the kids, I think we’re playing better. We’re improving and are more consistent and that’s a step in the right direction, especially with a young group.”