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NEUQUA VALLEY

Wildcats get past upset-minded Cougars in regional final

Photo gallery is courtesy of Sherry Kenny

Photo gallery is courtesy of LuAnne Hollingshead

By Curt Herron

What happens when you have a playoff match on a slick surface and toss in a strong wind advantage on one side of the field?

Then add into the mix a team trying to cap its winningest season ever by doing all that it could to get a postseason upset.

The answer is you'll have some drama, and that's what unfolded at Saturday's Class 3A Neuqua Valley Regional championship.

Darkhorse Plainfield South, which set a school record for wins with 17, had its eyes set on knocking off the host Wildcats.

On paper, that looked like a longshot considering what Neuqua's program has accomplished and South had never won a regional.

But someone forgot to tell the Cougars that they didn't have a chance while taking part in just their second regional final.

Plainfield South was tied with the Wildcats at halftime and hung tough while down by a goal through much of the second half.

Neuqua had to sweat things out in the late going before it finally emerged with a 2-1 victory over the Cougars in Naperville.

With the win, Neuqua (15-3-3) advances to Tuesday's Naperville North Sectional, where it meets East Aurora in a 4:30 match.

The Tomcats and Wildcats tied 0-0 on October 7 and East went on to claim the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division title.

Jacob Brindle gave the Wildcats the early lead on Saturday before Tony Rodriguez connected late in the first half for South.

Will Butler put coach Tony Kees' squad back in front early in the final half, but the Cougars (17-4-2) continued to battle.

After withstanding a few threats in the final 10 minutes, the Wildcats wrapped up their eighth regional title in nine years.

Despite being tied at halftime, things looked good for Neuqua going into the final half, thanks in part to the wind factor.

The Wildcats didn't take long to move back in front for good, scoring on one of their first good chances following the break.

With 33:50 remaining, Brindle sent a pass into the box that eventually went to Butler, who fired in a shot from close range.

A while later, the Wildcats were back at it when Patrick Doody sent a free kick to Brindle, who saw his his short try halted.

Shortly after that, Sammy Diab directed a cross toward Brindle, who headed a shot attempt toward South keeper Wojciech Gacek.

With just under 16 minutes left, Doody sent a free kick toward Gacek, who later halted liners from both Doody and Pat Kaindl.

Hunter Hollingshead got tested a few minutes after that when he deflected away a shot try on a corner kick from Daniel Anaya.

A bit later, South's Adam Rodriguez got free and tried to get off a short shot but the effort was broken up by Alex Karkazis.

With seven minutes remaining, Anaya had the first of consecutive corners deflected and a bit later added another corner kick.

In the final five minutes, Doody had a line drive deflected by Gacek before South's Ivan Valencia was wide on a short shot.

The opening half featured far fewer scoring chances and even though it was going into the wind, Neuqua owned the advantage.

Butler and Brindle were denied on shots in the initial 10 minutes before Valencia was denied on the Cougars' first good try.

Neuqua finally connected with 23:32 remaining before the break when Doody sent a corner to Brindle, who headed the ball in.

There were few good threats until the final 10 minutes, with the best being a long shot by Kevin Skrip that was punched away.

South evened things with 4:47 left in the first half when Rodriguez sent in a long free kick that eluded the Wildcat keeper.

That score motivated coach Dave Brown's Cougars, who carried the momentum from that goal into the final 40 minutes of play.

Despite seeing his team fall short, Brown believes that the close call with Neuqua will set a new standard for South's program.