Mustangs fall to rival Trojans for first in-state defeat

By Matt Le Cren

A big crowd – possibly the biggest ever for a soccer game at Carstens Field – was in attendance.

The Downers Grove North band was practicing on an adjacent field. Youth teams played an exhibition at halftime.

All in all it was a festive attitude for the nearly 1,000 people who turned out Thursday night expecting to see an exciting match between the host Trojans and crosstown rival Downers Grove South.

And it was – if you were a Downers North fan.

Showcasing their quick-strike offense with alarming regularity, the Trojans stunned everyone by routing the Mustangs 5-1 in a nonconference match.

It was the first time Downers South (9-2-3) has lost to an Illinois opponent and its first loss in regulation, the only other defeat being a 1-0 decision on penalty kicks to Louisville Trinity.

Sophomore sensation A.J. Jeffries led the way for the Trojans (13-2-2) by recording his first hat trick, while Paul Hogan and Azmi Sharif also scored for the hosts, who have now found the back of the net 48 times this fall. It was North's third five-goal outing.

"It was an amazing game," Jeffries said. "We put everything on the field. We had probably the best game we've had all season. It was probably the best game of my high school career so far."

That's saying something. Jeffries has already had several two-goal matches and his talent is well-known, but his first two goals against the Mustangs were highlight-reel finishes.

The first came with 10:05 remaining in the first half and the score tied 1-1. Jeffries took a pass in the midfield from Jakob Mousel and sprinted up the right wing.

He held off a challenge from one defender and blew past two more into the box before beating South goalie Sam Hadley with a 15-yard shot into the lower left corner.

Jeffries' second tally was the result of pure doggedness and extended North's lead to 4-1 at the 31:02 mark of the second half.

He beat a defender into the box and just when it looked like Hadley was going to grab the bouncing ball, Jeffries poked it away and scored on a shot as he was sliding to the turf.

"Paul played a pretty good ball through," Jeffries said. "I just fought for it, pushed off one defender - might have been a foul - and then the keeper didn't have it so I got a poke in and kept fighting for it until it went in.

"His hands were almost there. I kind of got under it before he could get it."

Jeffries completed his hat trick – and the scoring – by converting a penalty kick eight minutes later.

"A.J. had a really nice game," Downers North coach Brian Gervase said. "Some of those were very powerful goals, something we're expecting more out of him because he's only a sophomore. He's a big part of what we're doing."

His teammates, the majority of which are seniors, appreciate that.

"He's a strong player," Sharif said. "It's uncanny how he can keep the ball. He just dribbles through people like nothing."

In contrast, Hogan is just as deadly but in a different way – he just doesn't seem to get knocked off the ball.

A case in point came on his goal that gave the Trojans a 3-1 lead just 2:29 before intermission.

Zack Parik tossed a throw-in 30 yards into the box to Hogan, who had a defender tightly marking him as he settled the ball with his back to the goal.

Hogan patiently maneuvered the ball at his feet before he suddenly turned to his left, got a bit of separation and fired a bullet from seven yards out past a stunned Hadley.

"That was a great individual effort by Hogan," Downers South coach Jon Stapleton said. "I'm very impressed with his play. I'm very impressed with his demeanor on the field.

"As a coach watching him play, he's someone you'd like to have on your team."

Stapleton also was impressed with North's accuracy as the Trojans scored on five of their first nine shots.

"North is a great finishing team," Stapleton said. "They've got two guys that can definitely do it – Jeffries and Hogan. That's their strength.

"I don't know if that necessarily makes them the better team. They proved it tonight, there's no doubt about that. They had a great night."

It wasn't just Jeffries and Hogan. The 6-3 Sharif, who is being counted on to help control the midfield and to win balls in the air with his height, gave the Trojans the early lead when he booted home a loose ball in front just 4:15 into the game.

Hogan had started that play by splitting a pair of defenders and knocking the ball out of a scrum.

"That was really important because that gave us a psychological advantage from the start, got it going and then we didn't look back except for the one slip-up on the [South] goal," Jeffries said.

Sharif deemed it the biggest goal of his career to date, though he's confident it won't be his last.

"I'm planning on getting some more big goals, especially because we've got Morton coming up, Hinsdale Central coming up and all these big games coming up," Sharif said.

"In the [games against Lyons] we struggled everywhere. But basically we worked on the midfield holding the ball, not giving away the possession."

North didn't give much away against the Mustangs and when it did, defenders Parik, Marcin Modzelewski, Alex Vogler and Tom Budnik did a good job in front of goalie Matt Paprocki, who made four saves.

The only time South dented the back of the net was midway through the opening period when Zach Baleski launched a quick counterattack and fed Conor Kelch, who beat Paprocki with a 20-yard shot up the middle.

But the Mustangs will have little time to dwell on the loss because they host powerful Naperville North on Saturday.

"This is our first loss in the run of play," Stapleton said. "As I told our kids, tomorrow is October 1st. We haven't lost a game in 80 minutes all year. It wasn't our night.

"And I told them that if you're going to have things go wrong, it might as well be all in one night then in little bits along the way.

"So we'll learn from it. We're humbled by it a little bit and we'll come back to work tomorrow and be ready to go for Saturday."

Humility was something the Trojans had to show after their back-to-back losses to reigning state champion Lyons.

Gervase, whose team has gone 4-0-1 since then, was pleased to know his troops have done that.

"I think Marcin had a quote in our school paper that I thought was right on," Gervase said. "He said, 'We kind of all walked around like we were invincible at the beginning of the year and then LT kind of showed us that we weren't invincible.'

"It's great to hear the guys talk like that because the coaches, we understand we're not invincible, but the guys have to understand that when they show up on the field they've got to perform. It's refreshing to see guys do that."