Lions retain Silver Brick in 3-2 win at Hinsdale Central
Kurfirst scores game-winner in 76th minute

By Gary Larsen
Photos courtesy of Ken Fox

One of the best high school soccer players in Illinois hit one of the best shots you’ll see anywhere on Tuesday night.

Lyons Township’s Kyle Kurfirst was a dynamo in a game full of them in Hinsdale, in the annually electrifying dogfight between Lyons Township and Hinsdale Central.

And from 15 yards out in the game’s waning minutes, Kurfirst capped a two-goal night by blasting a head shot to the upper ninety at the far post, giving LT a 3-2 win over the Red Devils and sending the visiting Lyons’ faithful into a state of delirium.

“It’s never the best-looking soccer game. It’s who fights the hardest at the end,” Lyons Township junior Elliot Borge said.

The game’s outcome also determined that the Silver Brick stays in LaGrange. One year after the Lions beat the Red Devils on their home field, they earned the right to keep the trophy that the two teams play for each year.

Nearly 1,000 soccer fans were present to watch the second soccer game ever played in Hinsdale Central’s football stadium. The Red Devils’ soccer stadium simply can’t accommodate the annual crowd that shows up for the WSSC showdown.

What the crowd saw first was Kurfirst burying a shot from point-blank range in the game’s 8th minute, when he located the ball in a crowd at the goalmouth. The long throws of LT senior Peter Kralovec-Kirchherr figured prominently on the Lions’ first two scores.

“It was about ten seconds after I missed a way better opportunity,” Kurfirst said of his first goal. “We got a throw in, (Kralovec-Kirchherr) gets it in, I got a header on it and the keeper made a goal-line save. It came back to me and I just tapped it in.”

Hinsdale Central tied the game four minutes later on a Taylor Cole score off a Lenny Zavala feed, but the Lions struck again before halftime. Kurfirst elevated at the far post to reach a bomb of a throw-in by Kralovec-Kirchherr, and headed the ball back out towards the top of the penalty area.

Brett Heimerdinger was there to rip a low shot through a seam from distance, and the Lions led 2-1 at the break, capping a solid 40 minutes of attacking soccer.

Horacio Sanchez put a shot on in the 19th minute, and Red Devils’ keeper Will Meyer hit the turf to turn away a Sanchez shot in the 34th minute.

His squad led 2-1 at the break but Lions’ coach Paul Labbato was ready for a wooly second half.

“I don’t react any more. It’s the rivalry. We’re not going to have a blowout in this game on most occasions,” Labbato said. “When the teams are close in talent, like they are, we’re going to see goals happen, especially when teams press in with all their players to get those late goals.”
 
Hinsdale Central (6-6, 1-2 in WSC play) came out and established its own attack in the second half. The Red Devils kept the Lions (11-1-2, 3-0) on their heels for the first 20 minutes after the break.

“Hand it to Hinsdale Central,” Labbato said. “They went hard to the ball and it felt like they had an extra guy out there. We were trying to possess and it felt like all our lanes were closed down. Hats off to them. For twenty minutes, we couldn’t get out of our way and they were doing a really nice job of pressing.”

The Lions’ back three of Kravolec-Kirchherr, Matt Thomas, and Alex Economou weathered Central’s surge, and play evened somewhat during the game’s final 20 minutes.

“Our center back, Matt Thomas, did a nice job of controlling what’s going on and calming the whole thing down,” Labbato said. “(Hinsdale Central) did get one late on a throw-in but I’ll tell you what – the three of them did a really nice job back there tonight.”

Thomas is the glue that’s keeping LT’s back three together.

“Matt Thomas in the middle is doing a phenomenal job,” LT’s David Ellis said. “We never knew he could play like that, and he’s shown us that he can take that role on.”
 
The Lions’ lead held until Cole erased it yet again. The Red Devils' senior battled in the box for a ball and punched it home near the goal line with only four minutes left in the game, tying the score at 2-2.

But the tie lasted for less than 30 seconds. The Lions kicked off from midfield and sent the ball on a journey from sideline to sideline before Jack Thomas finally headed a ball over from right to left, where Kurfirst stood 15 yards away from net.

From that distance, you don’t see a lot of head shots hit with authority to the upper ninety at the far post. “I think because (Thomas’s) header came from so far, it was easier to get a lot of power on it,” Kurfirst said.

His second goal was a fitting way for Kurfirst to end an exceptional day of soccer put in by a senior midfielder.

“I think he’s as good as anyone in the state,” Labbato said of Kurfirst. “You like to think that people recognize that, but you tend to recognize goalscorers. He had two tonight but we have a pretty balanced team, and a lot of different guys get goals. Tonight was his turn.”

Kurfirst’s strike returned the lead to the Lions, and that’s where it stayed to the final buzzer.

Labbato was happy with his side’s team-wide effort, and when asked there was any specific Lion whose contribution should not be overlooked, the coach didn’t hesitate.

“David Ellis,” he said.

Ellis was assigned the unenviable task of chasing Central’s Mitch Reavis around the pitch all night. Reavis was one of the best attacking players on the field throughout, and Ellis put on his hardhat and punched the clock in aiming to slow him down.

“They put Reavis out wide to try to create some mismatch, so we put David on him,” Labbato said. “I thought he did a very nice job on Mitch tonight.”

“I’ve only met up against him in summer league,” Ellis said of Reavis. “He’s one of the fastest kids out here so I just tried to keep him in front of me and not let him beat me down the line, because if he does he’s going to put a ball at the back post.”

The Lions have now beaten Downers Grove North and Hinsdale Central, with a tough Oak Park and River Forest team still ahead in West Suburban Silver play. The defending state champs may have graduated all-state talent from last year’s squad, but they’ve shown themselves to be as good as any team in Illinois again this year.
 
“We had great players graduate, and great leaders,” Kurfirst said. “We knew we still had a lot of returning talent, and talent coming up from the freshmen and sophomores, and we knew we’d have a lot of good role players coming in off the bench.”

“I’m not surprised at the level of success we’ve had, but it’s impressive considering the talent that all of these teams have across the state.”

The Red Devils' Andrew Worthington was proud of the game his side played throughout, against a team that has all the pieces to make a run at another state title.

“All respect to LT. They’re fantastic,” he said. “It’s an organized team, deadly on set pieces, and we just couldn’t handle their set pieces in the first twenty minutes. We were scrambling.”