Wildcats wrap up seventh consecutive league title

By Curt Herron

 

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After Plainfield Central lost a 2-1 home decision to rival Plainfield South in its conference opener, there was reason for concern.

That's because the Labor Day defeat figured to be a costly one for the Wildcats in a competitive Southwest Prairie Conference race.

In order to achieve a seventh straight league title, it looked like PHS might have to win out, which didn't figure to be very easy.

So just how well did coach Kevin Fitzgerald's squad respond to the early adversity which came their way following the SPC opener?

Obviously pretty well, as evidenced by a streak of six-consecutive wins that was completed on Tuesday with a 3-1 victory at Oswego.

The Panthers headed into the match with a 4-1 league mark and were in a position to capture the outright title with two victories.

Instead, PHS made Thursday's Oswego at Romeoville match moot by scoring once in the first half and two more times after the break.

Miguel Sanchez collected the initial two scores while John Hurley added the other to help the visitors establish a 3-0 advantage.

Oswego avoided the shutout with a goal in the final 10 minutes but the Wildcats didn't allow it any more dangerous opportunities.

Last season, the Wildcats lost to South in their second SPC match before winning the final five, to earn a tie with Oswego East.

And this year, PHS won all six SPC contests by two goals or more and could end with a two-match lead when all is said and done.

But if you believe that the task at hand was any easier or that it didn't give Fitzgerald a few extra gray hairs, think again.

"Oswego is a good team and you feel bad for them since they played without Curtis (Grysiewicz) today and that hurt them," Fitzgerald said. "But I thought that our guys played well and that we earned it.

"Ever since Labor Day, all of these have have been must-win games for us. It wasn't always easy but these guys found a way, which is what makes this more worthwhile. It didn't feel that easy, trust me.

"These guys have put it together and become a pretty good team right now. It's not so easy to have a bunch of must-wins. You hate to put that pressure on a team but they've responded to the pressure."

Since starting the season off at 3-6-1, the Wildcats have gone 9-2-1, including 4-0-1 in their last five, to improve to 12-8-2.

They'll honor their 10 seniors on Thursday against Addison Trail and then begin play in the competitive Neuqua Valley Regional.

In next Wednesday's opener, PHS meets East Aurora, which defeated it 5-4 in overtime in last year's regional championship match.

Heading into a strong wind during the opening half, the Wildcats went up for good in the seventh minute when Sanchez connected.

"Miguel has the tendency to not only score goals, but to also get big, important ones. He did it last year against Oswego East and again today," Fitzgerald said. "His first one today was obviously big.

"And his second goal was a beautiful header off the back post. Miguel's pretty good in the air and people don't realize that because he's small."

They nearly added to their lead but good chances from Sanchez and Dan Rosenbaum were thwarted and it remained 1-0 at the break.

That's because Tyler Badertscher faced few threats as Nick Belom, Bill Ballentine, Mike Giocolo and Rosenbaum stymied the hosts.

"From the time that I started in this program, one of things that I wanted was to get a conference championship when I was a senior, especially as a captain and with all of my friends," Ballentine said.

"It's all about the intensity and everybody stepped up to win it. We struggled through some injuries and needed someone to step up as a goal scorer so a lot of people played their part and did something."

PHS looked like it might score again early in the second half when Mo Rashid chipped a ball inside which led to a pair of shots.

A header by Hurley was deflected and Miguel Duran's subsequent rebound was also halted as the Panthers tried to keep it close.

But shortly after a Rosenbaum attempt was deflected for a corner kick, the Wildcats found the net once more in the 54th minute.

Duran directed his corner inside the box and Sanchez was there to head the ball in from close range to give PHS a 2-0 advantage.

"On my first goal I got it at the top of the 18 and just volleyed it back in," Sanchez said. "We got down a little bit after that but then we went back up after we scored the second goal.

"Losing the first game in conference was bad for us, and we were kind of feeling let down after it. But we knew that we had to keep our heads up and just keep working as hard as we could.

"Before all the games we all talked and told each other to play like it was our last game. We're playing well as a team as we go into the state playoffs so we don't want to let down now."

PHS's third score came in the 68th minute and was on another corner kick, this time a Hurley try that eluded the Panther keeper.

Oswego finally got on the scoreboard in the 72nd minute when a free kick led to a short shot by Jesus Morales that found the net.

The Wildcats had two more good chances in the late going but a Rashid free kick was denied, as was a header off a Hurley corner.

"After we lost our first conference game against Plainfield South, some of the boys kind of started feeling frustrated about winning conference," Rashid said. "But we all wanted to win it so we stepped up.

"Today we knew that we had to go hard. The first half wasn't that good because of the wind but we all stepped up in the second half and scored two more goals and everyone felt more comfortable after that.

"The first goal gave us enthusiasm and when we scored the second, everyone started playing together better. It feels good to win conference again. Now we want to finish better in regionals than last year."