Broncos knock out Cary-Grove, advance to sectional
By Mike Garofola

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The big scoreboard on the north end of Barrington Community Park appeared to trick the unsuspected at first gaze.

Barrington 4, Cary-Grove 1 at intermission? A closer look confirmed what was initially thought to be impossible.

The FVC champion Trojans (17-1-2) entered the regional final on Friday night with a puny goals-against record, having conceded just 8 all season. Plus, coach Mark Olson’s' club seemed to have a postseason 'whammy' over the Broncos, with two consecutive regional victories to help end Barrington’s season the last two years.

But there would be none of that on Friday night, after Barrington posted a rip-roaring start and a 3-goal advantage after 40 minutes increased to 5-1 in the 59th minute, before allowing two late goals.

The Broncos (18-3-3) advanced into next week’s Rockford Auburn sectional semifinals, where they’ll face Huntley (16-6-1), a 3-1 winner over DeKalb on Saturday afternoon.

"Finally, after four years," said senior Craig Zahour with a laugh, when asked if the weight of terrible regional losses had been lifted following his team’s impressive win.

"I really never thought we would build a 4-1 lead at the break, but we made sure to keep trying to add to our lead,” Zahour said. “And when it was 5-1, I think we all knew (Cary-Grove) was finished, although they deserve credit for playing so hard right up until the very end."

"Their all-state player (Mike McKune) deserves a lot of credit for keeping his teammates playing after going down early,” Barrington coach Scott Steib said. “Really, except for our guy, he was easily the best player out there for eighty minutes.”

‘Our guy’ was freshmen Kendall Stork, who was a whirling buzzsaw of energy and danger, threatening to go off with each touch. Stork scored the first two goals with some help from Zahour and Ethan Claes, and then recorded helpers on the Broncos’ last three, including Tyler Anderson's 40th minute strike, which all but insured victory for Barrington.

"We knew what to expect, and that they would target (Stork),” Olson said. “But he's even faster than we thought, especially on the ball. He helped break us down in our end and make us do things we normally don't do. And with their overall team speed, it took us too long to adjust to it all.”

The Broncos attacking crew of Stork, Zahour, Claes, Connor Hennelly, Danny Jaderholm and Logan Morris cut the Trojans to ribbons from the opening whistle. After McKune brought the visitors level at 1-1, it was all Barrington.

"I thought (McKune) played in the shadows of another all-stater, Drew Connor (now at Wisconsin) last season,” Steib said. “But it's obvious this year that he's the real deal, and he helped make a game of it after Kendall scored our first goal. But tonight we had too much pace and desire to advance for them to deal with."

Stork gave the home side the lead for good when Zahour found the rookie, after Claes got it all started with a set piece serve. Then, as the first period neared its end, Hennelly finished off a superb build-up to make it 3-1, before Anderson was put through by Stork.

"I told the guys during pre-game to expect a 1-0, 2-1 game, so I never thought it would be 4-1 after 40 minutes," admitted Steib.

All the action was in the Cary-Grove end to begin the second half. Keeper Kevin Schenk went to full extension to his left in turning around a wicked drive from Claes.

But the visitors upped their game a click or two for the next quarter hour.

The Broncos'  Anderson would parry a dangerous ball away from the back post sent in by junior Kevin Wilde, then it was McKune who had a go at Barrington keeper Alex Broderick, starting in place of Pat Deroche, who was serving time for the red card he was given in Tuesday's win over Dundee-Crown.

Stork was the middle man in the Broncos 5th and final goal when he sped past the Trojans defense before unloading on Schenk, who made a terrific initial save. The rebound fell into the 6-yard box, where the ever present Logan Morris was there to steer in his first goal of the playoffs and fifth of the year.

Steib would begin to bring several of his first-11 off for the night, but return a few back onto the pitch when the Trojans added goals from McKune and Wilde as the match slowly wound to a close.

"We had (brought) Fernando Telles off for good when he got his yellow card earlier to just be safe, but we had him ready to go just in case," Steib said.

"I didn't really think that Cary-Grove could deal with our work rate for 80 minutes, and they seemed to struggle with it in the early stages. That’s something we do very well," said Zahour, one of the Broncos’ captains.

"You don't mind losing to a team that plays so well together, and is coaches by a classy guy like Scott. They could go a long way in the playoffs if they continue to play like they did tonight on both sides of the ball," Olson said.

"We're playing well as a team so far, but we are also received a good effort from (David) Conrad, who has kind of taken over for (injured) Jack Hoots,” Steib said. “We’ve also gotten terrific energy and pace from Danny (Jaderholm) who can be very dangerous when he brings that high work rate and effort when he's out there.

"Nobody is getting ahead of themselves, because we've all seen what can happen when you don't come to play and respect your opponent. But the guys continue to work hard, and are motivated to succeed, so we'll see how it goes on Tuesday in Rockford.”