Broncos headed to the Classic title game
By Mike Garofola

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It had seemed like forever for Barrington, hosting one of the premier tournaments every fall season but just not playing in the final.

But not this year.

For the first time since 2008, Barrington will be under the lights in its own park for final of the 24th annual Barrington Classic, where the Broncos will take on Boylan (3-2-1) of Rockford at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.

"We've had a bunch of losses in the early stages of our last three to four seasons, so we haven't really been close to playing for our own tournament championship," said relieved Broncos head coach Scott Steib, just moments after his lads withstood a furious fight back from St. Charles North in Thursday’s third-round contest for a 1-0 win.

"We really did just hang on to this one," admitted Steib. “It’s been a very long week of soccer. It has been warm, we have a short bench this week, and we had to ask a couple of our guys to play big minutes in a fast-paced match against a very good opponent.

"I am very proud of their effort and getting into the final, but the guys are gassed and deserve a day off right now."

There wasn't any secret as to who would advance into the final after this last pool play fixture with both Barrington (3-1-1) and North (2-2-1) each entering Thursday night with 6 points each.  

The Stars looked good early with its frontline duo of Kyle Swanson and Simone Sperarti both enjoying the greater share of possession, with Sebastian Gostynski and Phillip LeGare providing quality distribution.

But North h head coach Eric Willson sensed his club wasn't where it needed to even after its fast paced start.

"We were not consistent in our play, and we weren't doing the little things in order to win a game that we needed to," said Willson, whose club will play New Trier at 4:00 in the third-place trophy match.

"The guys played hard right until the end, but we were lacking execution in little areas of our game, and that helped lead to their only goal, and our inability to finish our chances when the opportunity was there for us."

Although most of the play during the first quarter hour was played box-to-box, each backline's meddle was tested by the opposition.

The dynamic duo of Swanson and Sperarti made sure the Broncos' newly constructed defense for 2012 were organized and alert, and the quartet of Tyler Anderson, Fernando Telles, Dylan Nelson and Zach Rowe responded nicely throughout the evening, especially down the stretch when the home side was holding on for dear life.

Both Anderson and Rowe would jump into the attack with confidence when asked to, adding numbers in the Broncos attack, while providing quality service when it was called for.

"They're a gritty bunch in the back for us, and although they still have plenty to learn, they have shown to be a solid group along the back thus far," said Steib.

Freshmen Kendall Stork, slowly building a nice resume in his first season with the club, along with Danny Jaderholm and man-of-the-match Jack Hoots, engineered a handful of chances themselves, making sure the North Stars’ Nolan Pellitier, Justin Sanchez, Jack Fries, and Justin Stanko stood strong in the back, as well as LeGare, whom Wilson stationed just in front of his defensive four as a defensive midfielder.

"Overall I felt like we played pretty well tonight, but we've got so many new faces on this team this season, and I think it's going to take us a little while to sort things out," admitted LeGare, who handled the center of the park quite well for 80 minutes. LeGare eventually moved up into more of attacking role in the final 15 minutes to help give the Stars a little more firepower going forward.

The Broncos' threatened at 10 minutes when a serve from Stork found Ethan Claes, whose nifty left-footer forced Billy Larsen to save, and then it the North Stars' turn with Sperarti having a go after a nice ball over the top from Pellitier found his mate in full gallop.

At 20 minutes, Broncos' keeper Pat Deroche correctly challenged off his line to turn around an angled drive off the foot of Sperarti.

Shortly thereafter, the Broncos' made something out of nothing when an innocent little combination along the left touch line between Jaderholm and Stork saw the freshman set-up Hoots on the end of his center channel run. The senior Hoots wasted little time redirecting his shot past the diving Larsen, who could not be faulted for the eventual game-winner.

"It all kind of happened so fast, but I just kept going on my run, and the ball was put right there for me and I just drove it home," said Hoots, who has had a hand in four of the Broncos' six goals thus far in the tournament.

"(Their) keeper had no chance on that goal, but he made two outstanding saves on Connor Hennelly, which I don't know how he was able to, and then one on Hoots," offered Steib. “He was very good for them all night long."

Steib's player between the sticks, Pat Deroche, was strong all evening, especially in the face of several set-piece serves set into his box, where the 6-foot-5 Swanson and 6-foot-4 Stanko were set up to redirect and flick the offerings of Gostynski and Sperarti.

Deroche would push a Swanson attempt over the woodwork at 31 minutes from a corner, then a Gostynski freekick three minutes from intermission. Deroche saved plenty more in the final 15 minutes, far too many for Steib to list, and LeGare knows he and his mates must be better at finishing from here on out.

"It's obvious with those two big guys that we have a tremendous advantage over most teams, and tonight we just didn't finish on any of our dead-ball chances, including me,” LeGare said. "It's a great weapon to have, especially later in the season when that type of goal could mean the difference in an important postseason game."

Although the North Stars’ pace and energy was turned up a notch as it looked to level, the hard work of Claes and Hennelly in the middle of the park also proved to be a key element in the Broncos' big victory.

"Those two were dead tired, but they kept tackling, winning balls, and tracking back to help defend in the closing stages of the game," said Steib.

The North Stars played more direct in their search to level, until the best chance of the second period fell short on an 80th-minute, last ditch freekick that went off Swanson, LeGare and others before quietly rolling along the endline and off the pitch just as the center official whistle the match over.

"We could have been a lot sharper in a lot of phases of our game," began Willson.

"At times, there wasn't much reason for what we were doing out there, and it's obvious with so many new guys on the team that there's a learning curve that we'll have to go through.

"The hope is that your team buys into what you’re teaching, and I feel this is a good group, and one that has worked hard and will continue to do so."

For Hoots and the Broncos, the team’s early season success isn't a total surprise to Barrington striker. "There's a nice chemistry with this team, and there has been from the very start of training," Hoots said.

"We have almost a brand new roster from a year ago, but everyone is working hard together, and there's a lot to feel good about right now, especially the fact that we're in the final of our own tournament Saturday night."