Trojans hope to benefit from final Pepsi Showdown matches

 

CLICK HERE FOR TROJANS' TEAM PAGE

 

By Darryl Mellema

In the Pepsi Showdown, the final two matches that teams who are no longer in title contention are given some input into the matchups they receive.

The idea is to not pit teams against squads they will face in conference play later in the season but to give them the kind of challenge they want from the largest high school tournament in nation.

And Downers Grove North coach Brian Gervase wanted as strong a challenge as he could get for his team.

"(Tournament organizer) Joe Trost asked me what we were trying to accomplish in the final round of the tournament," Gervase said.

"He mentioned a couple of teams to me that might have given us W's. I told him, 'no, we need teams that are good that we need to compete with."

So the Trojans got matches with West Chicago and Lake Zurich this week.

On Thursday, West Chicago defeated Downers North 5-0 and the Trojans completed play in the Pepsi Showdown with a 3-0 loss to Lake Zurich on Saturday.

Those decisions left the team with a 3-9-1 mark as it prepares for the final stretch of regular season contests.

But more than the losses, Gervase said his team got exactly the kind of strong competition he was looking for, though some player suspension and injury news made match preparation difficult.

Seeing 6-2 defender Zack Parik wearing a knee wrap on Saturday was not news to warm a Downers North's fans, though the injury is expected to be short-term.

"We had some suspension and injury things and so we ended here in a bad place," Gervase said. "But we have things to work on Lake Zurich's a good team. They're solid and they gave us a good match."

As sometimes happens, the “luck” portion of the match worked against Downers North, too.

A defensive back-header from a right-wing cross 12 minutes before halftime looped into the Trojans' goal for an own goal.

Lake Zurich doubled its lead with two minutes left in the first half when John Pothast scored from an Alex Skowron pass.

The Bears got their third goal five minutes into the second half on a ball that bounced around in the penalty area, off players eventually went in off a Trojans player, though Jorge Bermudez got credit.

"We've talked a lot about game-changing moments in the last couple of games," Gervase said. "We left a couple of goals out there and we had two own goals.

"I thought they had a lot of shots on us, but they weren't really great, quality opportunities. So we're working on cleaning that part of our game up. We've got to score our goals and not give up own goals."

Anthony Nix moved into from midfield into a reshaped back line for the Trojans on Saturday and acquitted himself well.

Late in the match, he moved back into a forward-thinking midfield role as Downers North tried to get on the scoreboard.

"He had a really nice game today," Gervase said. "I thought him and Cullen (Cummings) worked the hardest. (Nix) is a defensive center-mid for us when Zack Parik is here. He was just filling in and he'll be there the next week.

"He's an important part of our team. When we moved him to a center-mid, you could see how good he is. He is a great distributor and he uses his legs to get to a lot of balls."

Cummings and the Trojans' other forward-minded players struggled to see much of the ball because Lake Zurich spent a lot of the match attacking.

But Cummings never stopped coming back to get the ball or trying to distribute it when he got it.

Downers North's best chances also were provided by Cummings. He forced a save when he took a Reid Melton pass 17 minutes into the game and shot toward goal.

Then he took a Ryan Gunderson pass and fired a hard shot narrowly wide seven minutes into the second half.

"We talked at halftime that a lot of guys owed (Cummings) an apology for the effort he put in during the first half," Gervase said. "I was going to take him out of the game and our assistant coach said 'you can't take him out of the game because he's going to keep working that hard.

"He's a returning varsity player and a lot of our guys who are new to varsity don't understand the high level that you're required to play for 80 minutes at the varsity level. It's not just when you're feeling good or when you had your Mountain Dew before the game or when things are going well with your girlfriend. You've got to bring it every game."

Next up for the Trojans is a tough West Suburban Conference Silver Division match with Lyons Township. The Tuesday road match kicks off at 4:30 p.m.

"We have gotten a lot of good video in the Pepsi Showdown," Gervase said. "We have seen how teams break us down and how we need to keep our shape.

"I think, especially for guys who are inexperienced, they need to see it so they can see how a turnover at midfield turns into a goal. We're getting there and I think this young group will come through."