Red Devils blank Kelly, meet hosts in Argo Regional finals

 

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By Curt Herron

The most important thing for teams to remember in the playoffs is that they need to do whatever it takes in order to move along.

There are no style points give out for nice victories at this stage and that was especially the case on days such as Wednesday.

On arguably the worst weather day of the current season, Hinsdale Central faced Kelly in the Class 3A Argo Regional semifinals.

The conditions could only be described as brutal, with 30 mile per hour winds accompanied by a steady rain making play erratic.

Hinsdale had the strong wind at its back during the initial 40 minutes but only scored once, a real concern in such conditions.

But after the break, Mike Wiggins' squad seemed to more effective heading into the wind, which created many good opportunities.

While they added another goal to their total, more importantly, they did a good job of preventing Kelly from ever threatening.

The net result was a 2-0 victory for Hinsdale which earned it a trip to Saturday's 3:00 p.m. finals against the host Argonauts.

Argo (18-4) earned its spot in the championship match in Summit after recording a 3-0 victory over Proviso West the day before.

The winner advances to Tuesday's Hinsdale Central Sectional, where they'll meet Oak Park and River Forest or Downers Grove South.

"They're the higher seed and we're the underdog," Wiggins said. "They're supposed to win because of the season they've had. We've seen them play and they're very skillful on the ball and strong one on one.

"Argo has some good size in its lineup and their keeper is very quick and agile and is a good shot-stopper. They've had some very good results this year so we know they're going to be a very strong side.

"We are going to come in very organized and determined to be aggressive in the attack. We also need to be strong collectively on the defensive side and be able to win the battle of the head balls."

Andrew Scott had a hand in both goals for the Red Devils (12-8-2), collecting the first score while assisting on the other one.

Mike Krohn had the second half goal and Gareth Parsons assisted the first as Hinsdale improved to 6-2 in its last eight matches.

Will Meyer and Harley Pranger each played a half in goal to record the shutout for the Red Devils, who have had eight this year.

Much of the credit for keeping Kelly at bay goes to the backline efforts of Zach Chiaramonte, RJ Dralle, Ryan Schwarz and Scott.

"The idea on a day like this is to get the result and we did and we got it by playing a good game," Wiggins said. "We did the things that make us dangerous and most importantly, we didn't take Kelly lightly.

"We came out and respected our opponent and they showed why they're a good side. All things considered with the conditions, I thought we used the wind to our advantage in the first half, and that was a big piece.

"Obviously playing into the wind in the second half changed things and made it a little more difficult. In the first half we relied too much on set pieces and we were a little more direct than we needed to be.

"Playing into the wind and being forced to keep the ball down in order to play a little more possession-type style helped us a little. We created a some more chances and as a result got a goal in each half."

Scott gave the Red Devils the only score they would need early in the match when he put in a header off an assist from Parsons.

During the final 20 minutes of the first half, Hinsdale had few good chances, despite enjoying the advantage of the strong wind.

Its best hopes came on a deflected shot by Leandro Perez and consecutive corners with Phil Gutman's try denied on the final one.

Following the break, the Red Devils quickly went on the attack, with Mitch Reavis being denied on a liner about five minutes in.

A short time later. Krohn forced a corner kick and Reavis had a close-range try and Parsons wasn't able to get off a clean shot.

Gutman was fouled in the 62nd minute, resulting in a free kick which was deflected by the keeper but Krohn put in the loose ball.

The Red Devils continued to apply the pressure after increasing their advantage, beginning with Reavis' header that was grabbed.

Reavis had another opportunity to connect a short time later but his one-v-one effort was denied on nice stop by Kelly's keeper.

"That's being aggressive inside the box," wiggins said. "Coach (Jack) Ferraro brought up at halftime the importance of us being strong on the ball in the box and ultimately the game would be decided inside the 18.

"What we needed in the second half was to get that second goal. We felt like the longer they were down a goal, they felt like they were still in the game. That second goal really helped things in terms of momentum.

"The times where Kelly was dangerous happened when we got stretched in the midfield. That's something we made a correction on at halftime. But they did a nice job of possessing and competed for the full 80 minutes."