Red Devils overcome adversity to blank Addison Trail

By Curt Herron

Hinsdale Central coach Mike Wiggins had plenty of reasons to be concerned about his squad's regular season finale on Thursday.

First of all, he was missing three regulars in Robby LaRocque, Mike Oleszkiewicz and Mitch Reavis, who were all out with illness.

To make up for the short bench, he had to bring three members of the sophomore team and also count on some varsity reserves.

In addition, his Red Devils were facing a dangerous Addison Trail team which recently became the first squad to lead Neuqua Valley this season.

Finally, the nonconference match was going to be played in rainy and windy conditions which turned the pitch at Centennial field into a muddy mess.

But on a day where Central could have been excused for not playing very good soccer, it overcame all of the adversity and performed well against the Blazers.

After claiming a 1-0 halftime lead, the Red Devils scored three times after the break and that helped them to capture a 4-0 in the match in Hinsdale.

With the victory, Central improved to 13-6-1 on the season after winning its sixth straight and also picking up its tenth win in its last 12 matches.

Now the Red Devils prepare for the De La Salle Regional with the hopes of winning there so that they can return home and compete in their own sectional.

"This was a good game for us," Wiggins said. "Without guys like Mike, Mitch and Robby out there it certainly changed things. We were down to two subs so we brought up three players from the sophomore team, but they weren't used to our system.

"And the field was in bad condition so that made for an interesting scenario, especially with some of Addison Trail's recent results. We wanted to see how our guys dealt with the adversity and responded to it and I thought they responded well.

"The sophomore team players that we brought up gave us meaningful minutes, including Alejandro Perez, who scored one of our goals. And we also got good contributions from seniors like Charlie Hetke and Paul Girgis, who also had goals for us."

Despite fielding a much different team than it has used lately, Central set the tone by putting pressure on keeper Jonathan Garcia in the early going.

Taylor Cole fired in a liner that was deflected over the net within the first two minutes and then had a corner kick stopped right after that.

Over the next few minutes, the Red Devils received shots on goal from Mike Bucheleres and Cole before Andrew Worthington headed an attempt to Garcia.

Following a brief lull in the action, Central went back to work as Eric Loebig had a grounder that Garcia had to dive for and then he sent in a header.

The Red Devils scored with 21:33 left in the half when Loebig made a header following a pass from Worthington that was set up on a corner from Cole.

Alejandro Perez was stopped on a short shot about five minutes later. The other sophomores who got moved up were Scott Callahan and Zach Chiaramonte.

With just under 11 minutes left before the break, Lenny Zavala bounced an attempt off the crossbar before David Grasso smacked the post on the rebound.

Perez put another shot on goal with about eight minutes left and the Blazers finally threatened about six minutes later on a corner from Julio Lopez.

That was the first of perhaps two shot attempts that Red Devil keeper Jack O'Donnell and his replacement in the late going, Will Meyer, had to face.

Part of the credit for that goes to the defensive efforts of players like Ryan Johnson, Cameron Legan, Mike Oleferchik, Worthington and Paul Girgis.

Central continued to threaten in the first part of the new half as Bucheleres was stopped and Perez appeared to score but the goal was disallowed.

Perez got another chance a short time later and capitalized with 21:56 remaining when he put in a header following a cross from David Grasso.

The Red Devils took a 3-0 lead just 1:45 later when Girgis was able to head in an attempt following a perfectly-placed free kick from Legan.

Hear Hinsdale Central's Paul Girgis interview

With just over 15 minutes to play, Peter Santulli placed another free kick right on goal but the Blazer keeper deflected it away.

Central closed out the scoring with 4:35 left when Hetke collected his first goal of the season after taking an assist from Loebig.

The victory was a perfect way for the Red Devils' 12 seniors, as well as the remainder of their squad, to close out regular season action.

And Central's players realize that if they can win their next two matches, they'll get to return to Centennial field for sectional play.

Hear Hinsdale Central's Charlie Hetke interview

Man of the match: David Grasso

With three starters out and a match being played on a sloppy field against a squad that had been playing well lately, it was critical for many different players to step up for Hinsdale Central on Thursday.

So with a short bench, Red Devils coach Mike Wiggins had to rely on some players who don't get to that much action, as well as three members of the sophomore team who were brought up.

But despite the adversity, Central rose to the occasion and claimed a 4-0 victory over Addison Trail in the regular season finale at Centennial field in Hinsdale.

While Wiggins was pleased by the performance of seniors like Charlie Hetke and Paul Girgis plus sophomore Alejandro Perez, he was particularly happy with the play of senior David Grasso.

Beside assisting Perez with a cross on his team's second goal, Grasso was involved in a lot of different aspects to help the Red Devils capture their sixth straight victory.

"I liked how hard-working David was defensively," Wiggins said. "He contributed on both sides of the ball for us today."

Red Devils starters against Addison Trail

Red Devils Schedule