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Lions beat Lake Zurich in overtime to claim Class 3A championship
By Curt Herron
And what the trio of seniors dubbed as their 'Dummy Play' proved to not only be effective, it resulted in the Lions capturing an historic state championship in dramatic fashion. With 3:21 elapsed in the first overtime of Saturday's Class 3A championship with Lake Zurich, Pearsall sent a corner past apparent target Meingast to McGuinness for the finisher. And that's just how things wound up playing out as Pearsall's ball was on target, Meingast stepped out of the way and McGuinness was positioned directly in front of Bears' net. Then the state's premiere defender, who helped get his team to the title match by preventing other teams from scoring, ended things by knocking a shot off his chest for a goal. That wild ending wrapped up an excellent championship match in which LT edged Lake Zurich 2-1 in overtime to capture the Class 3A title at North Central College in Naperville. With the victory, coach Paul Labbato's squad captured LT's first state championship in the sport. Prior to this weekend, Lyons had lost six straight matches in five state trips. The Lions capped a memorable 26-3 season by winning their final 14 matches and in the process kept the 21-5 Bears, who had won 12 straight, from claiming their first state title. Although McGuinness had only scored three goals prior to the final play, few were surprised to see the great defender collect the decisive score that gave LT the championship. It only seemed appropriate that a player who had performed so well in stopping others from scoring would cap an outstanding career by putting a title-winning shot into the net. Hear Lyons Township's Billy McGuinness interview After being awarded their medals and receiving the state championship trophy, it was clear that the magnitude of the accomplishment still hadn't sunk in to many of LT's players. What made the dramatic win all the more special was that it marked the culmination of a rough stretch of competition in which LT definitely had to earn its state championship. The Lions had to rally to beat rival Hinsdale Central 3-2 in the sectional finals and then upset top-ranked Neuqua Valley 1-0 in the super-sectional just to reach the semifinals. Then they defeated defending state champion New Trier 2-0 in their first state match before getting past a high-scoring Bears team that featured three future Division I players. Hear Lyons Township's Chris Meingast interview LT briefly held a 1-0 advantage in the second half before Lake Zurich got the equalizer a short time later to set the stage for an exciting finish to the championship match. Both squads had plenty of good chances during the more than 20 minutes of remaining time in regulation, but things were still knotted up at 1-1 following 80 minutes of play. That required that the squads go to overtime, something that had been done 13 times in state championship play, but only three times in the past 21 years in the largest class. After Elliot Borge sent a shot wide about a minute and a half into the extra session, Horacio Sanchez had an attempt that was deflected away with just under three minutes gone. A short time later Pearsall lined up for his corner kick while All-Staters Meingast and McGuinness positioned themselves in their spots for one final chapter of their old play. Hear Lyons Township's Zach Pearsall interview Following a largely uneventful first half, the two squads picked up the pace in the second 40 minutes and both began to threaten to score the elusive first goal of the match. Lake Zurich's Nick Janus was stopped on a shot attempt by Lyons keeper Sully Fox about two and a half minutes into the new half. A little over two minutes later McGuinness missed on a header and just over a minute after that Horacio Sanchez sent a shot wide. LT finally was able to connect at the 51:30 mark when Sanchez sent in an attempt toward the opposite side of the net from 27 yards out. It was the latest in a string of big scores in the playoffs for the Lions junior, who finished the season with a team-high 14 goals. Hear Lyons Township's Horacio Sanchez interview Although LT held a 1-0 lead, the same score by which it had beaten Lake Zurich on September 17 in a Pepsi Showdown quarterfinal match, things were definitely far from over. The Bears, who had outscored their opponents 56-5 during their 12-match winning streak, had no intention of going down without putting up a good fight. They immediately began to apply serious pressure as Tim Kreutz lined a short shot off of the crossbar with just over 26 minutes remaining. Lake Zurich finally found the net at the 59:02 mark when Kreutz had throw in that was flicked in from close range by Eric Pothast. There was a flurry of activity during the final 10 minutes of regulation as both squads had chances to end things but came up empty. Borge had a short shot stopped by Tyler Raineri with just over seven minutes left and then Kyle Kurfirst sent in a liner that was deflected away about three minutes later. That set the table for the dramatic game-winning score at the 83:21 mark. Hear Lyons Township coach Paul Labbato interview Leading LT in shots on goal was Borge with two while he and Sanchez each were credited with a pair of shots that were off goal.
The victory concluded a school-best 26-win season during which LT won the West Suburban Silver title and finished second to Neuqua Valley in the Pepsi Showdown. Beside the three captains who were involved in the final play, LT also graduates captain Andrew Aviles, Brian Heimerdinger, Dan Wielgos and Fox among Saturday's starters. Other seniors who ended their careers as part of the state championship squad are Jack Bowton, Uriel Cabrera, Hamdija Fejzic, Danny Paice, Luke Skertich and Brian Thomas. Peter Kralovec-Kirchherr, Kurfirst, Sanchez and Borge also started on Saturday while other team members were Kevin Beglen, Alex Economou, Peter Gabrek and Hector Godinez. |
Class 3A State Championship Lions starters vs. Lake Zurich
Lions 2, Lake Zurich 1 (OT)
Lions Class 3A Championship Season
Postseason play
Lions in State Finals Play
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On the final play of their four-year careers at Lyons Township, Zach Pearsall, Chris Meingast and Billy McGuinness fell back on one of the first things that they ran as freshmen.
For Lake Zurich, Pothast had three shots on goal, Janus chipped in with two shots on and two off and Jack Rathe also had a pair of shots off goal. 