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After the goal, it's bedlam By Gary Larsen
Billy McGuinness’s goal in overtime sent Lyons Township past Lake Zurich and off the deep end on Saturday night. There were Lions sprinting and screaming around the pitch, their feet like wings, grins spread wide on every face. Players swarmed over to the stands, where LT fans were losing their minds. Chris Meingast, who hugged just about everyone in sight on the field at North Central College, suddenly broke away from the stands and lit out back across the field towards the coaching staff. “I’m a hug guy,” Meingast said. “And the coaches looked a little lonely over there.” There stood Horacio Sanchez, after scoring a goal in his fourth consecutive postseason game, comparing what he thought winning a state title might feel like to what it actually feels like. Lions coach Paul Labbato stood nearby, urging the reporters gathered around him to spread out. “I really just want you guys to interview as many of the kids as possible,” Labbato said. “That’s enough with me. They deserve all the credit.” There was the obligatory team picture taken on the goal line. The bulky state trophy was passed from one player to the next, so an IHSA photographer could snap individual photos of each Lion holding it. During the game there was Sully Fox leaping, punching, diving, and landing on his feet as the goalkeeper of a state champion soccer team. “When you have a great defense like we do, and I’m playing aggressive in net, it sends a message that nothing’s going to come easy,” Fox said. Nothing did, for a team that posted 20 shutouts and only gave up 19 goals in 29 games. And sorry, Paul, but there’s more than enough love to go around after a state title win. “They’ve been unbelievable,” McGuinness said of Labbato and assistant coach Kelly Neidig. “They’re so devoted to this team.” “They made sure we stayed calm and collected throughout this whole tournament,” Fox said. “Coach Labbato watched hours and hours of film, and he’d lose sleep over trying to figure out how we could get the next win.” On the walkway outside the stadium at North Central College, Meingast paused briefly from his hugging tour to toss in his two cents on the Lions’ coaches. “They give all the credit to us, but they don’t get the credit they deserve,” he said. “They’re relaxed but intense, and they led us here. Coach Labbato is more than a coach, he’s more than a teacher. He’s one of the best men I’ve met in my life.” The 12th man all season for LT has been its fans, and the state title game featured a sea of blue and gold in the stands. More fans than the soccer team could possibly thank. More fans than they even knew. “I’d walk down the street and people I don’t even know would be honking, and hollering ‘good luck’,” Sully said. Out on the walkway, the LT student welcoming committee stood assembled, raucously greeting players as they exited the stadium. Behind that throng of students stood the players’ parents, waiting to hug a few state champions. For the parents of seniors, it’s a long road from pee-wee, park district soccer to a player’s final high school game. How could that journey end any better than with a state title? “I don’t think the parents and fans even realize how big of a difference they’ve made,” Fox said. “And they got to experience a state championship. It’s unbelievable.” As players exited the stadium and entered the walkway they were cheered and engulfed by the welcoming committee. The crowd waited patiently for McGuinness to finish the final reporter’s interview of the night before they could wait no more. “We want Billy! We want Billy! We want Billy!” They got Billy soon enough. McGuinness quickly dissolved into a pack of LT students, and the next time the all-state defender plays for any school it might be for Princeton, or maybe Akron. His final act in an LT uniform was a somersault near the Lake Zurich goalmouth in overtime of a 1-1 game. When he recovered his feet McGuinness found himself near the far post, where he chested in a serve from teammate Zach Pearsall to send the LT faithful into a state of delirium. A state title is always more satisfying when it comes attached to a little high drama. “It’s pretty big for me but for the team and the program, it’s unbelievable,” McGuinness said. “LT has never won a soccer state championship, and I’m just so happy to be a part of this team, to be here and experience it with these guys.” Over the next few days local newspapers will write about what Lyons Township accomplished on Saturday. The players will no doubt get a warm welcome at a school assembly, and they might even get a parade. They wouldn’t be the first state title-winning team to get a ride on a fire truck down Main Street. And if you should happen to be driving through LaGrange over the next few days and you spot a kid in Lions’ colors hugging complete strangers, tell Chris Meingast to cut it out already. But he probably won’t. A state title can do that to you.
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The composure and focus it takes to win a state title game never fails to give way to chaos, the very second the game-winning goal finds the net.
