Naperville Central comeback dooms West Aurora

By Gary Larsen

The Redhawks cheated death again.

Four days after coming back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Oswego East in overtime, Naperville Central erased a 2-0 West Aurora lead with 3 second-half goals to win a regional title in Naperville.

In the first and only home game of the year on their recently-finished artificial home turf, the Redhawks got a goal from Colin Rook and two from Chris Prince, who also netted the game-winner in the game’s 79th minute.

Coach Jay Konrad is on the verge of a prescription for nerve medication.

“I’m in a full sweat, and I didn’t do anything. I stink to high heaven,” Konrad said. “West Aurora is a great team and they took it to us, but you know what? Better to start late than never at all. We’ve got a lot of character. Congrats to our boys. They found a way.”

West Aurora’s best team under coach Joe Sustersic has been cursed by Naperville this season. The Blackhawks finished an outstanding 18-4-2 season, with half their losses coming to Naperville North, and half to Naperville Central.

The Blackhawks seemed poised to break this year’s Naperville Curse, by attacking hard from the outset and building their 2-0 lead.

From 22 yards out, West Aurora’s Victor Alfaro tucked a nice left-footed shot inside the near post in the first half, a payoff in the 27th minute for West’s solid first half of attacking play.

Two minutes into the second half, Adrian Aceves stole a ball at midfield and sent a pass to Jesse Ortiz, who tore up the left sideline towards the box and went far post from 18 yards out.

“We played well. We took some shots and tried to score,” Sustersic said. “We possessed and took advantage of their defensive mistakes. It’s a tough way to lose. Somebody has to win, and give them credit for coming back from a 2-0 (deficit).” Sustersic said.

“But it’s difficult to lose like that, in the last ninety seconds.”

If a tonic is ever invented to stop high school players from losing their attacking edge after grabbing a 2-goal lead, somebody is getting rich. After Ortiz’s goal, the Blackhawks aggressive play seemed to wane as the Redhawks picked up their intensity.

“It was the same as the (Oswego East) game. We never thought the season was over for a second,” Prince said. “We knew it wasn’t over.”

The home crowd sensed a storm and the surge came, beginning with a long free kick off the foot of Art Garza in the 47th minute. Garza’s serve penetrated deep into the box, where Rook elevated and finished on a head shot.

Central continued to earn free kicks and throw-ins on West’s half of the field, until Prince – as he has all season long – grabbed the spotlight in a critical situation, set up by a huge play courtesy of John Franzese.

With little more than 8 minutes left in regulation, Franzese saved a ball at the end line and popped it up towards the goalmouth. Prince’s head shot tied the game, and Central’s home fans went bonkers.

Were they able to get the game to overtime, the Blackhawks might well have regrouped and reignited the exceptional attack that served them so well all season. But Central wasn’t done riding their wave of momentum.

A Garza throw-in was flicked and found the carpet at the far post, where Prince picked it out of a crowd and buried it with roughly 1:30 left to play

“I found the ball,” Prince said. “We’ve been working on getting to the goalie and getting in front of him, because that’s where the ball’s going to be at. So that’s what I did, and I just poked it in with my left.”

Naturally, a wild Redhawks’ celebration ensued, over both a regional title win and the inaugural program win on Central’s new artificial surface.

A season that started with Garza injured and a mass exodus of last year’s starters to contend with has turned into a 15-3-2 season for Naperville Central. Garza’s absence required the Redhawks to step up their game, and his return put the team at another level.

“Colin Rook is an outstanding player, and Chris (Prince) is Chris,” Konrad said. “And Art Garza was just dealing and dicing people today from midfield. We’ve got some special kids, kids with heart. They’re unwilling to lay down.

In our last game Chris Bedell and Andy Miltonberger – two honorable mention all-conference kids, scored goals. Those aren’t kids you’d think about scoring big goals in big games for us, but we’ve got great kids and they fight to the end.”

Naperville Central takes on unbeaten and top-ranked Neuqua Valley in a sectional semifinal on Wednesday, at 5 p.m. at Naperville North.

“I’m excited. We just have to be worried about stopping their attack,” Prince said. “From the start of the season we all knew how good Neuqua was going to be. They’re the team to beat but we’re here. We’re ready for them.”