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Wheaton Academy aiming to peak with the postseason looming By Gary Larsen
Play the rest of the season with the edge that the program has long been noted for. “We just need to get to a little higher level of intensity when we take the field,” Brooke said. “We’re possessing and we’re knocking, but we need an intensity to score goals. It’s just been missing a little in the first half over the last couple games.” “It’s a hunger for the goal, especially in the box,” Warriors senior Josh Kremers said. “We still have to work on that, and we have to see the easy one-twos and stuff. We’re still doing a little too much dribbling in tight space.” The Warriors will need that hunger in the box during the final week of the regular season, when they take on Class 3A Geneva, WW South, and Benet before opening up the 2A state tournament. On Thursday, Wheaton Academy clinched the inaugural title in the first season of Suburban Christian Conference play. The Warriors’ 7-0 win over visiting Montini completed a perfect 7-0 conference record. “We wanted to come into this conference and make a statement,” Warriors senior Tim Daniels said. “We dominated in the (Private School League) and our goal was to do the same in this conference.” The Warriors perfect conference season included a 5-4 barnburner over Marmion that may have been a preview of a sectional title game. Wheaton Academy is the top seed of the Hampshire sectional, with Marmion seeded second. “Marmion has some big players, they’re good on set pieces, and we’ll have to make sure we don’t give up anything on those,” Daniels said. Through 40 minutes against Montini, Broncos goalkeeper Tim Hill did everything he could to keep his squad close. Hill finished with 21 saves on the night. “(Hill) kept them in the game,” Daniels said. “He had some good saves in the first half, and in the second half, too.” “He came to play,” Brooke said of Hill. “Not only is he making saves, he’s also leading from the back. He did a nice job.” Wheaton Academy knocked the ball around well in the final third throughout the first half, but had only a 1-0 lead at the break to show for it thanks to a point-blank finish by Babel Daniel, on an end-line feed from Tim Daniels. “It was a little frustrating because we weren’t doing the little things well,” Daniels said. “We weren’t getting the last pass through. We had to re-organize at halftime and come out harder.” “We kind of knew that if we were patient, the goals would come,” Kremers said. “We talked at halftime about possessing a bit more. Knock it quicker. We were doing a little bit too much dribbling.” The Warriors’ second-half assault on net came fast. Daniels buried a shot from close range, Trevor Adams scored from a tough angle soon thereafter, and a Kremers penalty kick by the 48th minute gave Wheaton Academy a 4-0 lead.
Without injured starting midfielder Devin Moore, the Warriors’ midfield played a much stronger second half against Montini. Moore’s energy and toughness should return to the fold shortly. The Warriors will need every able body against Geneva, WW South, and Benet, which have collectively won 38 games this year, each playing a top-shelf schedule. “The goal in scheduling those types of opponents is that we are at as fast a pace as we need to be once we hit regionals,” Brooke said. “We need to be pushed to that high level, and those three teams will do it.” “We’ll try to pick it up against Geneva on Saturday, and carry that into the postseason,” Daniels said. “We just need to focus a little more on finishing.” |
Men of the match: By Gary Larsen
Tim Daniels is the attacking player that every Wheaton Academy opponent is likely most aware of heading into a game, and his three-goal, one-assist output in Thursday’s SCC-clinching win over Montini will only cement that awareness down the season’s stretch. Teammate Babel Daniel and his high-energy game could be the X-factor for the Warriors, once postseason play begins next week. “Babel has been playing well and he’s getting deeper into the box,” Warriors coach Jeff Brooke said. “That’s huge because that’s the way we’re going to score against some of the better teams. Good goalkeepers are ready to go when you’re shooting from 25 yards out.” The two players combined for the game’s first goal of the 7-0 win over Montini. Babel Daniel buried a shot at the near post on an end-line feed from Tim Daniels in the game’s 17th minute. “He brings speed,” Warriors senior Josh Kremers said of Daniel. “We like to get the ball to him on the outside, and we trust him because he’s good with the ball. He can move, and he can take guys on.” Daniel grew up in Ethiopia, where a premium is put on dribbling for younger players. Now in his second year at Wheaton Academy, the senior’s game has expanded. “He likes to dribble but he’s improved at seeing the field, and seeing the options, and knowing when to play the ball and when to take a guy on,” Kremers said. “He has improved a lot. And he has a good shot. He can put it in the back of the net.”
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A flurry of tweaking and refining precedes the postseason, and Wheaton Academy coach Jeff Brooke would like to see his boys embrace one final and vital tweak.
Goals by Alex Varga and two more from Daniels followed. Josh Urban, Nathanael Nupanga, Babel Daniel, and Will West all posted assists on Thursday.
