Dixon spoils G-K rookie's big day
Garcia's varsity debut brace overcome by late goals in 4-2 loss
By Lenny Eisele
Genoa - Last year, the game between Genoa-Kingston and Dixon came down to penalty kicks with the Dukes emerging victorious in the Big Northern Conference matchup.
This year, there wasn’t as much drama as the Dukes downed the depleted Cogs 4-2 in a delayed rematch of last year’s nail-biter.
With the game tied 2-2, Dixon junior forward Bradyn Langloss knocked in the winning goal with 7:37 left in the match.
Langloss won a race against Cogs goalkeeper Rony Vasquez. He reached the ball a split second before Vasquez and pushed it behind the diving keeper. It gave the Dukes a lead they wouldn’t surrender.
“I was just so happy,” Langloss said. “Our team was fighting so hard to get that final goal. I can’t remember who played the ball, but they played a beautiful ball through. I was able to fight for it and get a shot off and thankfully score the goal. It’s just amazing to get a goal after fighting for so long.”
Vasquez was under siege all game. He finished with 17 saves for the contest.
“Each team I play I just try my best to not be afraid and defend my team,” Vasquez said.
Undermanned Genoa-Kinston (0-1-0, 0-1-0) played without four starters, including junior Eagan Reams, who was one of the top-scoring sophomores in the state last year. He returned to action Saturday after clearing COVID-19 protocol due to a positive test on the Cogs basketball team.
“As far as we’re concerned, we thought we did pretty good,” Cogs coach Randy Tate said. “We have several players that were in new positions because of quarantine, ineligibility and all kinds of different things going on. I thought we did pretty good.”
The Cogs pulled up the right player from the junior varsity squad in forward Brian Garcia. The sophomore scored both goals for the Cogs in his first varsity action.
“It was last minute,” Tate said. “We brought (Garcia) up last night, because somebody else wasn’t going to be here, so that was great having him.”
Down 2-0 in the first half, Garcia and the Cogs mounted their comeback. Garcia slithered around a defender and intercepted an ill-advised pass-back attempt.
Garcia then splashed the ball into the back of the net with authority to cut the Cogs deficit in half with 8:36 left in the first half.
“There was a lot of pressure on me, but I kept my head straight,” Garcia said. “I thought I was going to miss, but it went in. I was shocked. I’m kind of proud I made it in.”
Garcia struck again to tie the game in the second half. The Dukes defense held 2019 top-scoring freshman Jorge Leon in check for most of the game, but Leon did manage to break free with just over 10 minutes gone in the second half.
“We knew Leon would be a handful, so we tried to commit numbers to him and make other players beat us, and that’s where they got their goals,” Dixon coach Josh Brigl said.
Leon got on the score sheet when he dropped a dime in stride to his new teammate. Garcia booted the ball past outstretched Dixon keeper Ryan Pitzer to tie the game at 2-2.
“We never like to lose, but we started out a little slow in the first game,” Tate said. “We’ve got a lot of people in new positions. I was very happy that we came back from down 2-0 to tie the game.”
The Cogs had opportunities to score. Leon made a quick turn in the box but fired just wide of the goal early in the second half.
Dixon (2-0-0, 1-0-0) controlled possession at the beginning of the game and put the Cogs down 1-0 less than five minutes in.
“I think the first half was pretty rough,” Vasquez said. “I know I haven’t played a game in half a year, but I know that I probably should have saved that first goal.”
Dixon senior Bleon Azemi opened up the scoring with a blast from high in the box that just snuck past a diving Vasquez in the fourth minute.
“We owned possession of that game,” Brigl said. “We just have to knock it through in the final third (of the field). We got some goals when we needed them late.”
The final goal of the game came just before time expired when Dixon senior defender Griffey Rodriguez got his boot on the ball.
The game was postponed from Thursday because of unplayable conditions due to wind, cold and a field that would’ve been more conducive to tough mudder event.
“Since the game was postponed and the weather was miserable yesterday, we actually watched last year’s game to see where we could improve,” Brigl said.
“That’s where we saw that we could own the middle of the field and expose different gaps. We saw where we could own possession based on last year’s film.”
Game notes: Cogs junior defender Ben Younker handled all goalie kick duties thanks to his big leg and also limited the Dukes out of the middle of the field with his strong defense…Two seconds were added to the end of the game because according to IHSA rules, the game can’t end on a goal when the ball is in the air. The Cogs kicked a hail mary in their final try, but it went wide.
Starting lineups
Dixon Dukes
G Ryan Pitzer
D Griffey Rodriquez
D Tristen Smith
D Ethan Fox
M Graesen Blumhoff
M Austin Pleskovitch
M Bradyn Langloss
M Owen Grot
F Luis Xique
F Boston Glessner
F Bleon Azemi
Genoa-Kingston
G Ronny Vazquez
D Marco Beltran
D Ghandy Camargo
D Marco Villagran
D Ben Younker
D Alan Rangel
M Angel Tapia
M Diego Espinoza
M Leonardo Rocha
F John Walcott
F Jorge Leon
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Bradyn Langloss, junior, M/F Dixon
Scoring Summary
First half
Dixon - Bleon Azemi 4’
Dixon - Bradyn Langloss 27’
Genoa-Kingston - Brian Garcia 31’
Second half
Genoa-Kingston - Brian Garcia 51’
Dixon - Bradyn Langloss 72’
Dixon - Griffey Rodriguez 80’
Garcia's varsity debut brace overcome by late goals in 4-2 loss
By Lenny Eisele
Genoa - Last year, the game between Genoa-Kingston and Dixon came down to penalty kicks with the Dukes emerging victorious in the Big Northern Conference matchup.
This year, there wasn’t as much drama as the Dukes downed the depleted Cogs 4-2 in a delayed rematch of last year’s nail-biter.
With the game tied 2-2, Dixon junior forward Bradyn Langloss knocked in the winning goal with 7:37 left in the match.
Langloss won a race against Cogs goalkeeper Rony Vasquez. He reached the ball a split second before Vasquez and pushed it behind the diving keeper. It gave the Dukes a lead they wouldn’t surrender.
“I was just so happy,” Langloss said. “Our team was fighting so hard to get that final goal. I can’t remember who played the ball, but they played a beautiful ball through. I was able to fight for it and get a shot off and thankfully score the goal. It’s just amazing to get a goal after fighting for so long.”
Vasquez was under siege all game. He finished with 17 saves for the contest.
“Each team I play I just try my best to not be afraid and defend my team,” Vasquez said.
Undermanned Genoa-Kinston (0-1-0, 0-1-0) played without four starters, including junior Eagan Reams, who was one of the top-scoring sophomores in the state last year. He returned to action Saturday after clearing COVID-19 protocol due to a positive test on the Cogs basketball team.
“As far as we’re concerned, we thought we did pretty good,” Cogs coach Randy Tate said. “We have several players that were in new positions because of quarantine, ineligibility and all kinds of different things going on. I thought we did pretty good.”
The Cogs pulled up the right player from the junior varsity squad in forward Brian Garcia. The sophomore scored both goals for the Cogs in his first varsity action.
“It was last minute,” Tate said. “We brought (Garcia) up last night, because somebody else wasn’t going to be here, so that was great having him.”
Down 2-0 in the first half, Garcia and the Cogs mounted their comeback. Garcia slithered around a defender and intercepted an ill-advised pass-back attempt.
Garcia then splashed the ball into the back of the net with authority to cut the Cogs deficit in half with 8:36 left in the first half.
“There was a lot of pressure on me, but I kept my head straight,” Garcia said. “I thought I was going to miss, but it went in. I was shocked. I’m kind of proud I made it in.”
Garcia struck again to tie the game in the second half. The Dukes defense held 2019 top-scoring freshman Jorge Leon in check for most of the game, but Leon did manage to break free with just over 10 minutes gone in the second half.
“We knew Leon would be a handful, so we tried to commit numbers to him and make other players beat us, and that’s where they got their goals,” Dixon coach Josh Brigl said.
Leon got on the score sheet when he dropped a dime in stride to his new teammate. Garcia booted the ball past outstretched Dixon keeper Ryan Pitzer to tie the game at 2-2.
“We never like to lose, but we started out a little slow in the first game,” Tate said. “We’ve got a lot of people in new positions. I was very happy that we came back from down 2-0 to tie the game.”
The Cogs had opportunities to score. Leon made a quick turn in the box but fired just wide of the goal early in the second half.
Dixon (2-0-0, 1-0-0) controlled possession at the beginning of the game and put the Cogs down 1-0 less than five minutes in.
“I think the first half was pretty rough,” Vasquez said. “I know I haven’t played a game in half a year, but I know that I probably should have saved that first goal.”
Dixon senior Bleon Azemi opened up the scoring with a blast from high in the box that just snuck past a diving Vasquez in the fourth minute.
“We owned possession of that game,” Brigl said. “We just have to knock it through in the final third (of the field). We got some goals when we needed them late.”
The final goal of the game came just before time expired when Dixon senior defender Griffey Rodriguez got his boot on the ball.
The game was postponed from Thursday because of unplayable conditions due to wind, cold and a field that would’ve been more conducive to tough mudder event.
“Since the game was postponed and the weather was miserable yesterday, we actually watched last year’s game to see where we could improve,” Brigl said.
“That’s where we saw that we could own the middle of the field and expose different gaps. We saw where we could own possession based on last year’s film.”
Game notes: Cogs junior defender Ben Younker handled all goalie kick duties thanks to his big leg and also limited the Dukes out of the middle of the field with his strong defense…Two seconds were added to the end of the game because according to IHSA rules, the game can’t end on a goal when the ball is in the air. The Cogs kicked a hail mary in their final try, but it went wide.
Starting lineups
Dixon Dukes
G Ryan Pitzer
D Griffey Rodriquez
D Tristen Smith
D Ethan Fox
M Graesen Blumhoff
M Austin Pleskovitch
M Bradyn Langloss
M Owen Grot
F Luis Xique
F Boston Glessner
F Bleon Azemi
Genoa-Kingston
G Ronny Vazquez
D Marco Beltran
D Ghandy Camargo
D Marco Villagran
D Ben Younker
D Alan Rangel
M Angel Tapia
M Diego Espinoza
M Leonardo Rocha
F John Walcott
F Jorge Leon
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Bradyn Langloss, junior, M/F Dixon
Scoring Summary
First half
Dixon - Bleon Azemi 4’
Dixon - Bradyn Langloss 27’
Genoa-Kingston - Brian Garcia 31’
Second half
Genoa-Kingston - Brian Garcia 51’
Dixon - Bradyn Langloss 72’
Dixon - Griffey Rodriguez 80’