Seniors power Fenwick past Fenton
Bero, Powers goals set up rematch with Notre Dame
By Michael Wojtychiw
CHICAGO -- Putting the ball into the back of the net has been a tricky part of the game for Fenwick this season. The Friars came into the postseason having let up five more goals than they'd scored and had been shutout in three of the team's last four games of the regular season.
That trend, however, seems to have reversed itself in the state playoffs. In the squad's first two playoff games, it outscored opponents 12-1.
"These one-off games are challenging and if you can get the lead, calm your nerves down, that's a really good first step," Fenwick manager Craig Blazer said. "We were starting to focus on doing that, and it calmed us down.
"We've played a little more in the attacking half and not had defenders that have to make all the plays in the back. But anytime you score a goal, it gives you a boost. It just took us a while to get everyone on the same page and now that we are, we've got some good momentum."
The third-seeded Friars continued to put the ball in the net in their Class AA Speer Sectional semifinal against second-seeded Fenton.
The Friars finished enough for a 2-1 win that earned the sectional final against top-seeded Notre Dame.
It took a while for the Chicago Catholic League representative to get into their style. Fenton played through the middle and used the quickness of the field. In the first four minutes of the game, the Bison took two shots that forced Fenwick keeper Greg Price to make saves, including one that led to a Fenton corner.
"For a little bit we were programmed to not make a mistake and had some nerves," Blazer said. "But … we were able to get the ball behind them, get some restarts and corner kicks and convert them."
Fenwick picked up clues on its opponent in the early going.
"After the first five minutes, I knew it wasn't going to be a game where we could pass around them," Fenwick forward Jack Powers said. "It's very, very slippery on the field, and I couldn't really dribble. So, we decided that it's going to be the same for them so we can pressure. They'll boot it up to us, and then we can just bring it down and rip some shots."
The Friars put five shots on goal before finally breaking through. They got on the board first thanks to a Ryan Bero laser in the 33rd minute.
Powers added his 16th goal of the season four minutes into the second half.
After earning an early corner kick that Powers took, he received the ball back left of the goal from teammate Frank Felice. From there, the senior put a shot on goal that ended up hitting the goal post and slipping in past Fenton keeper Daniel Villanueva.
"When I got the ball back, my initial thought was 'Just hit it back in.' But then when I took a touch and there was nobody pressing, I said 'Alright I'm shooting it then,' and curved it in," Powers said. "From my angle, you could tell it was in before everyone else. They gave me too much time."
Fenwick (10-10-4) also looked like it had a third goal with 20 minutes remaining when Ian MacKinnon put a shot on frame that got past Villanueva and rolled toward the goal. But the Fenton keeper was able to race back and grab the ball before it crossed the goal line.
The exciting play seemed to energize the Bison who scored with 15:28 remaining in regulation when senior Alex Lamb put a ball past Price on a free kick to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Fenton figured to pile on the pressure in search of the equalizer, but it was Fenwick that held sway. The Friars earned three free kicks and a corner kick over the next nine minutes.
The next chance the Bison (10-7-3) had was with just over six-and-a-half minutes remaining, but Price came out of the goal to neutralize that attack.
The game was a physical one, with the teams picking up a combined 18 free kicks and a number of cards.
But nothing came close to the activity that happened in the last six minutes of the game.
With 5:46 remaining, Lamb was shown his second yellow card of the game, knocking him out of the game and forcing Fenton to play a man down.
Then with under five minutes remaining in the game, a Fenton player went down to the turf to the right of his goal on a play that gave Fenwick a corner.
The referee made the Fenton player exit the game, while the player told his coaches he wasn't injured. After the player walked off the field, the referee blew the whistle for the Friars to take the corner kick without the Bison having a chance to replace the injured player.
Fenton rushed a player onto the field, causing the referee to halt the game again and issue a yellow card to the player who replaced the injured player for coming onto the field without the referees signaling for him to come on.
The yellow card on the substitution had the Fenton coaches asking for an explanation of the situation. During the discussion, the referee handed out a red card to one of the Fenton assistant coaches and then a red card to Fenton manager Victor Ruiz.
The long delay didn't faze Fenwick.
"We've been in a bunch of games like this, and sometimes we're on the other end. So, we've really learned from that," Powers said. "We talked about it before the game that no matter which team is better, it's always going to be close, always going to be chippy because it's a playoff game.
"So, we really talked about it and focused on it at practice. Then when something happened, us captains tried to tell everyone else to relax."
With the win, the Friars move on to the sectional final against Notre Dame, a team they played to a 2-2 tie Sept. 18 in Niles. It will be the Friars first sectional championship game since 2016.
"We can enjoy this, but then look at the idea that we need to take care of our clearances and 50/50 balls and avoiding fouling around the box," said Blazer of his pre-title game practice checklist.
Starting lineups
Fenwick
GK: Greg Price
D: Ian Martinello
D: Will Jancewicz
D: James Zimmer
D: Ian MacKinnon
D: Max Ballarin
MF: Luigi Mollo
MF: Lucas Garcia
F: Ryan Bero
F: Jack Powers
F: Zach Hernandez
Fenton
GK: Daniel Villanueva
D: Bernardo Misiunas
D: Aldo Callejas
D: Christian Bailon
D: Nathan Villanueva
D: Oscar Gagala
FB: Alex Lamb
MF: Joshua Rutkowski
MF: Nathanael Gimenez
MF: Diego Rojas
F: Osvaldo Cordova
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jack Powers, sr., MF, Fenwick
Scoring summary
First half
Fenwick - Ryan Bero (Jack Powers), 33rd minute
Second half
Fenwick - Powers (Frank Felice), 44th minute
Fenton - Alex Lamb (unassisted, FK), 65th minute
Bero, Powers goals set up rematch with Notre Dame
By Michael Wojtychiw
CHICAGO -- Putting the ball into the back of the net has been a tricky part of the game for Fenwick this season. The Friars came into the postseason having let up five more goals than they'd scored and had been shutout in three of the team's last four games of the regular season.
That trend, however, seems to have reversed itself in the state playoffs. In the squad's first two playoff games, it outscored opponents 12-1.
"These one-off games are challenging and if you can get the lead, calm your nerves down, that's a really good first step," Fenwick manager Craig Blazer said. "We were starting to focus on doing that, and it calmed us down.
"We've played a little more in the attacking half and not had defenders that have to make all the plays in the back. But anytime you score a goal, it gives you a boost. It just took us a while to get everyone on the same page and now that we are, we've got some good momentum."
The third-seeded Friars continued to put the ball in the net in their Class AA Speer Sectional semifinal against second-seeded Fenton.
The Friars finished enough for a 2-1 win that earned the sectional final against top-seeded Notre Dame.
It took a while for the Chicago Catholic League representative to get into their style. Fenton played through the middle and used the quickness of the field. In the first four minutes of the game, the Bison took two shots that forced Fenwick keeper Greg Price to make saves, including one that led to a Fenton corner.
"For a little bit we were programmed to not make a mistake and had some nerves," Blazer said. "But … we were able to get the ball behind them, get some restarts and corner kicks and convert them."
Fenwick picked up clues on its opponent in the early going.
"After the first five minutes, I knew it wasn't going to be a game where we could pass around them," Fenwick forward Jack Powers said. "It's very, very slippery on the field, and I couldn't really dribble. So, we decided that it's going to be the same for them so we can pressure. They'll boot it up to us, and then we can just bring it down and rip some shots."
The Friars put five shots on goal before finally breaking through. They got on the board first thanks to a Ryan Bero laser in the 33rd minute.
Powers added his 16th goal of the season four minutes into the second half.
After earning an early corner kick that Powers took, he received the ball back left of the goal from teammate Frank Felice. From there, the senior put a shot on goal that ended up hitting the goal post and slipping in past Fenton keeper Daniel Villanueva.
"When I got the ball back, my initial thought was 'Just hit it back in.' But then when I took a touch and there was nobody pressing, I said 'Alright I'm shooting it then,' and curved it in," Powers said. "From my angle, you could tell it was in before everyone else. They gave me too much time."
Fenwick (10-10-4) also looked like it had a third goal with 20 minutes remaining when Ian MacKinnon put a shot on frame that got past Villanueva and rolled toward the goal. But the Fenton keeper was able to race back and grab the ball before it crossed the goal line.
The exciting play seemed to energize the Bison who scored with 15:28 remaining in regulation when senior Alex Lamb put a ball past Price on a free kick to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Fenton figured to pile on the pressure in search of the equalizer, but it was Fenwick that held sway. The Friars earned three free kicks and a corner kick over the next nine minutes.
The next chance the Bison (10-7-3) had was with just over six-and-a-half minutes remaining, but Price came out of the goal to neutralize that attack.
The game was a physical one, with the teams picking up a combined 18 free kicks and a number of cards.
But nothing came close to the activity that happened in the last six minutes of the game.
With 5:46 remaining, Lamb was shown his second yellow card of the game, knocking him out of the game and forcing Fenton to play a man down.
Then with under five minutes remaining in the game, a Fenton player went down to the turf to the right of his goal on a play that gave Fenwick a corner.
The referee made the Fenton player exit the game, while the player told his coaches he wasn't injured. After the player walked off the field, the referee blew the whistle for the Friars to take the corner kick without the Bison having a chance to replace the injured player.
Fenton rushed a player onto the field, causing the referee to halt the game again and issue a yellow card to the player who replaced the injured player for coming onto the field without the referees signaling for him to come on.
The yellow card on the substitution had the Fenton coaches asking for an explanation of the situation. During the discussion, the referee handed out a red card to one of the Fenton assistant coaches and then a red card to Fenton manager Victor Ruiz.
The long delay didn't faze Fenwick.
"We've been in a bunch of games like this, and sometimes we're on the other end. So, we've really learned from that," Powers said. "We talked about it before the game that no matter which team is better, it's always going to be close, always going to be chippy because it's a playoff game.
"So, we really talked about it and focused on it at practice. Then when something happened, us captains tried to tell everyone else to relax."
With the win, the Friars move on to the sectional final against Notre Dame, a team they played to a 2-2 tie Sept. 18 in Niles. It will be the Friars first sectional championship game since 2016.
"We can enjoy this, but then look at the idea that we need to take care of our clearances and 50/50 balls and avoiding fouling around the box," said Blazer of his pre-title game practice checklist.
Starting lineups
Fenwick
GK: Greg Price
D: Ian Martinello
D: Will Jancewicz
D: James Zimmer
D: Ian MacKinnon
D: Max Ballarin
MF: Luigi Mollo
MF: Lucas Garcia
F: Ryan Bero
F: Jack Powers
F: Zach Hernandez
Fenton
GK: Daniel Villanueva
D: Bernardo Misiunas
D: Aldo Callejas
D: Christian Bailon
D: Nathan Villanueva
D: Oscar Gagala
FB: Alex Lamb
MF: Joshua Rutkowski
MF: Nathanael Gimenez
MF: Diego Rojas
F: Osvaldo Cordova
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jack Powers, sr., MF, Fenwick
Scoring summary
First half
Fenwick - Ryan Bero (Jack Powers), 33rd minute
Second half
Fenwick - Powers (Frank Felice), 44th minute
Fenton - Alex Lamb (unassisted, FK), 65th minute