Renfro, Klos lead Benet past Marist
Redwings take key early ESCC test 3-1
By Matt Le Cren
LISLE – Anthony Klos played the full 80 minutes for the first time in his high school career Wednesday.
It likely won’t be the last time.
The Benet sophomore took a page from the playbook of his older midfield mate, Nick Renfro, to score the goal that put the host Redwings, ranked 15th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, ahead to stay in a key 3-1 East Suburban Catholic Conference home victory over Marist.
Renfro scored the other two goals, including the game-winner, to notch his third brace in as many games in ESCC play this fall.
The win moved the Redwings (7-2-1, 3-0-0) within one point of Marist (7-3-1, 3-1-1) in the league standings. Saint Viator (4-0-0) tops the table with 12 points, two ahead of Marist and three clear of Benet.
Renfro, a junior who has a team-leading seven goals, was a proven player coming into this season, but the emergence of Klos has Benet coach Sean Wesley beaming.
“He’s a kid we count on,” Wesley said of Klos. “He was the kid who was a AAA hockey player who has kind of now decided to play soccer.
“He’s good this year and his ceiling is through the roof. We obviously have potential to put things together this year, but the idea is that I’ve got Anthony and Renfro back next year (and that) is pretty exciting.”
Klos, who was on varsity as a freshman and saw about 20 minutes of action per game, is excited to be contributing to a lineup that has a lot of young yet talented players. He now has three goals this season and is still getting acclimated to the varsity game.
“(Varsity) is pretty intimidating,” Klos said. “There’s a lot of bigger kids on varsity but as you get into it, you kind of get used to it practicing with them every day.
“(We have) a lot of good leaders that get you into it. You have to go hard at practice to earn your spot.
“I’m still getting into it. This is my second year (on varsity), and today was the first game I played the full 80 minutes so it’s just a really big learning experience, and I’m having a good time.”
Klos missed on his first shot of the game but got the good times rolling with 27:47 remaining in the first half. Thomas Miskin’s pass sprung Klos into the box and a fast finish put the Redwings up 1-0.
“I saw a gap in their backline so I was just yelling for it,” Klos said. “I had a lot of space, perfect ball into me, and I just made sure to finish and put it away.”
Marist traditionally has given Benet a hard time, so the first strike was a key play.
“One of the big things our coach always touches on is scoring the first goal is always important because when you get that one in it’s a great feeling,” Klos said. “It’s always easier playing from ahead than playing from behind.”
Renfro agreed.
“In conference play every goal matters, so we needed it,” Renfro said. “He really stepped up.”
That’s been a major theme for the Redwings, who start only four seniors.
“All these young guys are stepping up,” Renfro said. “They’re all big for us.”
But Klos arguably has made the biggest impact as Renfro’s aide-de-camp in the midfield.
“We’re a young team, for sure, and Anthony playing all 80 in the mid with me, I love it,” Renfro said. “He’s a great player, fun to play with.”
Klos says the same thing about Renfro, who has proven to be a solid mentor.
“It’s been a big learning experience for all of us, and I think it’s good for our chemistry in this next year or two,” Klos said. “We’re still building on that, and this year we’ve got a lot of good leaders so it’s good to learn from them.
“Like Nick Renfro, I play center mid with him. Great player, I learn a lot from him every day.”
Renfro and senior Franklin Rutkowski give the Redwings two proven offensive stars, thus taking away opponents’ ability to focus solely on shutting down one player.
Rutkowski has drawn the most attention from defenders the past two seasons, but that may be changing now that Renfro is scoring with regularity.
Renfro capped a first half that saw Benet outshoot the RedHawks 13-1 by heading home a long free kick from Mitra just 60 seconds before the break. He had been unlucky up until that point, hitting each post once and seeing a more powerful header stopped by diving Marist keeper John Kennedy.
“I was missing all day,” Renfro said. “I had about five chances and couldn’t put one in.
“Finally got one to go, got a little lucky bounce on it, but it went in. That’s all that matters.”
That wasn’t all Renfro had in the tank. He finished the scoring with 10:10 to go, ripping a half-volley from 15 yards into the net off Carl Widmann’s throw-in from the right wing.
“It went over the defender’s head,” Renfro said. “I turned, and I was just trying to put it on frame like the way I did.”
Renfro’s second strike was necessary because the RedHawks stayed within striking distance thanks to backup goalkeeper Clark Woodard, who got a rare assist thanks to a tremendous punt that bounced deep in the Benet end to Patrick Clancy, who knocked the ball into the goal 10 minutes into the second half to cut the deficit to 2-1.
It was one of only four shots allowed by Benet’s backline of Mitra, Miskin, Kyle Kohlsaat and Zach Serafin.
“We just had a defensive lapse, which we’ve had in the past too,” Renfro said. “We really need to minimize those, but we just keep fighting.
“We can’t get down on each other. We have to trust ourselves and our ability to play.”
The Redwings, who have lost only to unbeaten teams in top-ranked Naperville North and no. 2 Libertyville this season, were confident they could overcome the miscue.
“We just wanted to keep our composure, make sure that we played our game,” Klos said. “We knew that we could outplay them.
“We have a lot more talent than a lot of other teams, so we just had to stick to our plan and we got another great goal.”
That demonstrated the Redwings’ ability to learn from their mistakes. Benet gave up a cheap goal early against Libertyville and never recovered in a 2-0 loss.
“Progress from the Libertyville game,” Wesley said. “In the first half (Wednesday) we let up one shot, and it wasn’t on frame, so we were obviously established in the game and creating chances.
“Happy to see a little adversity and then a positive reaction to that. To give up a bad goal, now obviously they have the momentum, but we take it right back with Renfro’s great third goal.”
Renfro’s impact goes beyond scoring. He’s also adept at making the players around him better, including Klos, and created some scoring chances against Marist.
The most notable came with 13:00 left when he got a pass from Rutkowski and quickly sprung sophomore Hans Haenicke into space the box. Haenicke’s shot was saved by Woodard, but the play was indicative of how dangerous Renfro is.
“I thought he was great,” Wesley said. “His passes in the second half were next-level stuff.
“He’s screening guys into goal four times with perfectly placed passes diagonally. That’s special. Now if we can convert a few more of those we won’t be in so many dogfights.”
Starting lineups
Marist
GK John Kennedy
D Jacob Robinson
D Brendan Raftery
D Quinn Kennedy
M Alexis Arreola
M Patrick Clancy
M Brian Garza
M Joseph Shannon
M Jimmy Valek
F Brian Davila
F Ethan Fit
Benet
GK Hunter Randolph
D Jonathan Mitra
D Zach Serafin
D Kyle Kohlsaat
D Thomas Miskin
M C.J. Warren
M Nick Renfro
M Anthony Klos
M Preston Wray
F Franklin Rutkowski
F Trenty McVey
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Nick Renfro, jr., M, Benet
Scoring summary
First half
Benet – Anthony Klos (Thomas Miskin) 27:47
Benet – Nick Renfro (Jonathan Mitra) 1:00
Second Half
Marist – Patrick Clancy (Clark Woodard) 30:15
Benet – Renfro (Carl Widmann) 10:10
Redwings take key early ESCC test 3-1
By Matt Le Cren
LISLE – Anthony Klos played the full 80 minutes for the first time in his high school career Wednesday.
It likely won’t be the last time.
The Benet sophomore took a page from the playbook of his older midfield mate, Nick Renfro, to score the goal that put the host Redwings, ranked 15th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, ahead to stay in a key 3-1 East Suburban Catholic Conference home victory over Marist.
Renfro scored the other two goals, including the game-winner, to notch his third brace in as many games in ESCC play this fall.
The win moved the Redwings (7-2-1, 3-0-0) within one point of Marist (7-3-1, 3-1-1) in the league standings. Saint Viator (4-0-0) tops the table with 12 points, two ahead of Marist and three clear of Benet.
Renfro, a junior who has a team-leading seven goals, was a proven player coming into this season, but the emergence of Klos has Benet coach Sean Wesley beaming.
“He’s a kid we count on,” Wesley said of Klos. “He was the kid who was a AAA hockey player who has kind of now decided to play soccer.
“He’s good this year and his ceiling is through the roof. We obviously have potential to put things together this year, but the idea is that I’ve got Anthony and Renfro back next year (and that) is pretty exciting.”
Klos, who was on varsity as a freshman and saw about 20 minutes of action per game, is excited to be contributing to a lineup that has a lot of young yet talented players. He now has three goals this season and is still getting acclimated to the varsity game.
“(Varsity) is pretty intimidating,” Klos said. “There’s a lot of bigger kids on varsity but as you get into it, you kind of get used to it practicing with them every day.
“(We have) a lot of good leaders that get you into it. You have to go hard at practice to earn your spot.
“I’m still getting into it. This is my second year (on varsity), and today was the first game I played the full 80 minutes so it’s just a really big learning experience, and I’m having a good time.”
Klos missed on his first shot of the game but got the good times rolling with 27:47 remaining in the first half. Thomas Miskin’s pass sprung Klos into the box and a fast finish put the Redwings up 1-0.
“I saw a gap in their backline so I was just yelling for it,” Klos said. “I had a lot of space, perfect ball into me, and I just made sure to finish and put it away.”
Marist traditionally has given Benet a hard time, so the first strike was a key play.
“One of the big things our coach always touches on is scoring the first goal is always important because when you get that one in it’s a great feeling,” Klos said. “It’s always easier playing from ahead than playing from behind.”
Renfro agreed.
“In conference play every goal matters, so we needed it,” Renfro said. “He really stepped up.”
That’s been a major theme for the Redwings, who start only four seniors.
“All these young guys are stepping up,” Renfro said. “They’re all big for us.”
But Klos arguably has made the biggest impact as Renfro’s aide-de-camp in the midfield.
“We’re a young team, for sure, and Anthony playing all 80 in the mid with me, I love it,” Renfro said. “He’s a great player, fun to play with.”
Klos says the same thing about Renfro, who has proven to be a solid mentor.
“It’s been a big learning experience for all of us, and I think it’s good for our chemistry in this next year or two,” Klos said. “We’re still building on that, and this year we’ve got a lot of good leaders so it’s good to learn from them.
“Like Nick Renfro, I play center mid with him. Great player, I learn a lot from him every day.”
Renfro and senior Franklin Rutkowski give the Redwings two proven offensive stars, thus taking away opponents’ ability to focus solely on shutting down one player.
Rutkowski has drawn the most attention from defenders the past two seasons, but that may be changing now that Renfro is scoring with regularity.
Renfro capped a first half that saw Benet outshoot the RedHawks 13-1 by heading home a long free kick from Mitra just 60 seconds before the break. He had been unlucky up until that point, hitting each post once and seeing a more powerful header stopped by diving Marist keeper John Kennedy.
“I was missing all day,” Renfro said. “I had about five chances and couldn’t put one in.
“Finally got one to go, got a little lucky bounce on it, but it went in. That’s all that matters.”
That wasn’t all Renfro had in the tank. He finished the scoring with 10:10 to go, ripping a half-volley from 15 yards into the net off Carl Widmann’s throw-in from the right wing.
“It went over the defender’s head,” Renfro said. “I turned, and I was just trying to put it on frame like the way I did.”
Renfro’s second strike was necessary because the RedHawks stayed within striking distance thanks to backup goalkeeper Clark Woodard, who got a rare assist thanks to a tremendous punt that bounced deep in the Benet end to Patrick Clancy, who knocked the ball into the goal 10 minutes into the second half to cut the deficit to 2-1.
It was one of only four shots allowed by Benet’s backline of Mitra, Miskin, Kyle Kohlsaat and Zach Serafin.
“We just had a defensive lapse, which we’ve had in the past too,” Renfro said. “We really need to minimize those, but we just keep fighting.
“We can’t get down on each other. We have to trust ourselves and our ability to play.”
The Redwings, who have lost only to unbeaten teams in top-ranked Naperville North and no. 2 Libertyville this season, were confident they could overcome the miscue.
“We just wanted to keep our composure, make sure that we played our game,” Klos said. “We knew that we could outplay them.
“We have a lot more talent than a lot of other teams, so we just had to stick to our plan and we got another great goal.”
That demonstrated the Redwings’ ability to learn from their mistakes. Benet gave up a cheap goal early against Libertyville and never recovered in a 2-0 loss.
“Progress from the Libertyville game,” Wesley said. “In the first half (Wednesday) we let up one shot, and it wasn’t on frame, so we were obviously established in the game and creating chances.
“Happy to see a little adversity and then a positive reaction to that. To give up a bad goal, now obviously they have the momentum, but we take it right back with Renfro’s great third goal.”
Renfro’s impact goes beyond scoring. He’s also adept at making the players around him better, including Klos, and created some scoring chances against Marist.
The most notable came with 13:00 left when he got a pass from Rutkowski and quickly sprung sophomore Hans Haenicke into space the box. Haenicke’s shot was saved by Woodard, but the play was indicative of how dangerous Renfro is.
“I thought he was great,” Wesley said. “His passes in the second half were next-level stuff.
“He’s screening guys into goal four times with perfectly placed passes diagonally. That’s special. Now if we can convert a few more of those we won’t be in so many dogfights.”
Starting lineups
Marist
GK John Kennedy
D Jacob Robinson
D Brendan Raftery
D Quinn Kennedy
M Alexis Arreola
M Patrick Clancy
M Brian Garza
M Joseph Shannon
M Jimmy Valek
F Brian Davila
F Ethan Fit
Benet
GK Hunter Randolph
D Jonathan Mitra
D Zach Serafin
D Kyle Kohlsaat
D Thomas Miskin
M C.J. Warren
M Nick Renfro
M Anthony Klos
M Preston Wray
F Franklin Rutkowski
F Trenty McVey
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Nick Renfro, jr., M, Benet
Scoring summary
First half
Benet – Anthony Klos (Thomas Miskin) 27:47
Benet – Nick Renfro (Jonathan Mitra) 1:00
Second Half
Marist – Patrick Clancy (Clark Woodard) 30:15
Benet – Renfro (Carl Widmann) 10:10