Oswego schools put on 4-star rivalry Visiting Panthers win 4-3 win in boisterous crosstown classif
By Chris Walker
OSWEGO – Oswego East sophomore Dimitri Huitron has already played for national championships in his young soccer career.
During Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to big-time conference foe and fellow District 308 school Oswego, Huitron called the game the best one he’s every played in even though he came up on the wrong end of the final score.
Similarly, Oswego’s star senior Omar Carreno remarked that the game was far superior to last year’s matchup, a 5-0 Panthers win in which Carreno put together a highlight tape of offense heroics that included a hat-trick.
Yes you read those two paragraphs correctly. In summation, a losing player believes he had his top soccer playing experience in a loss, while a winning player considered the victory, to be better than last year’s eo-boosting blowout when he attained the rare accomplishment of a hat-trick against the “opponent that you most likely want to beat real badly because they’re your biggest rival bar none.”
Said Huitron; “This was probably the best soccer I’ve ever played. The environment was amazing. I’ve been in three national championships and honestly this felt way better. I felt at home. I felt like I was appreciated, and I felt like I really made my mark out there.”
Added Carreno: “I enjoyed this one way better than last year. There were a lot more fans and everything, and a lot tighter game where every goal meant something.”
The goals certainly meant a lot and there were plenty of them in a game that likely caused parents, fans, coaches and perhaps even some players on the bench to bite their fingernails completely off.
Carreno opened the scoring, and it most definitely came on a play that the Wolves could only wish they could’ve wiped out with a mulligan. Unfortunately for them futbol isn’t really anything at all like golf, and they found themselves quickly down 1-0.
“We obviously knew he’s their guy,” Wolves coach Steve Szymanski said. “But we gave him too much space and when you’re a player that good you can’t do that. He’s the best player I’ve seen in the conference since Jorge Alvarez, who played for us.”
Alvarez starred for Oswego East for three seasons, He led the Wolves to a Southwest Prairie Conference championship, was named the Conference Player of the Year ane received IHSSCA All-State Honors in 2011. He concluded his high school career with 63 goals and 21 assists before playing at Illinois-Chicago.
Oswego East (11-4-2, 5-1-0) failed to get the ball away from a vulnerable spot on the field and instead gave it right back to the Panthers. Good players deliver in difficult situations and most definitely make you pay when you make a mistake. That’s exactly what Carreno did once he saw the keeper out, and the net unguarded. He lofted a shot into the back of the net for a 1-0 advantage with 34:31 still on the clock in the first half.
“It’s amazing to try to look for any goals and shoot the ball to help my team and stuff,” Carreno said. “Since it’s my last year, I really wanted to win this game no matter what. So I was putting in the work to try to score more goals and help my team get this win.”
Oswego East pulled even a 1-1 with 26:44 still to go in the first half on Ford Frazer’s penalty kick. The senior received the opportunity to take the PK after a handball call in the box was ruled in the Panthers’ favor.
It remained that way until late in the first half when Huitron connected from the top of the box with just 3:12 on the clock.
“It felt amazing to help my team score there,” Huitron said. “By scoring there, I can’t say enough about the passion that I felt at the moment. It was just intense, and the love for my team at that moment was just great. It was amazing.”
Equally amazing was the turnout from the fans, which undoubtedly inspired Huitron as well as all of the others who participated in the game. With the bleachers packed, dozens of fans sitting in their own chairs along the sidelines, as well as large groups of high school kids standing, along with select few who sat on a couch they brought with them, cheering was loud and heard often, and deservedly so as the teams went back and forth for 80 minutes.
“It was super intense, but the fans were really cool though,” Oswego East freshman Kellen Klosterman said. “We don’t usually get that. I feel like we should’ve scored one more maybe, because I felt like we were right there until the end but just couldn’t put in another goal.”
“This is insane,” Oswego junior Martin Imbronjev said. “This game had such a good vibe.”
While the first half seemed to offer both sides a fair share of scoring threats, the Panthers (13-2-2, 6-0-0) seemingly became more dangerous than the Wolves in the second half, or at least they peppered Oswego East goalkeeper Nathan Huerter with more attempts.
On a few occasions, Huerter got the best of Carreno who then turned around with a big smile in disbelief after he watched his sizzling boots get rejected out of harm’s way while the young Oswego faithful fans periodically erupted in chants of “Omar! Omar! Omar! Omar! Omar!”
“I think he gave three of those looks,” Szymanski. “He’s their guy, and he’s got 25 or whatever goals for a reason. If I’m on the field I’m giving him the ball, because he’s that good.”
Carreno didn’t play an immediate role in the game-tying goal with 28:11 left to play, but where he was stationed on Steven Udy’s corner kick was unquestionably on the minds of the Oswego East players as they watched Imbronjev finish the serve to tie the game at 2-2.
“On corners I just want to get a nice ball in the box,” Udy said. “I’m usually looking for Collin (Moran) who scores most of the crosses I’ve put in. I just wanted to put in a nice ball that would give any of our guys a chance.”
Carreno played a direct role in the go-ahead goal. With 16:57 still to play, one had to imagine that he was going to get the ball when it was at the feet of his freshman teammate Daniel Avila. The youngster worked the ball down the right side of the box before tapping it to Carreno who pounced on it like a cat on a mouse and deposited it in the back of the net for the 3-2 advantage.
While Carreno showed off his speed and exceptional dribbling abilities throughout the game, on the go-ahead goal it was his explosiveness with the ball that allowed the Panthers to take the lead.
“It’s the best feeling out there to help the team win,” Carreno said. “It’s an incredible feeling when you’re playing this way.”
As Carreno ran over near the sideline to celebrate with his teammates as well as plenty of the Oswego fans who made the short trip to Oswego East to take in this delightful matinee, the Wolves had to be reeling. But that feeling subsided awfully quickly as a little more than a minute later Frazer tied the game.
As much as Carreno loves playing, Frazer hates to lose.
“Ford’s such a competitor, and he does not like to lose,” Szymanski said. “He’s grown up a ton, and he and Nate (Huerter) will go down as the winningiest players in school history for a reason. They’ve started and played in more winning games than any other kid, and it’s not even close. So it’s a testament to them because they’ve done it and found a way to win and neither of them ever quit. We’ve got some of these young guys like Kyle (Blasingame), Kellen (Klosterman) and Dimitri (Huitron) who are learning that from them, and that’s a great thing.”
Frazer tied the game at 3-3 with a soft header off of Joey Bavol’s short kick with 15:49 remaining. Bavol, who didn’t start, was battling illness but fought through it to offer valuable minutes. Was he really going to miss this rivalry game? Of course not.
“He had bronchitis and pink eye, and when he came out he couldn’t even breathe at end of game he was so congested,” Szymanski said. “But he’s part of that group of guys that don’t want to lose. Zach Lass is another one too who will do anything not to lose. Losing is like losing a family member to them, so they don’t want it to happen and will do anything they can to win every single game.”
Unfortunately, they couldn’t do enough to put this came in the W column. The result came down to Oswego East's inability to stop the Panthers on another corner kick; this one which decided the game with 10 minutes to play.
Once again it was Udy who delivered it, but this time is was Maxwell Glover, who scored with a header. It was only Glover’s second goal of the season, but by far the biggest during his high school-playing years.
“It was a really good ball, so I didn’t have to do much,” Glover said. “It felt super good once I hit it and I knew it was going to go in knowing where their goalie was.”
Glover's goal proved to be the game-winner and earned him accolades as the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match. In a game filled with heroes, the honor could’ve been bestowed on numerous others: Carreno and Udy for the Panthers; and Frazer, Huitron or Huerter for the Wolves.
“This has been such a good experience,” Glover said. “With everyone cheering and the game going back and forth it was super exciting to go up one goal.”
Oswego was able to limit Oswego East’s chances to net the equalizer the rest of the game. Nolan Laczynski had a header that tailed off right with about six minutes remaining and that was about as close as the Wolves would get.
“We fought until the end, and that’s what’s really special about this team,” Huitron said. “We don’t give up. We grind until the end, and that’s the best feeling when you have a team that’s as willing to work as hard as you, to work harder than the other team. It’s unfortunate that the other team just outlasted us, I guess.”
Football may own Fridays in the fall but if there was any doubt that soccer can’t be exciting to watch, Oswego and Oswego East treated those smart enough to be in attendance a stellar example of why soccer is the most popular sport in the world.
“Our games are not usually like this, so this was really a fun experience,” Udy said. “It’s a lot of fun playing with this kind of crowd. So much fun seeing them all cheering us on so loudly.”
On paper (well, technically online) it made perfect sense that these teams would go back and forth until the buzzer in a tense battle. Oswego is ranked 23rd in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and Oswego East is right behind at no. 24.
The rivalry between the two programs has truly been a good one with each team enjoying some success. Heading into Tuesday’s game the teams had split the previous eight meetings. The only back-to-back wins in that span came from Oswego East in 2015 and 2016.
The series included some real nailbiters with two games decided in overtime and another, which came down to penalty kicks. Last year was the most lopsided game during that current stretch. Overall, the Panthers took a slim lead in the all-time series at 9-8.
“One thing we said to the guys is that we can’t let this one loss define us,” Szymanski said. “We’ve got to remember how this feels, because it should hurt. But we’ve got a lot of great soccer to play. We can’t control our destiny as far as conference goes, but we’re still right there.
“We have to go out and beat Minooka, Plainfield Central and Plainfield South and maybe Oswego slips up. You never know, stranger things have happened. Then we have to get ready for the regional. I like where we’re seeded. It’s our highest seed ever and hopefully we can do something.”
Ideally for all involved, both teams will keep winning into the postseason and meet again in the Geneva Sectional championship game at 6 p.m. Oct. 26 at 6 p.m.
Wouldn’t that be something?
Of course, that’s a Friday night and in all likelihood both school’s respective football teams will also be playing in first round playoff games. Ugh. Then again, one would have to think that both programs in this intense rivalry could care less who's watching on Oct. 26 as long as it’s them playing.
Can you imagine these two teams playing again with a sectional title on the line?
Starting lineups
Oswego
GK: Cade Gutierrez
D: Evan Kocsis
D: Jonathan Kraemer
D: Collin Moran
D: Joseph Pagone
MF: Danny Gaytan
MF: Martin Imbronjev
MF: Jack O’Reilly
MF: Steven Udy
F: Omar Carreno
F: Mason McCaw
Oswego East
GK: Nathan Huerter
D: David Bombrys
D: Zach Lass
D: Nathan Czepiel
MF: Kyle Blasingame
MF: Decarlos Parodis-Yu
MF: Dimitri Huitron
MF: Kellen Klosterman
MF: Nolan Laczynski
F: Ford Frazer
F: Andre Casas
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Maxwell Glover, jr., D, Oswego
Scoring Summary
First half
Oswego – Omar Carreno (unassisted), 34:31
Oswego East – Ford Frazer PK, 26:44
Oswego East – Dimitri Huitron (unassisted), 3:12
Second half
Oswego – Martin Imbronjev (Steven Udy), 28:11
Oswego – Omar Carreno (Daniel Avila), 16:57
Oswego East – Ford Frazer (Joey Bavol), 15:49
Oswego – Maxwell Glover (Steven Udy), 10:01
By Chris Walker
OSWEGO – Oswego East sophomore Dimitri Huitron has already played for national championships in his young soccer career.
During Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to big-time conference foe and fellow District 308 school Oswego, Huitron called the game the best one he’s every played in even though he came up on the wrong end of the final score.
Similarly, Oswego’s star senior Omar Carreno remarked that the game was far superior to last year’s matchup, a 5-0 Panthers win in which Carreno put together a highlight tape of offense heroics that included a hat-trick.
Yes you read those two paragraphs correctly. In summation, a losing player believes he had his top soccer playing experience in a loss, while a winning player considered the victory, to be better than last year’s eo-boosting blowout when he attained the rare accomplishment of a hat-trick against the “opponent that you most likely want to beat real badly because they’re your biggest rival bar none.”
Said Huitron; “This was probably the best soccer I’ve ever played. The environment was amazing. I’ve been in three national championships and honestly this felt way better. I felt at home. I felt like I was appreciated, and I felt like I really made my mark out there.”
Added Carreno: “I enjoyed this one way better than last year. There were a lot more fans and everything, and a lot tighter game where every goal meant something.”
The goals certainly meant a lot and there were plenty of them in a game that likely caused parents, fans, coaches and perhaps even some players on the bench to bite their fingernails completely off.
Carreno opened the scoring, and it most definitely came on a play that the Wolves could only wish they could’ve wiped out with a mulligan. Unfortunately for them futbol isn’t really anything at all like golf, and they found themselves quickly down 1-0.
“We obviously knew he’s their guy,” Wolves coach Steve Szymanski said. “But we gave him too much space and when you’re a player that good you can’t do that. He’s the best player I’ve seen in the conference since Jorge Alvarez, who played for us.”
Alvarez starred for Oswego East for three seasons, He led the Wolves to a Southwest Prairie Conference championship, was named the Conference Player of the Year ane received IHSSCA All-State Honors in 2011. He concluded his high school career with 63 goals and 21 assists before playing at Illinois-Chicago.
Oswego East (11-4-2, 5-1-0) failed to get the ball away from a vulnerable spot on the field and instead gave it right back to the Panthers. Good players deliver in difficult situations and most definitely make you pay when you make a mistake. That’s exactly what Carreno did once he saw the keeper out, and the net unguarded. He lofted a shot into the back of the net for a 1-0 advantage with 34:31 still on the clock in the first half.
“It’s amazing to try to look for any goals and shoot the ball to help my team and stuff,” Carreno said. “Since it’s my last year, I really wanted to win this game no matter what. So I was putting in the work to try to score more goals and help my team get this win.”
Oswego East pulled even a 1-1 with 26:44 still to go in the first half on Ford Frazer’s penalty kick. The senior received the opportunity to take the PK after a handball call in the box was ruled in the Panthers’ favor.
It remained that way until late in the first half when Huitron connected from the top of the box with just 3:12 on the clock.
“It felt amazing to help my team score there,” Huitron said. “By scoring there, I can’t say enough about the passion that I felt at the moment. It was just intense, and the love for my team at that moment was just great. It was amazing.”
Equally amazing was the turnout from the fans, which undoubtedly inspired Huitron as well as all of the others who participated in the game. With the bleachers packed, dozens of fans sitting in their own chairs along the sidelines, as well as large groups of high school kids standing, along with select few who sat on a couch they brought with them, cheering was loud and heard often, and deservedly so as the teams went back and forth for 80 minutes.
“It was super intense, but the fans were really cool though,” Oswego East freshman Kellen Klosterman said. “We don’t usually get that. I feel like we should’ve scored one more maybe, because I felt like we were right there until the end but just couldn’t put in another goal.”
“This is insane,” Oswego junior Martin Imbronjev said. “This game had such a good vibe.”
While the first half seemed to offer both sides a fair share of scoring threats, the Panthers (13-2-2, 6-0-0) seemingly became more dangerous than the Wolves in the second half, or at least they peppered Oswego East goalkeeper Nathan Huerter with more attempts.
On a few occasions, Huerter got the best of Carreno who then turned around with a big smile in disbelief after he watched his sizzling boots get rejected out of harm’s way while the young Oswego faithful fans periodically erupted in chants of “Omar! Omar! Omar! Omar! Omar!”
“I think he gave three of those looks,” Szymanski. “He’s their guy, and he’s got 25 or whatever goals for a reason. If I’m on the field I’m giving him the ball, because he’s that good.”
Carreno didn’t play an immediate role in the game-tying goal with 28:11 left to play, but where he was stationed on Steven Udy’s corner kick was unquestionably on the minds of the Oswego East players as they watched Imbronjev finish the serve to tie the game at 2-2.
“On corners I just want to get a nice ball in the box,” Udy said. “I’m usually looking for Collin (Moran) who scores most of the crosses I’ve put in. I just wanted to put in a nice ball that would give any of our guys a chance.”
Carreno played a direct role in the go-ahead goal. With 16:57 still to play, one had to imagine that he was going to get the ball when it was at the feet of his freshman teammate Daniel Avila. The youngster worked the ball down the right side of the box before tapping it to Carreno who pounced on it like a cat on a mouse and deposited it in the back of the net for the 3-2 advantage.
While Carreno showed off his speed and exceptional dribbling abilities throughout the game, on the go-ahead goal it was his explosiveness with the ball that allowed the Panthers to take the lead.
“It’s the best feeling out there to help the team win,” Carreno said. “It’s an incredible feeling when you’re playing this way.”
As Carreno ran over near the sideline to celebrate with his teammates as well as plenty of the Oswego fans who made the short trip to Oswego East to take in this delightful matinee, the Wolves had to be reeling. But that feeling subsided awfully quickly as a little more than a minute later Frazer tied the game.
As much as Carreno loves playing, Frazer hates to lose.
“Ford’s such a competitor, and he does not like to lose,” Szymanski said. “He’s grown up a ton, and he and Nate (Huerter) will go down as the winningiest players in school history for a reason. They’ve started and played in more winning games than any other kid, and it’s not even close. So it’s a testament to them because they’ve done it and found a way to win and neither of them ever quit. We’ve got some of these young guys like Kyle (Blasingame), Kellen (Klosterman) and Dimitri (Huitron) who are learning that from them, and that’s a great thing.”
Frazer tied the game at 3-3 with a soft header off of Joey Bavol’s short kick with 15:49 remaining. Bavol, who didn’t start, was battling illness but fought through it to offer valuable minutes. Was he really going to miss this rivalry game? Of course not.
“He had bronchitis and pink eye, and when he came out he couldn’t even breathe at end of game he was so congested,” Szymanski said. “But he’s part of that group of guys that don’t want to lose. Zach Lass is another one too who will do anything not to lose. Losing is like losing a family member to them, so they don’t want it to happen and will do anything they can to win every single game.”
Unfortunately, they couldn’t do enough to put this came in the W column. The result came down to Oswego East's inability to stop the Panthers on another corner kick; this one which decided the game with 10 minutes to play.
Once again it was Udy who delivered it, but this time is was Maxwell Glover, who scored with a header. It was only Glover’s second goal of the season, but by far the biggest during his high school-playing years.
“It was a really good ball, so I didn’t have to do much,” Glover said. “It felt super good once I hit it and I knew it was going to go in knowing where their goalie was.”
Glover's goal proved to be the game-winner and earned him accolades as the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match. In a game filled with heroes, the honor could’ve been bestowed on numerous others: Carreno and Udy for the Panthers; and Frazer, Huitron or Huerter for the Wolves.
“This has been such a good experience,” Glover said. “With everyone cheering and the game going back and forth it was super exciting to go up one goal.”
Oswego was able to limit Oswego East’s chances to net the equalizer the rest of the game. Nolan Laczynski had a header that tailed off right with about six minutes remaining and that was about as close as the Wolves would get.
“We fought until the end, and that’s what’s really special about this team,” Huitron said. “We don’t give up. We grind until the end, and that’s the best feeling when you have a team that’s as willing to work as hard as you, to work harder than the other team. It’s unfortunate that the other team just outlasted us, I guess.”
Football may own Fridays in the fall but if there was any doubt that soccer can’t be exciting to watch, Oswego and Oswego East treated those smart enough to be in attendance a stellar example of why soccer is the most popular sport in the world.
“Our games are not usually like this, so this was really a fun experience,” Udy said. “It’s a lot of fun playing with this kind of crowd. So much fun seeing them all cheering us on so loudly.”
On paper (well, technically online) it made perfect sense that these teams would go back and forth until the buzzer in a tense battle. Oswego is ranked 23rd in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and Oswego East is right behind at no. 24.
The rivalry between the two programs has truly been a good one with each team enjoying some success. Heading into Tuesday’s game the teams had split the previous eight meetings. The only back-to-back wins in that span came from Oswego East in 2015 and 2016.
The series included some real nailbiters with two games decided in overtime and another, which came down to penalty kicks. Last year was the most lopsided game during that current stretch. Overall, the Panthers took a slim lead in the all-time series at 9-8.
“One thing we said to the guys is that we can’t let this one loss define us,” Szymanski said. “We’ve got to remember how this feels, because it should hurt. But we’ve got a lot of great soccer to play. We can’t control our destiny as far as conference goes, but we’re still right there.
“We have to go out and beat Minooka, Plainfield Central and Plainfield South and maybe Oswego slips up. You never know, stranger things have happened. Then we have to get ready for the regional. I like where we’re seeded. It’s our highest seed ever and hopefully we can do something.”
Ideally for all involved, both teams will keep winning into the postseason and meet again in the Geneva Sectional championship game at 6 p.m. Oct. 26 at 6 p.m.
Wouldn’t that be something?
Of course, that’s a Friday night and in all likelihood both school’s respective football teams will also be playing in first round playoff games. Ugh. Then again, one would have to think that both programs in this intense rivalry could care less who's watching on Oct. 26 as long as it’s them playing.
Can you imagine these two teams playing again with a sectional title on the line?
Starting lineups
Oswego
GK: Cade Gutierrez
D: Evan Kocsis
D: Jonathan Kraemer
D: Collin Moran
D: Joseph Pagone
MF: Danny Gaytan
MF: Martin Imbronjev
MF: Jack O’Reilly
MF: Steven Udy
F: Omar Carreno
F: Mason McCaw
Oswego East
GK: Nathan Huerter
D: David Bombrys
D: Zach Lass
D: Nathan Czepiel
MF: Kyle Blasingame
MF: Decarlos Parodis-Yu
MF: Dimitri Huitron
MF: Kellen Klosterman
MF: Nolan Laczynski
F: Ford Frazer
F: Andre Casas
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Maxwell Glover, jr., D, Oswego
Scoring Summary
First half
Oswego – Omar Carreno (unassisted), 34:31
Oswego East – Ford Frazer PK, 26:44
Oswego East – Dimitri Huitron (unassisted), 3:12
Second half
Oswego – Martin Imbronjev (Steven Udy), 28:11
Oswego – Omar Carreno (Daniel Avila), 16:57
Oswego East – Ford Frazer (Joey Bavol), 15:49
Oswego – Maxwell Glover (Steven Udy), 10:01