Deerfield, Payton struggle with realities
Host Warriors 'snakebitten,' Payton wins but worries about strike
By Bill McLean
DEERFIELD — The elephant in the room ambled outside to hang out and watch a boys soccer match Tuesday night.
The figurative pachyderm represented the looming Chicago Public Schools teachers strike.
“We, the coaches, are thinking about it and worrying about it more than our players are,” Chicago-based Walter Payton College Prep soccer coach Paul Escobar said minutes before the kickoff between his Grizzlies and Deerfield’s host Warriors in the teams’ regular-season finale.
“They’re not talking about it; they don’t want to talk about it,” he added. “It would be a shame if a strike didn’t allow us to play in the playoffs.”
The CPS teachers went on strike after Wednesday classes after failing to reach a new contract agreement with the city.
Payton mustered enough focus Tuesday as it struck for three goals in a 3-1 victory, with the final two tallies coming in the final 10 minutes on a brisk, gusty night at Adams Field.
Payton — a no. 3 sectional seed in Class AA -- improved to 18-5-0 -- and is scheduled to face UIC in a Nazareth Regional semifinal on Oct. 22.
“We concentrated on the game tonight, not on the [possible] strike,” said Grizzlies senior forward Manny Rosekranz, who headed a cross from sophomore midfielder Robert Cupps following a corner kick to give the visitors a 2-1 lead in the 70th minute.
It was Rosekranz’s 19th goal of the season.
Deerfield, which possessed the ball on Payton’s side of the pitch for about 90 percent of the second half, appeared poised to avoid its 15th loss of the season after tying Payton 1-1 on a well-designed corner-kick play in the 64th minute. Warriors junior co-captain Nicholas Prus booted a turf-skipping corner, and junior midfielder Logan Wallis dummied it near the top of the 18-yard box, the ball scooting right to junior forward Ari Wainer.
Wainer then fired a shot past Grizzlies junior goalkeeper Isaiah Cole.
“We practice that play a lot,” said Wainer, who recalled he “shanked” a similar shot attempt in a 1-0 loss to Glenbrook North on Oct. 10.
Payton used a sleight of foot to set up that tie-breaking goal by Rosekranz. Captain and senior midfielder Ethan Chung hustled to a corner to prepare for his corner-kick duty but yielded to a trotting Cupps. Cupps was able to nudge the ball five yards ahead of himself and quickly kick it again because Chung had surreptitiously tapped, or rotated, the ball near the corner.
Cupps’ second pass in the sneaky sequence found Rosekranz’s head.
“After we got it to 1-1, we fell flat for some reason,” said a bewildered Elliott Hurtig, Deerfield’s head coach. “We’re not a team that does that. Before that, it was our half with the wind at our backs. It was our half to take control, and we did that, playing solid soccer, moving the ball quite well.
“Our guys,” he added, “they fight, and they battle. Tough. It’s been a tough season. It’s like we’re … snake-bitten. I was talking with [Warriors assistant coach] Rich Grady, and we’re thinking, ‘Our team has to be the best 2-14 team, ever.’”
Payton, which opened the scoring with a wind-aided 35-yard blast off the left foot of sophomore midfielder Oliver Bruce in the 26th minute, barely beat the clock in the second half to score the final goal of the night. Moments after Payton’s defense thwarted another dangerous free kick from Prus at one end, junior reserve Chris Zrazik pushed the ball up to senior defender Brody Drake, who turned into a track star near midfield.
He turbo-dribbled in the Warriors’ territory and — with one tick remaining — notched an empty-netter for soccer’s version of an exclamation point.
“Our fastest player,” Escobar said of Drake.
Deerfield’s toughest player?
That might be sophomore defender Peter Straus, a veritable force throughout Tuesday night’s contest, particularly in the first 40 minutes. His clean tackles stalled Payton rushes. His stops initiated quick transitions, none more impressively than when he motored past midfield and nearly connected — against the wind — with an upfield mate in the 34th minute.
“Deerfield has some strong, durable players,” Escobar said. “That no. 11 [Wainer], that no. 9 [Prus] and several other players over there … Deerfield is always tough. And here's another thing: Deerfield is always a well-coached team.”
Escobar started four sophomores, getting a combined two assists and one goal from them. The coach liked his club’s mettle after Deerfield had knotted it at 1.
“We stayed composed,” Escobar said. “We kept plugging away, plugging away. And we played with resolve.”
Deerfield (2-15-2), seeded eighth in the Class 2A Belvidere Sectional, takes on ninth-seeded North Chicago in a Deerfield Regional play-in match Friday at 5 p.m., with the winner to face second-seeded Carmel in a regional semifinal Oct. 23 at 4:30 p.m.
Footnotes
All of Payton’s coaches and some of its players wore a school coat with the number 34 adorned on the front in Tuesday night’s match at Deerfield. A certain late, Hall of Fame running back wore that number for a certain NFL team that plays its home games at Soldier Field. … Deerfield, a Class AA school this fall, played only three AA schools in the regular season, going 1-2. … Payton keeper Cole made the save of the night against Deerfield in the 20th minute Tuesday night, backhanding a shot on goal with his left hand while falling down following a free kick. … Deerfield honored its seniors before the match in front of the home bleachers at Adams Field. Hurtig served as the emcee of the presentation, revealing the veterans’ nicknames and their most meaningful moments as Warriors. Some of the nicknames: Alex “Cheesy” Culver; Jack “The Hammer” Hammontree (a co-captain); Ryder “The Nagster” Nagy; and Kevin “Triangle” Trajgiel. … Deerfield’s Peter Straus and Ari Wainer took Tuesday’s loss hard. No surprise. They’re uber-competitive, and they — like everybody else in the program — know Deerfield’s 2-15-2 record doesn’t come close to reflecting the Warriors’ talent and work ethic. “I know I speak for Ari when I say we’re fully dedicated to soccer,” Straus said. … How windy was it during the Payton-Deerfield match? This windy: Straus had to place his right foot on the top of the ball so it wouldn’t get swept out of bounds before junior teammate Logan Wallis’ free kick in the sixth minute.
Starting lineups
Payton
GK: Isaiah Cole
D: David McClone
D: Shiva Medler
D: Quinn Anderson
D: Brody Drake
M: Robert Cupps
M: Oliver Bruce
M: Ethan Chung
F: Ulises Triano
F: Lucas Cozuc
F: Manny Rosekranz
Deerfield
GK: Josh Berman
D: Ben Taxman
D: Ben Seed
D: Peter Straus
D: Albert Covaci
M: Nicholas Prus
M: Logan Wallis
M: Ryder Coleman
M: Matthew Covaci
F: Ari Wainer
F: Ryan Gomez
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Manny Rosekranz, sr., F, Payton
Ari Wainer, jr., F, Deerfield
Referees: Vitali Hantsevich (center); Robert Karcz; Hisham Abdelrazek
Scoring summary
First half
Payton — Bruce (Cupps), 26’
Second half
Deerfield — Wainer (Prus), 64’
Payton — Rosekranz (Cupps), 70’
Payton — Drake (Chris Zrazik), 80’
Host Warriors 'snakebitten,' Payton wins but worries about strike
By Bill McLean
DEERFIELD — The elephant in the room ambled outside to hang out and watch a boys soccer match Tuesday night.
The figurative pachyderm represented the looming Chicago Public Schools teachers strike.
“We, the coaches, are thinking about it and worrying about it more than our players are,” Chicago-based Walter Payton College Prep soccer coach Paul Escobar said minutes before the kickoff between his Grizzlies and Deerfield’s host Warriors in the teams’ regular-season finale.
“They’re not talking about it; they don’t want to talk about it,” he added. “It would be a shame if a strike didn’t allow us to play in the playoffs.”
The CPS teachers went on strike after Wednesday classes after failing to reach a new contract agreement with the city.
Payton mustered enough focus Tuesday as it struck for three goals in a 3-1 victory, with the final two tallies coming in the final 10 minutes on a brisk, gusty night at Adams Field.
Payton — a no. 3 sectional seed in Class AA -- improved to 18-5-0 -- and is scheduled to face UIC in a Nazareth Regional semifinal on Oct. 22.
“We concentrated on the game tonight, not on the [possible] strike,” said Grizzlies senior forward Manny Rosekranz, who headed a cross from sophomore midfielder Robert Cupps following a corner kick to give the visitors a 2-1 lead in the 70th minute.
It was Rosekranz’s 19th goal of the season.
Deerfield, which possessed the ball on Payton’s side of the pitch for about 90 percent of the second half, appeared poised to avoid its 15th loss of the season after tying Payton 1-1 on a well-designed corner-kick play in the 64th minute. Warriors junior co-captain Nicholas Prus booted a turf-skipping corner, and junior midfielder Logan Wallis dummied it near the top of the 18-yard box, the ball scooting right to junior forward Ari Wainer.
Wainer then fired a shot past Grizzlies junior goalkeeper Isaiah Cole.
“We practice that play a lot,” said Wainer, who recalled he “shanked” a similar shot attempt in a 1-0 loss to Glenbrook North on Oct. 10.
Payton used a sleight of foot to set up that tie-breaking goal by Rosekranz. Captain and senior midfielder Ethan Chung hustled to a corner to prepare for his corner-kick duty but yielded to a trotting Cupps. Cupps was able to nudge the ball five yards ahead of himself and quickly kick it again because Chung had surreptitiously tapped, or rotated, the ball near the corner.
Cupps’ second pass in the sneaky sequence found Rosekranz’s head.
“After we got it to 1-1, we fell flat for some reason,” said a bewildered Elliott Hurtig, Deerfield’s head coach. “We’re not a team that does that. Before that, it was our half with the wind at our backs. It was our half to take control, and we did that, playing solid soccer, moving the ball quite well.
“Our guys,” he added, “they fight, and they battle. Tough. It’s been a tough season. It’s like we’re … snake-bitten. I was talking with [Warriors assistant coach] Rich Grady, and we’re thinking, ‘Our team has to be the best 2-14 team, ever.’”
Payton, which opened the scoring with a wind-aided 35-yard blast off the left foot of sophomore midfielder Oliver Bruce in the 26th minute, barely beat the clock in the second half to score the final goal of the night. Moments after Payton’s defense thwarted another dangerous free kick from Prus at one end, junior reserve Chris Zrazik pushed the ball up to senior defender Brody Drake, who turned into a track star near midfield.
He turbo-dribbled in the Warriors’ territory and — with one tick remaining — notched an empty-netter for soccer’s version of an exclamation point.
“Our fastest player,” Escobar said of Drake.
Deerfield’s toughest player?
That might be sophomore defender Peter Straus, a veritable force throughout Tuesday night’s contest, particularly in the first 40 minutes. His clean tackles stalled Payton rushes. His stops initiated quick transitions, none more impressively than when he motored past midfield and nearly connected — against the wind — with an upfield mate in the 34th minute.
“Deerfield has some strong, durable players,” Escobar said. “That no. 11 [Wainer], that no. 9 [Prus] and several other players over there … Deerfield is always tough. And here's another thing: Deerfield is always a well-coached team.”
Escobar started four sophomores, getting a combined two assists and one goal from them. The coach liked his club’s mettle after Deerfield had knotted it at 1.
“We stayed composed,” Escobar said. “We kept plugging away, plugging away. And we played with resolve.”
Deerfield (2-15-2), seeded eighth in the Class 2A Belvidere Sectional, takes on ninth-seeded North Chicago in a Deerfield Regional play-in match Friday at 5 p.m., with the winner to face second-seeded Carmel in a regional semifinal Oct. 23 at 4:30 p.m.
Footnotes
All of Payton’s coaches and some of its players wore a school coat with the number 34 adorned on the front in Tuesday night’s match at Deerfield. A certain late, Hall of Fame running back wore that number for a certain NFL team that plays its home games at Soldier Field. … Deerfield, a Class AA school this fall, played only three AA schools in the regular season, going 1-2. … Payton keeper Cole made the save of the night against Deerfield in the 20th minute Tuesday night, backhanding a shot on goal with his left hand while falling down following a free kick. … Deerfield honored its seniors before the match in front of the home bleachers at Adams Field. Hurtig served as the emcee of the presentation, revealing the veterans’ nicknames and their most meaningful moments as Warriors. Some of the nicknames: Alex “Cheesy” Culver; Jack “The Hammer” Hammontree (a co-captain); Ryder “The Nagster” Nagy; and Kevin “Triangle” Trajgiel. … Deerfield’s Peter Straus and Ari Wainer took Tuesday’s loss hard. No surprise. They’re uber-competitive, and they — like everybody else in the program — know Deerfield’s 2-15-2 record doesn’t come close to reflecting the Warriors’ talent and work ethic. “I know I speak for Ari when I say we’re fully dedicated to soccer,” Straus said. … How windy was it during the Payton-Deerfield match? This windy: Straus had to place his right foot on the top of the ball so it wouldn’t get swept out of bounds before junior teammate Logan Wallis’ free kick in the sixth minute.
Starting lineups
Payton
GK: Isaiah Cole
D: David McClone
D: Shiva Medler
D: Quinn Anderson
D: Brody Drake
M: Robert Cupps
M: Oliver Bruce
M: Ethan Chung
F: Ulises Triano
F: Lucas Cozuc
F: Manny Rosekranz
Deerfield
GK: Josh Berman
D: Ben Taxman
D: Ben Seed
D: Peter Straus
D: Albert Covaci
M: Nicholas Prus
M: Logan Wallis
M: Ryder Coleman
M: Matthew Covaci
F: Ari Wainer
F: Ryan Gomez
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Manny Rosekranz, sr., F, Payton
Ari Wainer, jr., F, Deerfield
Referees: Vitali Hantsevich (center); Robert Karcz; Hisham Abdelrazek
Scoring summary
First half
Payton — Bruce (Cupps), 26’
Second half
Deerfield — Wainer (Prus), 64’
Payton — Rosekranz (Cupps), 70’
Payton — Drake (Chris Zrazik), 80’