SCN can't contain B-B's Nick Markanich
Senior’s 4 goals top SCN’s 3 in Boiler's shorthanded 3rd place win
By Patrick Z. McGavin
HOFFMAN ESTATES -- Nick Markanich and his brother Anthony Markanich are easy to notice though exceptionally hard to differentiate. Even Bradley-Bourbonnais coach Rohan Robinson has difficulty telling the identical twins apart.
The two seniors have a special kinship on the field, a sense of where the other is, and how one compliments the other.
It made a difference again Saturday.
“We usually know where each other is, so we are able to play those combinations between defenders,” Nick Markanich said. “They can’t handle our combinations. We keep working that.
“We found that ability to combine again. I just played that space, and I played it more in front of him, and he looked up and saw me behind the defender, and it was a great ball.”
In the final game of their sterling careers, Nick Markanich scored four goals and his brother Anthony Markanich administered the game-winning assist in the 76th minute as Bradley-Bourbonnais nearly squandered a two-goal advantage before subduing St. Charles North 4-3 in a Class 3A third place game at Hoffman Estates High School.
Nick Markanich earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction for his extraordinary output that allowed Bradley-Bourbonnais to finish third in the state for the second-consecutive season.
The two brothers are now taking their talents to the next stage at Northern Illinois University. Fittingly the two ended on a note of symmetry, Anthony serving a beautiful left-footed cross from the left flag to the onrushing Nick for the game-winning header.
Nick, a forward, finished the season with a school-record 52 goals, scoring all five of the Boilermakers’ goals in the two-day state finals. The total puts him unofficially in the state’s top 20 all-time for goals in a year. He added nine assists. With his two helpers, brother Anthony registered 16 assists in support of his own 40 goals scored.
Senior midfielder Efrain Davila III completed his standout career with 54 assists this season.
Davila, who is also a kicker on the football team, is deciding what sport to pursue in college. Saturday on the pitch he returned to his customary creative midfield spot after playing in the back in the semifinal against Libertyville. That became necessary after two normal starters on the backline, Brandon Wray and Benjamin Kuxmann, were unavailable after accumulating red cards in the team’s supersectional.
“Our movement with each other is very much in sync, especially having Brandon back,” Davila said. “We were able to know our movements and where the ball was coming and where to be and the quickest way to penetrate. My talent is, I get the ball in good positions and I just see space and penetrate with them, or whoever plays the wing.
“I have always played with good players and ... it just keeps getting better and better. Even if there’s younger talent, they are able to step up and play a role.”
Senior keeper Andrew Seyden recorded 11 saves for the Boilermakers (19-4-1).
Bradley-Bourbonnais played the second half with just nine field players after sophomore forward Peter Sorich was issued his second yellow card, this one for delay of game, at the end of the first half. The team has grown accustomed to adversity.
“I don’t think we were scared, because we have been in worse situations, like the Normal (supersectional) game, where we were down two players in the second half and still able to come back and get a last minute goal (in the second overtime),” Tony Markanich said.
Bradley-Bourbonnais needed every goal it got Saturday. St. Charles North had the more consistent and stronger play. After struggling to generate any credible offense against Naperville North in the semifinal on Friday, St. Charles North materialized as a wholly different entity against the Boilermakers.
They pushed numbers, moving the ball quickly from side to side and excelling at slotting the ball onto the wings. Senior forward Jake Persenico, the team’s leading scorer with 17 goals and eight assists, was brilliant at the start in creating, absorbing contact and finishing. A couple of shots pushed just wide off frame and Wray made a spectacular waist-high goal-saving head clearance inside the box in the 18th minute.
“The earlier chances that I had, and that my teammates had, and our struggle to get the ball in the back of the net, we could not let that affect us or get our heads down,” Persenico said. “We had to come out in the second half and play with fire and for each other and finish the chances we had. We should have finished a lot more chances.
“The keeper made some really great saves.”
St. Charles North (16-4-4) had a 17-9 advantage in shots on goal. Seyden made a couple of superb stops and the Boilermakers’ alert backline did a credible job of blocking shots and generating deflections or tips.
Nick Markanich is a top-five scorer in the state. He made the North Stars pay for their mistakes. Bradley-Bourbonnais led 2-0 at the break following his goals in the 14th and 31st minutes.
“This is their second time around in this spot,” St. Charles North coach Eric Willson said. “They definitely were dangerous on counters against us. I thought we were the better team, and we uncharacteristically made some errors that we don’t usually do. Some of that had to do the game itself.”
The North Stars’ pressure finally yielded dividends in the 45th minute. Off a throw-in, defender Peter Willis pushed a ball to the left edge that Persenico blasted with a low liner inside the near post.
“To give up the two goals was pretty difficult,” Willson said. “We still have to defend a little better in some spots, but to go down two goals and then still find a way to get yourself back into the game was obviously a credit to our players in believing in each other and not giving up. We are certainly proud we found a way back into that game.”
Teams are at their most vulnerable immediately following a score, and Nick Markanich again gave the North Stars little time to celebrate. In the next minute, he broke free down the left edge and caught a through-ball from his brother for a one-on-one against North Stars’ keeper Piercarlo Ricossa. He returned the Boilermakers’ lead to two goals.
The North Stars played with passion and heart. They found the open creases against Bradley-Bourbonnais and refused to give in. Senior forward Bernard Elegbede blasted home a short volley after Kyle Kolodziej’s original ball repelled off the crossbar in the 65th minute. It was his 13th goal of the year.
In the 68th minute, St. Charles North completed its comeback as junior midfielder Matt Beaulieu worked the ball on the right flank. Taking a ball from Elegbede he made a quick counter step and smashed a ball that was deflected and took a crazy hop, throwing Seyden off, who could not react in the time as the ball carried through the back of the net for the only tie.
“That has been the theme for the whole season,” Elegbede said. “This team fought for each other, in different spots and different games. We showed a lot of fight. We showed a lot today, even though we came up a little short in the end. It showed the kind of character we had and how we want to remember the rest of the season.
“I wanted to fight hard for my teammates because I knew the sacrifices they made for me. I felt like playing my hardest was the only way I could pay them back. I was fighting for them.”
The Markanich combination proved too difficult for St. Charles North to overcome.
The meaning and value of the season and the way the team fought until the end embodied the spirit and togetherness of a North Stars team whose fourth place finish delivered the first state trophy in the program’s history.
“It was a crazy game, with a lot of ups and downs,” Beaulieu said. “I would not want to play in any other game. It was awesome to have that feeling, at the same time it was one of the worst feelings, giving up that fourth goal. It was always about us. It was never about anyone else. We game-planned for other teams, but in the end it was about us.
“We played the way we wanted to play.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles North
GK: Piercarlo Ricossa
D: Connor Bettini
D: Peter Willis
D: Kyle Kolodziej
D: Alex Somera
MF: Matt Beaulieu
MF: Jameson D’Amico
MF: Josh Amaro
MF: Parker Kolb
F: Jake Persenico
F: Bernard Elegbede
Bradley-Bourbonnais
GK: Andrew Seyden
D: Tyler Jasmin
D: Brandon Wray
D: Benjamin Kuxmann
D: Bryson George
MF: Tyler Schlitz
MF: Anthony Markanich
MF: Efrain Davila III
MF: Jackson Jasmin
F: Peter Sorich
F: Nick Markanich
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Nick Markanich, Bradley-Bourbonnais, sr., F
Officials: M—Doug Curtner, AR1—Dylan Kramer, AR2—Scott Lichtfuss, 4th—Mike Umano
Scoring summary
First half
Bradley-Bourbonnais—Nick Markanich (Peter Sorich), 14th
Bradley-Bourbonnais—Nick Markanich (Efrain Davila III), 31st
Second half
St. Charles North—Jake Persenico (Peter Willis), 45th minute
Bradley-Bourbonnais—Nick Markanich (Anthony Markanich), 46th
St. Charles North—Bernard Elegbede (Kyle Kolodziej), 65th
St. Charles North—Matt Beaulieu (Elegbede), 68th
Bradley-Bourbonnais—Nick Markanich (Anthony Markanich), 76th
Senior’s 4 goals top SCN’s 3 in Boiler's shorthanded 3rd place win
By Patrick Z. McGavin
HOFFMAN ESTATES -- Nick Markanich and his brother Anthony Markanich are easy to notice though exceptionally hard to differentiate. Even Bradley-Bourbonnais coach Rohan Robinson has difficulty telling the identical twins apart.
The two seniors have a special kinship on the field, a sense of where the other is, and how one compliments the other.
It made a difference again Saturday.
“We usually know where each other is, so we are able to play those combinations between defenders,” Nick Markanich said. “They can’t handle our combinations. We keep working that.
“We found that ability to combine again. I just played that space, and I played it more in front of him, and he looked up and saw me behind the defender, and it was a great ball.”
In the final game of their sterling careers, Nick Markanich scored four goals and his brother Anthony Markanich administered the game-winning assist in the 76th minute as Bradley-Bourbonnais nearly squandered a two-goal advantage before subduing St. Charles North 4-3 in a Class 3A third place game at Hoffman Estates High School.
Nick Markanich earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction for his extraordinary output that allowed Bradley-Bourbonnais to finish third in the state for the second-consecutive season.
The two brothers are now taking their talents to the next stage at Northern Illinois University. Fittingly the two ended on a note of symmetry, Anthony serving a beautiful left-footed cross from the left flag to the onrushing Nick for the game-winning header.
Nick, a forward, finished the season with a school-record 52 goals, scoring all five of the Boilermakers’ goals in the two-day state finals. The total puts him unofficially in the state’s top 20 all-time for goals in a year. He added nine assists. With his two helpers, brother Anthony registered 16 assists in support of his own 40 goals scored.
Senior midfielder Efrain Davila III completed his standout career with 54 assists this season.
Davila, who is also a kicker on the football team, is deciding what sport to pursue in college. Saturday on the pitch he returned to his customary creative midfield spot after playing in the back in the semifinal against Libertyville. That became necessary after two normal starters on the backline, Brandon Wray and Benjamin Kuxmann, were unavailable after accumulating red cards in the team’s supersectional.
“Our movement with each other is very much in sync, especially having Brandon back,” Davila said. “We were able to know our movements and where the ball was coming and where to be and the quickest way to penetrate. My talent is, I get the ball in good positions and I just see space and penetrate with them, or whoever plays the wing.
“I have always played with good players and ... it just keeps getting better and better. Even if there’s younger talent, they are able to step up and play a role.”
Senior keeper Andrew Seyden recorded 11 saves for the Boilermakers (19-4-1).
Bradley-Bourbonnais played the second half with just nine field players after sophomore forward Peter Sorich was issued his second yellow card, this one for delay of game, at the end of the first half. The team has grown accustomed to adversity.
“I don’t think we were scared, because we have been in worse situations, like the Normal (supersectional) game, where we were down two players in the second half and still able to come back and get a last minute goal (in the second overtime),” Tony Markanich said.
Bradley-Bourbonnais needed every goal it got Saturday. St. Charles North had the more consistent and stronger play. After struggling to generate any credible offense against Naperville North in the semifinal on Friday, St. Charles North materialized as a wholly different entity against the Boilermakers.
They pushed numbers, moving the ball quickly from side to side and excelling at slotting the ball onto the wings. Senior forward Jake Persenico, the team’s leading scorer with 17 goals and eight assists, was brilliant at the start in creating, absorbing contact and finishing. A couple of shots pushed just wide off frame and Wray made a spectacular waist-high goal-saving head clearance inside the box in the 18th minute.
“The earlier chances that I had, and that my teammates had, and our struggle to get the ball in the back of the net, we could not let that affect us or get our heads down,” Persenico said. “We had to come out in the second half and play with fire and for each other and finish the chances we had. We should have finished a lot more chances.
“The keeper made some really great saves.”
St. Charles North (16-4-4) had a 17-9 advantage in shots on goal. Seyden made a couple of superb stops and the Boilermakers’ alert backline did a credible job of blocking shots and generating deflections or tips.
Nick Markanich is a top-five scorer in the state. He made the North Stars pay for their mistakes. Bradley-Bourbonnais led 2-0 at the break following his goals in the 14th and 31st minutes.
“This is their second time around in this spot,” St. Charles North coach Eric Willson said. “They definitely were dangerous on counters against us. I thought we were the better team, and we uncharacteristically made some errors that we don’t usually do. Some of that had to do the game itself.”
The North Stars’ pressure finally yielded dividends in the 45th minute. Off a throw-in, defender Peter Willis pushed a ball to the left edge that Persenico blasted with a low liner inside the near post.
“To give up the two goals was pretty difficult,” Willson said. “We still have to defend a little better in some spots, but to go down two goals and then still find a way to get yourself back into the game was obviously a credit to our players in believing in each other and not giving up. We are certainly proud we found a way back into that game.”
Teams are at their most vulnerable immediately following a score, and Nick Markanich again gave the North Stars little time to celebrate. In the next minute, he broke free down the left edge and caught a through-ball from his brother for a one-on-one against North Stars’ keeper Piercarlo Ricossa. He returned the Boilermakers’ lead to two goals.
The North Stars played with passion and heart. They found the open creases against Bradley-Bourbonnais and refused to give in. Senior forward Bernard Elegbede blasted home a short volley after Kyle Kolodziej’s original ball repelled off the crossbar in the 65th minute. It was his 13th goal of the year.
In the 68th minute, St. Charles North completed its comeback as junior midfielder Matt Beaulieu worked the ball on the right flank. Taking a ball from Elegbede he made a quick counter step and smashed a ball that was deflected and took a crazy hop, throwing Seyden off, who could not react in the time as the ball carried through the back of the net for the only tie.
“That has been the theme for the whole season,” Elegbede said. “This team fought for each other, in different spots and different games. We showed a lot of fight. We showed a lot today, even though we came up a little short in the end. It showed the kind of character we had and how we want to remember the rest of the season.
“I wanted to fight hard for my teammates because I knew the sacrifices they made for me. I felt like playing my hardest was the only way I could pay them back. I was fighting for them.”
The Markanich combination proved too difficult for St. Charles North to overcome.
The meaning and value of the season and the way the team fought until the end embodied the spirit and togetherness of a North Stars team whose fourth place finish delivered the first state trophy in the program’s history.
“It was a crazy game, with a lot of ups and downs,” Beaulieu said. “I would not want to play in any other game. It was awesome to have that feeling, at the same time it was one of the worst feelings, giving up that fourth goal. It was always about us. It was never about anyone else. We game-planned for other teams, but in the end it was about us.
“We played the way we wanted to play.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles North
GK: Piercarlo Ricossa
D: Connor Bettini
D: Peter Willis
D: Kyle Kolodziej
D: Alex Somera
MF: Matt Beaulieu
MF: Jameson D’Amico
MF: Josh Amaro
MF: Parker Kolb
F: Jake Persenico
F: Bernard Elegbede
Bradley-Bourbonnais
GK: Andrew Seyden
D: Tyler Jasmin
D: Brandon Wray
D: Benjamin Kuxmann
D: Bryson George
MF: Tyler Schlitz
MF: Anthony Markanich
MF: Efrain Davila III
MF: Jackson Jasmin
F: Peter Sorich
F: Nick Markanich
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Nick Markanich, Bradley-Bourbonnais, sr., F
Officials: M—Doug Curtner, AR1—Dylan Kramer, AR2—Scott Lichtfuss, 4th—Mike Umano
Scoring summary
First half
Bradley-Bourbonnais—Nick Markanich (Peter Sorich), 14th
Bradley-Bourbonnais—Nick Markanich (Efrain Davila III), 31st
Second half
St. Charles North—Jake Persenico (Peter Willis), 45th minute
Bradley-Bourbonnais—Nick Markanich (Anthony Markanich), 46th
St. Charles North—Bernard Elegbede (Kyle Kolodziej), 65th
St. Charles North—Matt Beaulieu (Elegbede), 68th
Bradley-Bourbonnais—Nick Markanich (Anthony Markanich), 76th