CL South wraps up soccer title

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CRYSTAL LAKE – Crystal Lake South soccer player Carey Bienert got a text message after Tuesday’s 1-0 win against McHenry that coach Brian Allen had to check out.

Allen called a coach at Dundee-Crown who confirmed it: Christmas had come early.

Cary-Grove lost to D-C, 1-0, giving South (17-3-2 overall, 9-1 FVC Valley) sole possession of the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division title, their first in 12 years.

“It’s a great win for the program,” Allen said.

“It wasn’t just for their team, the players were doing it for the teams that have gotten close. We knew anything was possible.”

Allen said that the Gators would have been happy with a co-division championship and that their focus was on their game against the Warriors (7-11-3, 3-7). South did just that behind Charlie Oliver’s lone goal of the match in the first half and goalkeeper Dave Walsh’s two saves.

“Winning outright, that’s icing on the cake,” Allen said.

D-C coach Rey Vargas said his team wasn’t out to play the spoiler against the Trojans (12-3, 8-2 FVC Valley) at Cary. The Chargers simply wanted to improve on their 5-0 loss to Cary-Grove on Sept. 17.

Juan Lopez’s first-half goal for D-C (4-12-2, 2-8 Valley) was the only one of the match, and goalkeeper Edit Fuentes posted 10 saves to blank the Trojans.

“We’re not thinking about [conference] if we’re not in it,” Vargas said.

“We just wanted to work hard and gain momentum for the state tournament.”

As happy as South’s Allen was with his team’s win, like Vargas, he said the focus was on the postseason.

“The taste of the championship whets the appetite, but you need to do something special in the postseason,” Allen said. “There are bigger things out there we’re capable of achieving.”

Jacobs 1, Huntley 0: At Algonquin, Johnathan Kowalski scored the lone goal of the game, and Danny Trevor and A.J. Pfatschbacher combined for eight saves in the shutout for the Golden Eagles (6-11-3, 5-5) in their FVC Valley win. Kevin Montelongo recorded five saves for the Red Raiders (8-11-2, 3-7).

Prairie Ridge 10, Woodstock North 1: At Crystal Lake, Prairie Ridge clinched the FVC Fox Division title with a conference win against Woodstock North. Kurtis Stefan scored two goals for the Wolves (12-6-3, 11-1) and Mac Curtis had three assists against the Thunder (0-19, 0-12).

Johnsburg 2, Grayslake North 1 (penalty kicks): At Johnsburg, Kevin Dombrowski scored the only goal for the Skyhawks (12-5-2, 9-3) and Robert DeRosa recorded seven saves in the FVC Fox win against the Knights (4-12, 3-7).

SFlbBOYS CROSS COUNTRY

Pumpkin Run: At McHenry Township Park in Johnsburg, Richmond-Burton had three consecutive finishers in the top five to take the meet. Ian Sanchez finished second in 16:54, Matt Lytle finished third in 17:20 and Richard Kaht finished fourth in 17:31 for the Rockets. Johnsburg’s Nick Krebs finished sixth in 18:13 with the Skyhawks finishing third as a team.

Rockford Lutheran’s Juan Carrera had the top time at the meet, finishing in 16:39.

• Andrew Hansen and Mike Kolton contributed to this report