History repeats as Antioch comes back on Lakes

Antioch found itself trailing rival Lakes in the regional final, just like last year.

But the Sequoits once again rallied to produce a come-from-behind victory.

Iven Hernandez scored the winning goal to lift top-seeded Antioch past No. 8 seed Lakes 2-1 in a Class 2A regional final in Lake Villa on Saturday night.

"I was not going to let (Lakes) shut me out," said Hernandez, who's scored 35 times this fall. "I've scored every year against them since freshman year. I wanted to keep us going this year. It's a great feeling, winning with these guys. Scoring the goal was a huge relief."

Hernandez netted the game-winner in the 62nd minute after taking a short drop pass from Krystian Steit.

JR Lonergan had tied the game in the 48th minute off a rebound at the near post following an initial shot from Eric Pedersen.

"Nothing better than high school sports at its best," Antioch coach Marni Polakow said. "That's what it's all about, and they deserve it.

"It's emotional - sister school, rivals or whatever you want to call it. It's something mentally that you have to overcome and deal with. We fought it real hard."

Antioch (16-7) next meets No. 5 seed St. Viator in a Grayslake Central semifinal at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Lakes (6-12-5) was was the aggressor early on and jumped out to a 1-0 lead.

The Eagles' Nick Dydo began the scoring in the 18th minute with an assist from Tom Cyberski. Lakes had other chances to increase the lead in the first half, as well as opportunities to tie the match in the late stages.

"We played well, and I've got no complaints," Lakes coach Kevin Kullby said. "It's hard to keep a good team down, and a second chance that hit the post - if that goes in, then that pretty much seals the game.

"(Antioch) was a good team and they made good on a couple of chances. I still thought we had a lot of good chances to score. It was a hard-fought game."