Boys soccer: Blanke, Pallan power Barrington past Jacobs
It was too much Michael Blanke and Klaus Pallan for Jacobs.
The duo combined for 4 goals, Blanke getting 3 of them, as Barrington's boys soccer team topped Jacobs 5-2 in the championship of the 29th Barrington Classic at Barrington Community Stadium on Saturday.
"It was a good win, and a good championship for the boys to earn, and they should be proud of that," said Barrington coach Scott Steib, whose team won here for the second straight year. "But to be honest, I'm not sure if we play Jacobs again that the result is in our favor instead of theirs."
Steib clearly was impressed by the ability level shown by coach AJ Cappello's team.
"Jacobs has a lot of talent, especially with Noah (Melick) and No. 5 (Colin Walsh) up top, and those two were really dangerous, as were a couple of other players we had trouble with. AJ's team is a lot like ours in that he has an entirely rebuilt back line, plus a new keeper, and it takes time to sort all of that out. You saw that a few times tonight from both teams."
The game quickly had an end-to-end feel, with both teams trying their best to unsettle and unbalance the opposition.
It was Barrington - especially Blanke and Pallan - to first succeed.
Blanke flew up the right side, leaving a defender in his wake before playing an exquisite ball onto the foot of Pallan. He rounded out his run away from the Jacobs keeper in order to one-time a close-range shot into the back of the net in the fourth minute.
Eight minutes later, Blanke struck when he pounced on a loose ball near the 6 and finished with confidence.
"We struggled with the Barrington counter, and the pace of those two guys (Blanke and Pallan), who exposed a weakness of ours that we're still trying to clean up," said Cappello.
Things began to look better for the Golden Eagles when Melick ran onto a corner from Walsh, whose corner flashed through the box untouched. That allowed the Wisconsin-bound forward to direct a one-timer past Brett Sprengel in the 30th minute.
"That wasn't the start we wanted to have - we came back, had our chances. But it was just one of those nights that you see early in the season," said Melick, who scored 33 goals a year ago.
Jacobs (3-3-0) was back on the defensive moments after the Melick goal, as Blanke seized on his chance after being put through by Gio Guarnero.
In a pouring rain, Jacobs senior Noah Perrone got inside his mark, beating a Broncos defender to a loose ball inside the box. Perrone's finished the opportunity, making it 3-2 in the 54th minute.
Next, Blanke got his hat trick when his angled shot found a way past Jacobs' keeper, setting up the final score of the night on an unstoppable long-range blast from Barrington's Noah Sebens with nine minutes left.
"This is the game and opponent we wanted when we began this tournament, and we had a good week of soccer and results to get to it," said Cappello. "Now we have some things we'll go back to work on."
Jacobs is on the road Tuesday at Crystal Lake Central, while Barrington is at Mid-Suburban West rival Fremd on the same night.
"It's a different year, with a lot of different players - our entire back line, plus a new keeper and a few others in the midfield," said Blanke, now with 6 goals this fall. "There's a lot of tradition when it comes to Barrington, and high standards with playing here. We all want to live up to that, but it's going to take some time for us to get to a higher level."