Naperville Central loses in final second

The clock at Stevenson High School said it all: .74 seconds.

That’s the amount of time that separated the even strength of Naperville Central and Sandburg in Friday night’s boys water polo state semifinal in Lincolnshire.

In two overtimes Sandburg defeated the Redhawks 15-14 as Sandburg senior Balys Gintautas scored the game-winning goal for the Eagles with less than one second remaining.

“They were the better team today,” said Redhawks coach Bill Salentine. “We turned the ball over too much on the perimeter.”

Sandburg opened the first quarter with a goal by Anthony Bonnar in the first minute but then quickly fell behind the Redhawks and had to play ketchup for nearly the rest of regulation.

“We were down by two goals two or three times and we just kept coming back,” said Sandburg coach Jim Caliendo. “We never got down emotionally, we just got fired up.”

Naperville Central reminded everyone in the building why it was the second-best team in the state last season with just more than a minute left in the first half.

Kristian Altuve swiped away the ball from Sandburg and cleared out a pass to Naperville Central senior Kyle Rickert, who was in the midst of a backstroke to get himself in scoring position.

Rickert fired and scored easily to give the Redhawks a 2-goal advantage heading into halftime, but the third quarter belonged to the Eagles.

“We were trying, but we just couldn’t finish [plays],” Salentine said. “I thought we might be able to hold on.”

Sandburg outscored Naperville Central 3-2 in the third quarter, and late in the period it became obvious the Eagles were not going to fade away. Sandburg still trailed 9-8 headed into the final period.

A penalty shot scored by Sandburg’s Matt Veldman, and a goal from the field by Gintautas forced overtime. Both goals game within the final minute and a half of the fourth quarter while Naperville Central was held scoreless.

In the second overtime period Rickert scored his sixth goal of the game with 13 seconds left to play. Before a third overtime looked imminent Gintautas scored the game-winner with .74 seconds remaining.

“We have a great group of kids with a ton of talent,” Salentine said. “We just couldn’t get it done.”