Walsh, Warren stand tall against Boylan
Forget for a moment that the state’s top soccer team, Rockford Boylan, had handled Warren earlier in the season.
And just maybe the Titans didn’t read the reports coming from the Barrington sectional. That is, about how no team had scored on the Blue Devils soccer team in the three games heading into Friday night’s sectional title game.
Boylan’s state-best 48-game winning streak in boys soccer is over.
Warren used a pair of goals from Tony Severini. Keeper Brady Walsh and his defense kept the Titans offense off the board. Warren stopped the defending state champions 2-0.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Warren soccer coach Jason Ahonen. “I’m ecstatic. I’m pleased. I think we’ve been under the radar.”
Boylan (26-1) may have had the reputation but on this night, but the Blue Devils (21-3) looked the fresher and faster team.
The junior forward Severini used a header at the 23:39 mark of the first half to put his club up. He got an assist from Alex Brunell.
“We knew that they had beaten us 4-1,” Severini said. “But our whole team played great tonight.”
The Titans also had not been scored on during the postseason tourney until Severini’s header beat keeper Tim Dobrowolski.
“That’s 4 straight shutouts for Brady,’’ Ahonen said. “It’s our back line. We watched film yesterday and today. We knew Boylan was dangerous. We knew about their deep throw-ins. And we shut them down.”
Warren took the 1-0 lead to the second half. And despite just 1 goal on the scoreboard, the Warren players seemed to be confident at the break.
Sensing they were in trouble, the Titans put more pressure on keeper Walsh in the second half — including an elbow to Walsh’s stomach.
But the Warren defense held, and Walsh and Co. could relax a little at the 22:16 mark of the second half. This time the speedy Severini received help in a crowd from Ryan Foster and knocked home his second goal of the night.
“We play in a tough conference,’’ Ahonen said. “When you play Libertyville and Lake Zurich, those are tough games. It’s been a dogfight all year.”
After the second tally by Severini it was a matter of Walsh just taking care of business.
“It was a matter of recognizing the crosses,’’ Walsh said.
Helping Walsh on the defensive side of the ball were captains Billy Eddy and Patrick Schulz. Jeff Kinka also helped out his keeper. Walsh made his final save at the 1:20 mark and the Warren team salted the game away after that.
“We’ll get back to work tomorrow,’’ Ahonen said. “For those guys who stuck with us, this is special.”
The Devils can go out scouting at the Bartlett sectional at 11 a.m. Saturday. That’s where Schaumburg and St. Charles North meet for a sectional title. The winner meets Warren at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Barrington supersectional.