Brito, Antioch find the mark
Danny Brito earned credit for a goal earlier this season when his throw-in found the back of the net against Lakes.
The Antioch sophomore did the trick again Wednesday night against Grayslake Central. And not once, but twice in less than three minutes early in the second half.
Brito fired the ball toward the goal each time, and each time it glanced off a defender and rolled into the net.
The pair of fluke goals helped Antioch build an early lead and the Sequoits hung on for a 3-2 win in a semifinal of the Class 2A Grayslake North sectional.
“I have no clue how it happened,” Brito said. “I throw it in there for teammates to get a head on it and put it on goal. Sometimes they miss it and it bounces off another player into the goal.
“It’s really luck, I guess,” Brito said. “I don’t aim for the goal at all. I really aim for the 6 to 12-yard line, or I’m looking for one of my players that is open.”
JR Lonergan scored the other goal for the Sequoits early in the first half, hiking their advantage to 3-0.
Antioch (17-4-3) will play Vernon Hills (12-6-2) in the sectional championship at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Antioch would like to write its own history with the next game, since the boys soccer team hasn’t won a sectional title before. The last time the Sequoits advanced to the sectional final was in 1999.
Grayslake Central entered the match 14-0-2 in its last 16 contests.
“Our goal right now is breaking streaks,” Antioch coach Marni Polakow said. “We beat our streak against Lakes (beating the Eagles for the first time), and in this one we broke Grayslake Central’s 14-0-2 streak. They hadn’t lost to us since we last beat them.”
Both teams had to deal with a steady rain on Grayslake North’s turf.
“Almost every goal was scored on a mistake,” Polakow said. “It was which team came out with the most mistakes in their favor. I guess it worked out for us. Good teams find a way to win, whether it’s luck or skill.”
Grayslake Central (16-3-2) got second-half goals from Paul Kulis and Johnny Madrid. The Rams kept Sequoits’ 32-goal scorer Iven Hernandez off the scoresheet.
“It’s unfortunate. I thought we played really good soccer,” Grayslake Central first-year coach Steve Feldman said. “We were down 3-0 with not a lot of time left. How many teams would have stuck with it? We’ve been a great group all year long and fought back.
“It’s the second time we played them and the second time we could have won,” Feldman added. “We just made a lot of mental mistakes in the back. I have to hand it to Antioch. Their keeper (Tommy Tritschler) did a great job and was fantastic.”