Boys water polo: Hersey dumps Buffalo Grove to win MSL East crown
Kenny Loggins famously sang the verse, "This is it, make no mistake where you are."
For archrivals Hersey and Buffalo Grove there would be no mistaking the battle that was to take place at BG's Natatorium would be an intense 28 minutes of action Wednesday afternoon between the two boys water polo squads.
The host Bison took a one-game lead over the Huskies into the final division match with both the Mid-Suburban East title and a berth in next Thursday's MSL title game at West champ Conant at stake.
"It's come down to the two of us the last few years," Buffalo Grove coach Scott Kopecky said. "Four years ago they won it. Then last two years, we've won it."
When the final horn sounded, the visiting team would leave no mistake as to who would make that trek to the east side of Hoffman Estates next week as Hersey would use a strong start and an even stronger finish to post a 14-6 victory.
The win, which avenged a 10-9 Buffalo Grove win in Arlington Heights three weeks ago, actually sent both teams into a 9-1 tie for the East crown but by virtue of an 8-goal differential in the two meetings it sends the Huskies to the MSL championship match.
"They wanted it. They knew defense was gonna win it and that was exactly what we had to do. I feel great," Hersey coach Marc Popovici said prior to joining his team in a celebratory dip in the pool after the contest's completion.
Hersey (20-9, 9-1) would set the tone early when junior Misha Nikiforov would connect on the first of his 5 goals just six ticks after the opening horn sounded. The Bison (16-8, 9-1) responded three minutes later when Andy Gonko knotted things up for the only time during the contest at one apiece.
Hersey's all-time leading goal scorer, senior Jack Casey, permanently broke that tie with 33 seconds left in the period leaving the Huskies ahead 2-1. Goals by Nikiforov, Casey and fellow senior Jack Blumenfeld padded the Huskies' advantage to 5-2 at the break.
It would be only after trading goals with the Bison during the first half of the third stanza that Casey's second goal of the period, which made it 9-5, began to create separation that Hersey used to pull away with a 5-goal barrage featuring Casey's fifth, sixth, and seventh scores for the final tally.
Casey made reference to the home loss to Buffalo Grove as his team's fuel for its fire.
"After we lost, it's been on everyone's mind at practice," he said. "Everyone's been pushing everyone else to get better. Everyone has had this date marked on the calendar because we all knew it was going to come down to the two of us."
Kopecky paid homage to Hersey's quickness on offense and defensive alignment that had the Huskies go 6-for-25 on the match.
"We just didn't adjust," he said. "We just needed to move the ball on the outside and take the shots and drive and we couldn't get it done. They're quick on those secondary shots and that's where they got us."