Antioch 2, Vernon Hills 1
THE SKINNY
Not even a top seed in a four-team regional, Antioch continued its surprising postseason run by edging Vernon Hills 2-1 Saturday to win the Class 2A Grayslake North Sectional. It was the first sectional title in school history for the Sequoit program. They play St. Ignatius in the Stevenson Supersectional on Tuesday.
TURNING POINT
In the first half, Vernon Hills (12-7-2) had much the better of the play, but when an apparent Cougar goal was nullified by an offsides call, the teams went to intermission 0-0. Then, in the first eight minutes of the second half, Antioch scored twice on what was basically its only two decent chances of the game.
THE STAR
Antioch senior keeper Tommy Tritschler (7 saves) was able to keep the Sequoits in the game while his teammates struggled to get things going. In the second half, he controlled the box so that Vernon Hills’ scoring chances were kept to a minimum.
BY THE NUMBERS
The Sequoits (18-4-3) were awarded a PK after a tripping call in the box in the 44th minute, and Antioch senior captain Jon Bohmann buried it lower right for the 1-0 lead. Four minutes later, Danny Brito took a pass from Iven Hernandez and seemed to have all day in the box to turn and score. In the 52nd minute, Vernon Hills made it 2-1 when David White headed in a perfectly placed ball from the corner by Matthew Hong. An Antioch defender headed the ball back out, but the linesmen ruled it had crossed the goal line.
QUOTABLE
“This is how we’ve done it. We don’t quit. We might not play our best all the time, but we don’t quit. We just go. Eventually it came, and now we’re moving on to supersectionals. It’s a great feeling.” — Antioch coach Marni Polakow
