2008 Fire/SouthtownStar Boys Soccer Coach of the Year

It could be said that Bremen's advance to the Class 2A supersectional round this year was 16 years in the making.

That's how long Steve Granat has been coaching soccer. He's been the head coach of the Braves for two seasons, was on the Bremen staff for the previous three, and before that, coached at De La Salle, Stagg and Andrew.

Granat's assistants all played for him earlier in his career. And, as he was the sophomore coach before moving to the varsity level, everyone on this year's team benefited from his tutelage as freshmen and sophomores.

This year, it all paid off. The Braves ran through the South Suburban Blue, then captured regional and sectional titles before falling to St. Joseph in a hard-fought supersectional match to finish 19-4-2. The achievement has earned Granat the honor of Fire/SouthtownStar Boys Soccer Coach of the Year.

"The players buying into the concept of high school soccer, that was the big accomplishment for us," Granat said. "Our players all play in the CLASA (Chicago Latin American Soccer Association) league in the summer. High school and CLASA, that's two different philosophies. They're more into offense, and we stress defense.

"It took a while to get across. It really started last year at the end of the season, when we lost in triple overtime (in the regional final) to Lockport. But we really started meshing in June or July, during summer training."

Soccer players go year-round, and Bremen's are no exception. There's the regular season, summer training, winter play indoors, plus the club play in CLASA. When the Braves knocked off all three Lincoln-Way schools, plus Lockport and Lemont in the summer, Granat knew he had a group that was coming around.

"It's been a long battle," Granat said. "They didn't cut corners, didn't cheat. They deserved what they got. What they accomplished as a team was big. Bremen's known as a football school, but the last couple of years, soccer players are looked up to."

His leaders included forward Josh Techiera and goalkeeper Mick Goulding. Up front, Techiera provided scoring punch time after time, while Goulding came up with big saves in the clutch, especially in a comeback win over Carver MilitaryAcademy in the first round, and against Lemont in the sectional final.

"Before the season, Josh gave me a list of his goals, and they included everything up to and including winning the state championship," Granat said. "Then he began checking 'em off. And Mick's tough. Last year against Andrew, he hit the post diving for a shot, and split his head open. He got four or five stitches, and said, 'I want to go back in.' The trainer said he was all right, so I put him back in. He's very aggressive."

The work ethic of Techiera and the grit of Goulding rubbed off on the players in between.

Granat works as a District 228 administrator at Tinley Park High School, a few miles from Bremen, but is able to keep tabs on his players through other coaches, not that he needs to.

"The whole team is an 'A' and 'B' team as far as grades go," Granat said.

It's also one that, this year, had a sense of history.

"Before the season, I said to them, 'You write your own history, page by page,' " Granat said. "They won the conference, regional, sectional, and the sophomore team won conference.

"At our banquet, I told our players, 'Eventually, you'll have kids. When they grow up, don't tell them what you did, tell them how you did it. Take what you've done the last four years and pass it on to them.'

"We had 11 seniors on our team, and every one of them have walked away with life lessons."