Hinckley-Big Rock wins conference tourney

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:24PM

While the Little Ten Conference regular season ended with three teams claiming a share of that title, Saturday's LTC Tournament produced only one victor in Hinckley-Big Rock.

The 2-0 shutout of Indian Creek marked the ninth time H-BR's Royals have ruled the post-season tourney which dates back to 1982. The triumph also boosted Hinckley-Big Rock's record to a stellar 18-2-1 which included a hard-fought 2-1 overtime semifinal win over Earlville-Leland, which joined H-BR and Somonauk as the regular-season tri-champs.

Midway through the opening half Hinckley-Big Rock keeper Justin Salazar made a solid save on a Shaquille Crayton attempt which kept the contest scoreless until Jake Inman's pass led to a Bernie Conley seven-yard strike from the left side with just 2:46 until halftime.

While Conley missed wide left on a great chance midway through the second half, the Royals' scoring leader booted an 11-yard strike from the middle neatly inside the right post with 19:22 remaining giving him 17 goals and 43 points for the season.

"With Tim (Engel) out (due to accumulating five yellows), I knew I had to step up today and capitalize on my opportunities," Conley said. "On the first one I saw the goalie wasn't coming out so I just put it next to him, and on the second, coach told me to get in position for a garbage chance off the corner kick and when the ball bounced my way, I just struck it quick and hard."

Indian Creek's Matt Kyler had a one-on-one breakaway with 4:33 left, but Salazar was equal to that task and a Timberwolves' direct free kick caromed off the crossbar at 1:22 to finish the ICHS chances. It was the 12th shutout for Hinckley-Big Rock and the 10th time Salazar owned the "clean sheet."

"Obviously Bernie had another good outing with some great crosses, and Salazar was in the right position during the second half when they had a few more chances," H-BR coach Paul Taeuber stated.

Unfortunately for the Timberwolves (12-9-0) it was the second time they left the Royals' field on the empty side of a 2-0 loss even though ICHS had a 15-10 edge in overall attempts and a 9-7 edge in on-target tries.

"We just can't seem to score on these guys. We certainly had opportunities, but we just couldn't quite get the finishing touch needed," said Indian Creek coach Eric Schrader, who along with assistant Adam Lindley were decked out in suits and ties to fulfill a promise made to their team for the semifinal "upset" of Somonauk.

"It's frustrating but we've got to keep our heads up," ICHS goalie Aaron Bolton said. "We have to continue working hard, and as coach told us, if we can beat Byron, we'll get another shot at H-BR."

On Tuesday H-BR hosts Plano in a prelim contest within the Indian Creek Class 1A Regional while the Timberwolves welcome Byron.

In Saturday's third-place contest featuring the other two-thirds of the tri-champs, Somonauk (15-3-1) defeated Earlville-Leland (11-7-1) by a 3-0 tally led by Joel Calderon's two goals. The back-to-back losses to the end the tourney was particularly frustrating to E-L which was trying to capture the event for a fifth consecutive year.

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