Red Devils knock Huskies out of tournament

tstablein@pioneerlocal.com

The best save in the regional title game was made by Oak Park-River Forest goalie Mark Bernthal late in the first half.

Bernthal had very little time to think about what to do after Hinsdale Central's John Balsamo broke through the defense at the 20-yard line and had only the goalie remaining to beat.

The 5-foot-10 Bernthal sprinted out and was able to deflect the shot in a collision with Balsamo that left both players on the artificial surface with no foul being called.

What happened after that wasn't good news for the Huskies.

The ball rolled slowly to the right side of the field where Hinsdale Central's Mark Knight was waiting to kick it into a wide-open goal mouth.

That turned out to be the lone goal, as Hinsdale Central went on to win 1-0 on Friday over the Huskies (15-6-2) in the title game of the OPRF Class AA Regional.

Ironically, the Huskies posted a 1-0 win in double overtime against the Red Devils when the two teams played during the regular season in a West Suburban Conference Silver Division game.

"It was a different game from the first time we played them," Hinsdale Central coach Mike Wiggins said. "We were mentally more into it. I thought we did a great job in the back. We showed the type of defense we have."

It was the 22nd career shutout for Hinsdale Central goalie John Shakon.

"I swear he was offside," OPRF coach Paul Wright said. "That happens sometimes. We knew this was going to be a war. We made a critical mistake in the back and we knew the game might come down to something like that happening."

The best chance for the Huskies to score came when all-time career goal scorer Drew Golz found himself in a one-on-one situation with Shakon with just under five minutes to play in the first half.

Shakon got enough of his right hand on the shot from 12 yards out to deflect the ball into the air in front of the goal.

"That shot was a blast," Wright said.

OPRF's Mark Schroeder headed the rebound back in the direction of the goal only to have Shakon grab it out of the air with both hands with 4 minutes, 7 seconds to play in the first half.

"I thought the keeper was a little left so I went right with the shot," said Golz, who finished his career at OPRF with 50 goals. "We had some awesome chances. That's how it goes sometimes. We gave it all we had and they just edged us."

Shakon was credited with 16 saves against the OPRF offense.

"Five or six of those chances came at the end of the game," Wright said. "We had so many opportunities. We just could not catch a break."

"That gets the blood pumping in a one-on-one spot," Shakon said. "That was the hardest shot of the season. That's a very good team. This was some revenge for us."

The Huskies advanced to the title game with a 4-0 win over Riverside-Brookfield in a semifinal round game on Oct. 16.

It certainly wasn't an easy win, considering the game was scoreless after 40 minutes of play.

The Huskies finally got on the board with 37:21 to play in the game thanks to a goal by Jordan Golz which turned out to be the game winner.

Bernthal was credited with the shutout, stopping seven R-B shots.

Drew Golz, Michael Michon, Koller, Bernthal, Matt Gebert and Schroeder were all named all-conference.