Oswego, East Aurora each earn victories

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:18PM

Things looked bleak for Oswego after the Panthers started the season 0-5-1 and lost offensive catalyst Elliot Totsch for the season with a torn ACL.

But all of that seemed a distant memory after Oswego upset No. 4 sectional seed Plainfield Central 1-0 Wednesday at the Class 3A Bolingbrook Regional semifinals.

"It's a great feeling," Oswego senior midfielder Nathan Kyes said. "I don't even know how to describe it. We've had kind of a rough season but this right here is special."

Kyes scored the game's lone goal when he bent a 35-yard free kick around a four-man wall with 23:15 remaining in the second half. Plainfield Central goalie Tyler Badertscher got a hand on the ball but couldn't stop it. It was the only shot of the second half for 13th-seeded Oswego (9-10-2), which lost 3-1 to the Wildcats on Oct. 11.

"I was trying to bend it in," Kyes said of his third goal of the season. "I hit it and then I didn't see the ball at all because all of the guys in the wall were huge. One of my teammates started yelling so I just went nuts."

The Wildcats (19-5) attacked relentlessly the rest of the way but were unable to solve the Panthers' defense, which was led by four-year starter Kyle Kearby. Oswego goalie Luis Gallardo made seven saves to record his seventh shutout.

"After the [previous] loss [to Central] we were devastated but we just moved on," Kyes said. "This week in practice we worked on a lot of [stuff] that we didn't use last time we played them and it definitely showed on the field."

Oswego moves on to Saturday's regional final against No. 5 seed East Aurora, which will be trying for just its second regional title ever. The ninth-ranked Tomcats (16-2-4) also avenged a regular season defeat with their 2-0 victory over Bolingbrook. Bolingbrook (13-9) had beaten East Aurora 1-0 last month.

Juan Bustamante scored his eighth goal of the season on a 32-yard shot at the 33:24 mark of the first half for East Aurora and Eddie Llamas added an insurance goal when he headed home a corner kick from Juan Luis Perez with 7:43 left in the second half.

"It feels good because they beat us at the beginning of the season, but we came [prepared] for this game," Bustamante said. "All of my teammates, they really want this. We're a very deep team so we're good in every position."

Norberto Sanchez made three saves and shared the shutout with Jose Vasquez for the Tomcats, who have already broken the school record for victories and won their first conference title.

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