OP_110217

44 | November 2, 2017 | The orland park prairie Sports
opprairie.com
Boys Soccer
Eagles on wrong end of late-game goal at end of season
Eventual sectional
champ Bradley-
Bourbonnais
capitalizes on error
Geoff Stellfox
Freelance Reporter
Late goals have been a
staple of Sandburg’s season,
but during a Reavis Sectional
semifinal match the
evening of Oct. 24 against
Bradley-Bourbonnais, the
Eagles could not find a
breakthrough.
It was instead their opponents
who scored a winner
with less than 10 minutes
left in the game. The Eagles
fell 1-0 and had their dreams
of a state finals appearance
dashed.
Up until the Boilermakers’
goal, the game was a carbon
copy of Sandburg’s performance
against Stagg. Despite
being bombarded in the
first half, the Eagles defense
held firm, as the team found
its way into the game in the
second half.
In the opening 40 minutes
against Bradley-Bourbonnais,
Sandburg again struggled to
“We talk a lot about how it doesn’t matter how good
you are, how skilled you are, if you’re not going to
work together. They did that. They came together as
a team and as a family. We’re proud of our team.”
Desi Vuillaume — Sandburg boys soccer coach, on his team this season
Sandburg announces new
varsity wrestling coach
Submitted by Consolidated High
School District 230
Carl Sandburg Principal Deb Baker
recently announced Clinton Polz as
the new head wrestling coach for the
Eagles after the District 230 Board of
Education approved his hiring at its
meeting Thursday, Oct. 26.
Polz graduated from Sandburg
High School in 2006, where he was
a state-qualifying wrestler for the
Eagles and served as a captain on
get that foothold, while never
appearing to be in any imminent
danger. The constant
drizzle made for sloppy possessions
from both sides, but
Bradley had the better of the
opening exchanges.
Senior midfield ace Jimmy
Margas was again starved for
touches and was a peripheral
figure, having been forced
in a more defensive role,
shielding his back line from
the increasingly influential
Boilermakers midfield.
Although the Sandburg attack
was near nonexistent,
the defense looked as steady
as ever.
The second half proved to
be much more open. Despite
goalkeeper Connor Baker’s
relative inactivity in the first
half, he was called into action
repeatedly over the following
40 minutes, stringing
together an impressive series
of saves, as well as being
bailed out by the post.
The Boilermakers striker
Nicholas Markanich should
have scored when he found
himself in on goal, but
Baker again was quick off
his line to smother the opportunity.
But was the other
Markanich, Anthony, who
would make the Eagles
pay. After the Sandburg
back line failed to clear a
driven cross, the ball fell
to the Bradley midfielder,
who slotted one home from
inside the box, capitalizing
on the Sandburg’s only defensive
lapse over the last
160 minutes.
Sandburg pressed for an
equalizer but could not find
an answer. Margas then
two state championship teams. Polz
continued his academic and athletic
careers at the University of Illinois.
He wrestled for the Fighting Illini
and earned a Bachelor of Science degree
in physical education. He serves
D230 as a physical education teacher
at Stagg High School.
Prior to accepting the coaching position
at Sandburg, Polz served as the
coach of Plainfield North for one season
and was an assistant coach on the
Sandburg staff for five seasons.
Swimming
away soon
pulled the strings in the
match, seeing much more of
the ball, but it proved to be
too little too late.
In the moments after the
match, coach Desi Vuillaume
was reflective on his
team’s performance over
both the course of the game
and the season.
“The last 10 minutes or
so, it started to get a little
sloppy, and we started running
out of gas,” he said.
“[Bradley] is a good team,
and it’s hard to defend that
many good players, but I’m
proud of my team. They did
everything we asked them to
do, and they left everything
on the field and even more.
“We talk a lot about how
it doesn’t matter how good
you are, how skilled you are,
if you’re not going to work
Eagles girls honored
before end of their
final high school
season in the pool
RIGHT: Senior members of
the Sandburg girls swimming
and diving team recently
were honored during their
final season with the Eagles
in a Senior Night ceremony.
D.Nevels Images
Sandburg’s Jimmy Margas (right) works against a Bradley-
Bourbonnais defender Oct. 24 in the Reavis Sectional
semifinals. Geoff Stellfox/22nd Century Media
together. They did that. They
came together as a team and
as a family. We’re proud of
our team.”
Seniors Vasili Vouris,
Daniel Kaleciak and Luke
Kazlauskas, as well as junior
Charlie Gainer and
Baker were understandably
emotional after the match.
Despite the tears in his eyes,
left back Gainer was defiant.
“We contained them for
70 minutes, and they got one
shot off that found the back
of the net,” he said. “It’s unfortunate.
We haven’t let up
a goal in about five games,
and it’s something to be
proud of. We started this
season kind of rough, but we
brought it together, came together
as a back line. No one
thought we’d make it this far
and we did. It’s something to
be proud of.”