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newlenoxpatriot.com Sports
the New Lenox Patriot | May 17, 2018 | 45
water polo
Central falls to eventual sectional champs East
West falls after firstever
playoff win
RANDY WHALEN, Freelance
Reporter
Lincoln-Way Central and
Lincoln-Way West’s district
rivals Lincoln-Way East went
on to win it’s third straight
sectional championship on
Saturday, May 12.
Central was one game
short of making it to the sectional
title matchup against
Sandburg. But East scored
early and often and defeated
Central 15-5 the day before.
Central (17-13) scored first
when senior Ryan Burke (2
goals) found the back of the
net just 24 seconds into the
game. But then it was all East.
The Griggins scored seven
goals the rest of the quarter
and 10 straight in all to lead
10-1 with 5:21 left in the first
half. Seniors Brian McGuire
and Ryan Burke scored for
the Knights to close them
within 10-3 at halftime, but
they never got closer than
that seven goal margin.
Senior Josh Fox also
scored for Central. Schor,
who had three goals in the
first quarter, led East with
Tyler Hubbs had one of the 12 goals for the Warriors. He
also had four steals on the night.
Brad Small looks to pass to an open teammate.
Please see polo, 41
Lincoln-Way West’s Josh Carlson gets ready for what could’ve been his final swim off if the Warriors lost May 9 during a
sectional quarterfinal match against Andrew. Instead, Carlson scored five goals in route to victory. w
Warriors notch first postseason win in program history
James Sanchez, Editor
When Andrew beat Lincoln-Way
West at the Warriors’
pool 17-11 on April
12, West captain Josh Carlson
called it the worst team
game of the season. West
played again in the regular
season finale on May 4 and
lost by one. Carlson said
they played well, but not up
to the team’s potential.
But when the two teams
met again when it mattered
most May 9 in Frankfort in a
sectional quarterfinal matchup,
the Warriors chose the
perfect time for everything
to click. By way of a 12-6
score, the Warriors advanced
to the sectional semifinals
and more importantly won
their first postseason game in
program history.
“The past three practices
we worked on every little
aspect,” Carlson said. “We
watched film from all our
games against [Andrew]. It
paid off because we played a
phenomenal game. Our outside
shooting was on point.
It was no doubt the best
game as a team. Every single
player who was in the pool
for us played their best game
of the year.”
The team’s first playoff
win was one of many firsts in
its historic season. They also
beat Homewood-Flossmoor
and Stagg for the first time in
school history, and finished
the year with a winning record,
which has never been
done before either.
“In my mind coming into
this season, I thought there
was a lot of stuff we could
improve on, but there’s nowhere
to go but up,” coach
Jacob Bernard said. “Their
ceiling was set, but I wanted
to see how high they could
go past that ceiling. These
guys kept on proving time
and time again that they
wanted it, and they were
breaking records. … We
were just going non-stop,
and we kept riding that momentum
to sectionals.”
It took a lot from the defense
to notch this historic
win. The Thunderbolts,
which scored the aforementioned
17 goals on the Warriors
back in April, only
mustered two by halftime.
Goalie Brennan O’Brien was
a wall, as he finished with 19
saves – one of them came
from his head. O’Brien and
the defense even stopped an
Andrew possession when
West was down two men
from fouls.
“I really wanted it to win;
that’s it,” O’Brien said. “I
put my heart into this game
and was determined to win.”
“Brennan let up six goals,
but this was by for his best
game I’ve ever seen him
play,” Bernard added. “There
were stops where I thought
he wasn’t going to save them,
but somehow he leaned that
extra two inches and made a
stop. Our defense was building
momentum off of his
strength. Offensively, we
were getting breakaways because
of him, which against
Andrew, [Lincoln-Way] East,
Sandburg and [Lincoln-Way]
Central, those are teams that
are hard to do breakaways on.
It was a huge uplifting moment
for all of us.”
The Warriors led from the
start and never surrendered
their lead. The T-Bolts got
the game as close as 6-4 in
the third period after backto-back
goals, but Carlson
and Liam Hall answered
back with two straight to
maintain a comfortable lead.
The defense did the rest,
shutting out Andrew in the
final period to seal the win.
“This is the best feeling
right now,” Bernard said.
“To be honest, I feel like I
just won sectionals with that
win right there.”
It felt like that to Carlson,
too. A long fist pump
followed after each of his
scores, noting their importance
against a dangerous
team like Andrew that could
come back at any time.
“This means everything,”
Carlson said. “Before this
game, I was so nervous. I
wanted this so bad, and I’ve
been waiting four years to
get to this point – to get to
the second round – and it
feels amazing.”