North Stars blank Boylan to win Barrington title

By Mike Garofola

St. Charles North lifted the Barrington Classic cup Saturday night after an impressive second-half effort did in a young and exciting Rockford Boylan side which went through its pool play with ease and appeared to be on the fast track to its first championship here.

But after holding off a hard charging Titans (5-1-1) and their talented midfield duo of Victor Zamora and Ryan Howe in the first 40 minutes, North (6-0-2) slowly took control after the break.

And following a sensational strike from Matt Rasmussen to double its lead at the hour mark, Eric Willson's lads never looked back in its 2-0 victory over Boylan.

"It feels very good to win a title here, after a solid week of soccer in which we played some outstanding teams, and in the process, found out a little bit more about what kind of a team we will have going forward," said Willson.

"Boylan is a terrific side, and at times, we saw how good they (were) - especially when the ball was on the foot of Zamora.

"But we really tightened up in the back during the second half and I could mention just about everyone who was back there as key figures who helped (us) win this title."

Willson did click off the names of Jared Casey, Alex Behm, David Farr and Brandon Stanko, among others, who never allowed Zamora and company to have just a sniff or two around the area.

As a result, the Titans didn't often challenge North's keeper Garrett Creasor, who was one of the first Boylan head coach Chris Mera mentioned after the match.

"We obviously haven't seen a team and big and strong as St. Charles North, and that goes for (their) keeper, who is very imposing back there, and easily persuaded a few of young, and not so big freshmen and sophomore players away from his area," said a gracious Mera.

"Garrett was big for us tonight, and one of the reasons we were able to shut (Boylan) down for most of the second half," offered Stanko, who tackled with near 100 percent efficiency.

Along with Farr, Stanko helped to totally frustrate a Boylan attack which appeared to have way more energy and pace than the Stars in the opening quarter hour of play.

"They are a very good team, but maybe because of the way they beat people leading up to this game or (whatever the reason) we gave them way too much respect at the start, and they took advantage and had a great start," said captain Noah Anthony, with Stanko alongside in full agreement.

"We really could not have played much worse, but soccer is kind of a funny game, and although they dominated the first 15-20 minutes, we still got into the back of the net first," Anthony would say with a wry smile, as it was this talented senior who would strike the crushing blow on the Titans.

"We've all seen it before, you control the match, but find yourselves trailing, and all night long, it was an experienced, physical team like St. Charles that just made us pay on almost every dead ball opportunity that came their way," Mera would say.

The Titans allowed a Zack Matuszak ball to fall inside the box - and take a healthy bounce towards the back post - before ever-opportunistic Anthony finished with ease and a deft touch to give the Stars a 1-0 lead at 20 minutes, despite rarely enjoying just a hint of possession in their opponent's end until then.

With a sense of urgency to get back even, the Titans snapped back after intermission, and if it wasn't Zamora or Howe, it was Tyler Robinson or Michael Lotko buzzing around the Stars' area, until one of Anthony's trademark serves off the free kick at 53 minutes seemed to take the wind of the Titans for good.

Just nine minutes later, the North Stars grabbed a 2-0 advantage.

After an alert Creasor raced off his line to stop Zamora and Nick Kind off the counter, Anthony helped create the Rasmussen goal when he served to the back post.

Joe Stone would elevate out of a crowded group to redirect his header back the other way, where Rasmussen would twist his body just enough to square up and head the ball into the back of the net to complete the spectacular goal.

"That was a big goal for us, but after that, we had to work hard to keep (them) from scoring and cutting into our lead and giving them back the momentum," offered Stanko.

While the senior and his mates did so, Anthony and company tried in vain to put the Titans away for good as they searched for a third goal to put the dagger in for good.

Creasor would save on Lotko at 71 minutes, but it was his counterpart, Tim Dobrowolski who took a sure goal off the shooting boots of Thursday night's hero, Mike Winhoffer with a superb save at 78 minutes keep the Titans faint hopes alive.

"We've come a long way this week, but there's a lot of soccer ahead of us, and we need to find a way to play 80 minutes, and not 65 or 70 if we want to be (there) at the end when the playoff begin," said Anthony.