Sycamore stuns DeKalb late, wins El Classicorn Rivalry in penalty kicks

DeKALB – DeKalb was less than four minutes away from celebrating its third straight win in El Classicorn Rivalry game against Sycamore.

Aiden Sears and the Spartans had other plans.

Sycamore scored twice in less than a minute to tie the score at 4, then prevailed in penalty kicks for the win over the Barbs on Thursday.

“It’s unbelievable, honestly,” Sears said. “At one point, everyone probably thought we were done, out for the count. Somehow with three minutes left we just saw the opportunity, and we took those chances.”

The game was back and forth throughout, with Sears drawing and connecting on a penalty kick in the ninth minute, then Mauricio Jasso tying it for the Barbs in the 34th minute.

Jasso put the Barbs (5-12) ahead for the first time in the 55th minute. Three minutes later he made a beautiful pass to Edwin Cortina, who banged home another DeKalb goal to push the lead to 3-1 with 22:51 remaining.

Gavin Crouch got the Spartans (12-6-1) back into it with an open look with 19:43 left, his shot from the left side going high and right into the DeKalb net. But the Barbs answered with what seemed like a back-breaker 21 seconds later from Joaquin Medina-Benitez that put DeKalb up 4-2 and stole any momentum the Spartans gained.

“I honestly am speechless. I have no words,” Sycamore coach Kevin Bickley said. “We’ve been telling the guys it’s an 80-minute game, and that’s why it’s an 80-minute game – exactly what happened tonight. Those last three minutes we were down two and somehow we found a way to tie it.”

A DeKalb own-goal with 3:56 left drew the Spartans to within one. And 55 seconds later, Sears connected for his second goal, forcing penalty kicks. Sears took a feed from Shaun Roberts for his score.

“He got a little flick, I just took it around the defender on the volley hip bottom corner, and we were off,” Sears said.

After Sycamore missed its first penalty kick, Sears was the one who broke through. With the team’s leading scorer, Jameson Carl, hurt last month and his return still uncertain, the coach said Sears has stepped up.

“He’s had to kind of come to life with Jameson out, and we saw it today,” Bickley said. “He got that first one and tied it up there at the end. And then got that PK.”

Like in regulation, DeKalb went ahead in PKs when Diego Rayos deflected a shot by Javier Lopez, then Erick Talamantes connected on the first attempt for the Barbs.

Sycamore goalie Ryan Guzinski turned away two of the next three DeKalb shots, while Sears, Crouch, Rodrigo Gonzalez and Chandler Gatbunton made consecutive PKs to secure the comeback win.

“Right before we took our kicks, I said we worked hard to get here. Now let’s go win it,” Bickley said. “I’ve never been part of a game like that. It looked like we were out of the game, and we battled to get it to 3-2, and they turned right around and made it 4-2.”

DeKalb won the first two meetings since the game became sponsored and DeKalb County United presented a trophy to the winner.

DeKalb coach PJ Hamilton said the Barbs need to be able to learn and grow from the loss.

“This is the moment we try to chase away,” Hamilton said. “Every time we don’t feel like getting up in the morning for early-morning lifting sessions, every opportunity in the summer, this is the feeling we try to chase and never have to endure again.

“And so [Friday] will tell a lot about this group. Do we come in, do we respond from this, do we look to bounce back? Or do we let this kind of linger?”