Johnsburg coach Adam Bronars understood the importance of Johnsburg’s regional title win Saturday.

Not only had the Skyhawks won their first regional title since 2010 when they defeated Marian Central, 2-0, in the Class 1A Marian Central Regional final, but the group took an important step for the program.

“Winning breeds winning, success breeds success, so when that success gets further in the rearview mirror, it becomes harder to get over that hill to climb,” Bronars said. “The fact that they were able to get over that hill on Saturday was a massive result for them.”

The No. 5-seeded Skyhawks came together to pull off an upset of the No. 2 Hurricanes. Johnsburg’s backline was better organized and communicated with each other in order to hand Marian Central its fourth loss and shutout of the season. Midfielders Kyle Patterson, Armando Garcia and Blake Bowers all shored up the middle of the field to stop any sort of Hurricanes pressure.

Patterson gave Johnsburg a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute of the second half when he scored off a scramble, laying on the ground and just got a foot on the ball to get it into the net. Garcia added a penalty kick to seal the win.

“You just have to keep gambling at those chances,” Bronars said. “We just gambled at the right time.”

Johnsburg will play Wheaton Academy on Tuesday afternoon in the Class 1A Wheaton Academy Sectional and the goal is to continue winning, but Bronars is proud of the way the Skyhawks put a win to earn a regional title.

“Every player on that field, no matter what 11 guys are out there, are out there for each other,” Bronars said. “That’s made a huge difference for us.”

Crystal Lake South persists to FVC crown

Crystal Lake South’s hard work paid off on Thursday night in its 8-2 win over Hampshire.

The Gators battled back after dropping their match against Dundee-Crown on Sept. 22 to win both matches last week against Huntley and the Whip-Purs to win the outright Fox Valley Conference title.

“To see the guys stay persistent and persevere throughout the regular season was a testament to the work they were putting into the training, a testament to how competitive the Fox Valley was, there were no easy games, we were able to win a lot of close ones,” South coach Brian Allen said. “On Thursday, their demonstration and will to put it away emphatically was great momentum for the postseason.”

South made the most of its opportunity to win a conference crown, scoring six goals in the first half. Nolan Getzinger tallied a hat trick while Nick Prus scored twice and Nico Velasco, Kevin Cardoso and Ali Ahmed each added goals.

Scoring hasn’t been as consistent as Allen has wanted throughout the season, but he was happy to see the Gators quell some nerves with some goals.

“It started with the mindset and preparation of doing the little things right and paying attention to those details and that equated to a lot of goals, which helped calm some of the nerves,” Allen said.

Allen felt like both of South’s matches last week will help the team in the postseason. The Gators battled tough rain and wind elements and came back to defeat the Red Raiders in overtime while the Whip-Purs presented a different style of play that South needed to adjust to quickly.

Despite what his team has accomplished, Allen knows the Gators can reach another level.

“We still have to not rest on what we did last week,” Allen said. “We have to continue to improve and get better. Even with that success, there are still areas that we need to be better if we want to make a playoff run.”

Jacobs rides the wave

Jacobs’ play during the first 20 minutes of the second half against Dundee-Crown on Oct. 11 helped the Golden Eagles play spoiler.

The Chargers applied constant pressure and tied the match at 1-1, but Jacobs limited the damage in order to end the match at a tie and hurt D-C’s chances of winning the FVC title.

“I think our boys rode that wave pretty well and we created some chances of our own,” Jacobs coach Colin Brice said. “Missing that penalty kick kind of hurt us, but we still got some chances on the attack.”

Dundee-Crown not making changes

Despite the way D-C’s regular season ended in its tie with Jacobs, coach Rey Vargas didn’t think the Chargers needed to change anything up for the playoffs.

The teams played Tuesday’s match in a constant downpour during regulation with winds limiting one side of the field. Vargas isn’t going to change anything based on one match.

“I don’t think we deviate from what we’ve done well,” Vargas said. “We just work the ball, be patient and play how we know how to play. I think things will just work themselves out.”