Herald-News Boys Soccer Notebook: Joliet area a gauntlet again this postseason

The boy soccer postseason is upon us, with the larger schools – Classes 2A and 3A – beginning their path to the state finals as early as Friday.

The Joliet area has a wealth of quality teams that could make that trip. However, many of them are bunched together in the Class 3A Lockport Sectional, which means that only one team from that group will move on to the Bloomington Supersectional and have a chance to advance to the state finals.

Last season, it was Lockport that survived the gauntlet and eventually finished third in the state.

This year, the Porters are again one of the top teams, but they have plenty of company.

To give an indication of the strength of teams in the Lockport Sectional, consider this: Romeoville currently is 21-0-1, and the Spartans are the No. 3 seed in the sectional.

The Lockport Sectional consists of four regionals – hosted by Stagg, Reavis, Homewood-Flossmoor and Rich Township – and the teams are seeded from 1-17.

Play begins Saturday in the Rich Township Regional, with 17th-seeded Rich Township visiting No. 13 T.F. North co-op. The winner plays fourth-seeded Lockport on Tuesday, while fifth-seeded Bloom Township takes on 12th-seeded Eisenhower on Wednesday. The title game is at 5 p.m. Friday.

The rest of the regionals in the Lockport Sectional begin play Tuesday. At the Stagg Regional, No. 2 Stagg takes on No. 16 Andrew at 5 p.m., with No. 10 Lincoln-Way West playing No. 7 Oak Lawn at 7 p.m. The two winners play for the title at 5 p.m. Friday.

In the Reavis Regional, No. 3 Romeoville plays No. 14 Reavis at 4:30 p.m., while No. 6 Lincoln-Way Central plays No. 11 Thornton (Co-op) at 6:30 p.m. The winners play Friday at 5 p.m. for the title.

In the Homewood-Flossmoor Regional, top-seeded Sandburg plays No. 15 at 5 p.m. Tuesday, with No. 9 Lincoln-Way East taking on No. 8 Shepard at 7 p.m. The winners will play for the title at 6 p.m. Friday.

The winners of all four regionals begin sectional play at Lockport on Oct. 25. The winner of the H-F Regional will play the winner of the Rich Township winner at 5 p.m., with the winner of the Stagg Regional playing the winner of the Reavis Regional at 7 p.m. The title game is set for 6:30 p.m. Oct. 28.

In the Moline Sectional, whose winner will play the Lockport Sectional winner in the Bloomington Sectional for a berth in the state finals, play begins Friday with No. 10 East Peoria playing No. 9 Decatur Eisenhower. The winner of the game will play No. 1 Minooka at 4 p.m. Tuesday. At 4 p.m. Wednesday, No. 4 Moline will play No. 5 Pekin. The winner of that game will play the Minooka winner at 3 p.m. Oct. 22 for the title.

Joliet West is hosting a regional in the Moline Sectional. That regional starts at 5 p.m. Friday with a match between No. 8 Joliet Central and No. 7 East Moline United. No. 2 Joliet West will play the winner of that match at 4 p.m. Tuesday, with No. 3 Normal Community taking on No. 6 Bradley-Bourbonnais at 6 p.m. the same night. At 5 p.m. Oct. 21, the two Tuesday winners play for the regional title.

Bolingbrook also hosts a sectional, featuring regionals at Metea Valley, Batavia, Plainfield North and Naperville North.

In the Plainfield North Regional, No. 3 seed Plainfield North will play No. 13 Oswego at 5 p.m. Wednesday, with No. 6 Oswego East taking on No. 11 Wheaton-Warrenville South at 7 p.m. The title match will be at 3 p.m. Saturday.

In the Naperville North Regional, No. 2 Naperville North will take on No. 16 Plainfield Central at 5 p.m. Tuesday, with No. 7 Bolingbrook playing No. 10 Plainfield South at 7 p.m. The two winners will play at 6 p.m. Friday for the title.

In the Batavia Regional, No. 1 Naperville Central will play the winner of Saturday’s No. 17 Yorkville vs. No. 15 Batavia match at 5 p.m., while No. 8 Plainfield East takes on Waubonsie Valley at 7 p.m. The title match is set for 3 p.m. Oct. 22.

Class 2A

In the Glenbard South Sectional, Lemont earned a top seed in one of the subsectionals. They will play Tuesday in the Wheaton St. Francis Regional, taking on the winner of Friday’s match between No. 8 Glenbard South and No. 7 Plano at 5 p.m. Following that match at 7 p.m. will be No. 4 Wheaton St. Francis and No. 5 IMSA. The two winners will play at 5 p.m. Saturday for the regional title.

In the La Salle-Peru Regional, No. 8 Morris will host No. 9 Ottawa on Friday, with the winner advancing to take on No. 2 Orion at 5 p.m. Tuesday. No. 4 L-P plays No. 5 Streator at 7 p.m., with the two winners playing for the regional title at 5 p.m. Friday to advance to the Washington Sectional.

Class 1A

The 1A tournament has started. Coal City dropped its opening match against Kankakee Bishop McNamara 6-1 Friday in the Coal City Regional.

In the Reed-Custer Regional, fifth-seeded Reed-Custer scored a 9-1 win over Grace Christian on Saturday and plays No. 3 seed Herscher at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. The title match, to advance to the Manteno Sectional, will be at 10 a.m. Saturday.

He finally got it

Earlier this season, Lockport’s Sean Flannery scored two goals in the first half against Lincoln-Way Central and had a shot at a hat trick, but it hit the post. Flannery said after the game that he had never had a hat trick at the varsity level.

He remedied that situation last week, when he scored all four of the Porters’ goals in a 4-1 win over Lincoln-Way East.