Sandburg soccer coach Brian Papa can now remove the chip from his shoulder. But, chances are, he’s going to take very good care of it. Papa might even place it on the shelf next to the Orland Park school’s first state championship trophy.
It was that chip, the unsettling feeling that no one took Sandburg seriously, that drove Papa and his team the entire season. What started as an inspired drive to prove itself locally turned into a statewide campaign.
The proof finally lit up the scoreboard Saturday night at Naperville North when Sandburg edged Fremd 1-0 for the state title.
In Sandburg’s inaugural trip to the Elite Eight, it finished 29-0-1 to become only the second team in Illinois High School Association history to go the distance without a loss. Harrison was 17-0-2 in 1973.
Sandburg’s lone blemish was a 2-2 tie with Naperville North, which the Eagles later erased by beating Naperville North 1-0 for the Naperville Central sectional title.
But Sandburg didn’t just win the state title. It didn’t allow a goal in the three state-final games. The team’s last 12 games were shutouts; goalkeeper Chris Pope and the defense blanked 21 of its 29 opponents.
“We tell the kids two things,” said Papa. “Remember what we taught you, and believe who you are.”
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Sandburg believed. And a crowd of 2,269 braved the 25-degree temperature and snow flurries to see the final Illinois prep soccer game of the year.
The game started with a bang but fizzled to gritty defensive tackles and broken-up sequences. Fremd appeared to score just two minutes into the game, but the goal was disallowed due to an offsides.
The play served as a wakeup call for Sandburg, which countered and took the ball the length of the field. Fremd knocked the ball back over its own goal line, setting up a corner kick by Nick Kolliniatis.
Kolliniatis placed his kick within the reach of Sandburg’s sturdy forward, Josh Fiegl, who lifted his 6-foot-1-inch body into the air and headed the ball into the goal with 38 minutes 7 seconds remaining in the first half. Fiegl used his head to knock in over half of his 43 goals.
Fremd continued to attack. At the 26:31 mark, Conrad Taylor got a shot off, but Pope made a diving save. Five minutes later, Fremd had back-to-back corner kicks and then a direct kick by Cesar Carranza that hit the top of the goal and bounced out.
Sandburg weathered the storm, taking a 1-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.
But getting behind Sandburg is like falling into a deep, dark hole. Sandburg’s proud defenders Marty Regan, Tim Gira, Mark Mraz, Jason Rutter and Joe Donnellon were determined. They swarmed around Fremd players, and the Vikings couldn’t score.
“Jason Rutter came off the bench and we couldn’t get him off the field,” said Papa. “But the biggest unsung hero is Mraz. For the last month and a half, he has been guarding the other team’s top players (Saturday it was Denis DaSilva and Carranza). And Pope got us there (to state).”
Fremd, the Mid-Suburban League champ, finished 24-4-2. Viking players held their heads high after the loss.
“It was a great season, and we came so far,” said Fremd’s Andy McDermott. “The things I’ll remember my whole life are these guys on the team. I really love these guys, and the friendships here are the most important thing.”