It has been a much different season for Aurora Central Catholic senior Kyle Czerak.
He used to play alongside older brother Brett, who graduated. Before that, he watched his other brothers play sports. Now, he’s the only family member on the field, but he’s still making big plays.
Kyle Czerak’s header off a cross from Jonas Cebulski with 31:34 left in the second half broke a scoreless tie Monday. The Chargers added an insurance goal for a 2-0 win over Harvest Christian in the Class 1A ACC Regional championship game.
“We’d been waiting all day for (that goal) and then it finally came,” Czerak said. “We play a lot of balls in the air, and that’s how we’ve scored most of our goals. We have a few guys taking long shots, but it’s usually the ball over the top.
“Heading it in, that’s been our thing this year.”
It was the first regional title for ACC (13-11-1) since 2013. The Chargers play Stillman Valley in Wednesday’s Rockford Christian Sectional semifinal.
Czerak confirmed he occasionally gets called “Brett,” but he considers it a compliment.
“It’s a lot different without him here,” Kyle said. “I’ve been with him ever since I was little, and this is the first year where he’s gone and I’m just left here. It’s just one year, but it’s a brand new year for me.”
ACC extended its lead to 2-0 with 25:35 remaining when Juan Pablo Alanis slipped a shot through a crowd of defenders and past goalkeeper Matthew Baron.
“Our offense has been potent all season long, and along the way we’ve beaten some very good teams,” ACC coach Jose Barrientos said. “They are a good team and have big guys and an excellent goalkeeper.”
Harvest Christian (10-9-2) struggled to put anything together offensively.
“We knew what they were and how they play,” Lions coach Sina Vidic said. “Most of our year has been defending and countering so we knew if we could fight them off in the first 10 minutes and get them frustrated, we could play with them.
“We just couldn’t find our way through their back four, and that’s the name of the game.”
Less than two minutes into the second half, Czerak was taken down in the penalty area, but Baron stopped George Yanez’s penalty kick. That gave the Lions a brief spark.
“When we saved the PK, I think we had a 10-minute period where momentum swung our way,” Vidic said. “We had a crossbar off of that and a post, and I really thought we were going to break through with a goal. But it never happened.”
C.R. Walker is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.