Dan Saltzman was not expected to play the role of hero on Wednesday.
The Stevenson sophomore had started just a handful of games before the Class 3A Stevenson Regional semifinal against highly touted Zion-Benton.
In fact, Saltzman came off the bench against the Zee-Bees.
But veteran Stevenson coach Mark Schartner had an inkling that Saltzman might be a difference-maker.
“After our halftime talk, he and I were walking together, and I go, ‘You are going to get the winning goal today,’ ” Schartner said. “He just looked at me like I was stupid.”
Saltzman made his coach look much smarter than that when he scored the decisive goal in the 70th minute to lift the 12th-seeded Patriots to a 2-1 upset of the fifth-seeded Zee-Bees.
Stevenson (6-8-4) had lost 3-1 to the Zee-Bees (14-5-2) at home on Sept. 17.
The Patriots now have a chance at another upset when they host fourth-seeded Fremd in the regional final at 5 p.m. Friday.
“The win is reflection of how good the North Suburban Conference is,” Schartner said. “Zion-Benton was one point away from tying Libertyville in the conference. But when you have a team with 11 seniors, they have an attitude about this not wanting to be their last game.”
Stevenson’s Ben Dixon opened up the scoring with a goal in the 48th minute.
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Saltzman’s goal came off a shot that rebounded hard off the crossbar and caused a scrum in front of the net. Zion-Benton goalkeeper Roberto Colin dove to the ground, and Saltzman cleaned up the play by tapping a shot into the net.
Two minutes earlier, Zion-Benton had tied the game on Osmar Barajas’ header.
Saltzman, a captain on the freshman team last season, said it was his second goal of the season.
“I made a run up the field and followed the rebound and happened to place it in the back post around the goalie,” Saltzman said.
Colin, one of the main reasons for the Zee-Bees’ success this season and second-place finish in the North Suburban, said the winning goal came on a series of unfortunate events that started with the first shot off the crossbar.
“I couldn’t really do much about it and just tried to play ground ball at that point,” Colin said. “We came up short, but in the long run, this season will benefit all of us.”
Zion-Benton coach Cliff Pontillo praised his team for a stellar season.
“(Stevenson) is a quality team with a quality coach,” he said. “For our program, to come down to the last week of the season with a chance to win conference is special. The school has never been in that position. We really only played one bad game all year.”
Bob Narang is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.