Alan Alonso started a chain of events that took on greater meaning late Saturday morning.
Standing in the second lane of Hoffman Estates’ track, just a few yards away from the football field, the Grayslake Central senior midfielder was clutching the Class 2A third-place trophy in his arms.
As he posed for photos, Alan Alonso called for his younger brother Uriel, a freshman defender, to take his turn holding the trophy. Their brother Jaziel, a sophomore midfielder, was next.
Alan Alonso wanted his brothers and other younger teammates, like freshman defender Damian Sereno and junior midfielder Miles O’Sullivan, to embrace the moment after the Rams’ historic 4-0 win against Solorio.
“I always tell them that they have the talent to keep going on and to keep playing at that good level,” Alan Alonso said.
Grayslake Central (19-2-3) scored two goals in each half to reset the bar for the program. After advancing to the state tournament for the first time last season and placing fourth, the Rams added another milestone with their best finish yet. Peoria Notre Dame then beat Glenwood 3-1 in the championship game.
“Obviously, we were aiming for first,” Grayslake Central junior midfielder Mitchell Fein said. “It certainly hurts to see other teams warming up to play for the trophy we wanted, but it’s definitely a good thing to end on a high note for these seniors. … It’s definitely a lot better to end the season with a win.”
Freshman midfielder Ivan Sereno, who scored two of the goals against Solorio (22-5), is part of another family within the Rams’ family. His brother Ray, a senior midfielder, started the scoring with a goal in the opening minutes. Damian Sereno is their cousin.
Meanwhile, two of the Alonso brothers each had a hand in a goal. Alan Alonso, who finished with 15 goals and 22 assists this season, was credited with an assist on Ivan Sereno’s first goal, and Jaziel Alonso got an assist on Ivan Sereno’s second goal. Fein scored the Rams’ fourth goal.
“For next couple of years, I feel we can get far and hopefully make it back to state,” Ivan Sereno said.
Alan Alonso said the team made great strides in the past seven weeks, after senior forward Danik Marynevych
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and senior defender Jose Chavez suffered season-ending injuries in a 4-1 Northern Lake County Conference loss to Round Lake on Sept. 22. Since that game, the Rams lost just once — a 1-0 setback against Glenwood in a state semifinal on Friday — and they shut out six of their last seven opponents.“After Daniel and Jose — and those were two big losses — our team was able to glue itself back together,” Alan Alonso said. “We were playing a different type of football. … Compared to before Daniel, when he was basically our top scorer, it made other people step up and take that role.”
He said he struggled with his emotions immediately after the game, however. It took several minutes for him and a few other teammates to finally break out smiles.
“Right away, all I saw was the other teams warming up,” Alan Alonso said. “I kept on thinking that should’ve been us. I’m happy. I’m happy for the team, especially for the younger players. I’m happy we improved from last year and got third.
Bobby Narang is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.