Warren senior forward Lucas Ahonen no longer dreads the car ride home after games.
He said there had been nights when he wanted to be anywhere but sitting in the passenger seat alongside his father, Jason, Warren’s boys soccer coach.
“There would be games when I was on the bus coming home, and I would text my mom to come pick me up because I didn’t want to ride home with him,” Lucas Ahonen said.
“There were certain games we lost where we should have won, and he didn’t play me as much as I thought I deserved. He didn’t want to act like he was giving me playing time because I was his kid. For me, I thought he was not giving me a chance, especially after I made a mistake.”
But Lucas Ahonen has rarely left the field in the past two seasons. He has 14 goals and eight assists for the seventh-seeded Blue Devils, who extended their season with a 1-0 victory against 10th-seeded Zion-Benton in a Class 3A Warren Regional semifinal in Gurnee on Tuesday.
The Blue Devils (12-9-2) advance to play second-seeded Palatine, which beat 15th-seeded Waukegan 4-3 in the other semifinal, at 6 p.m. Friday.
Lucas Ahonen didn’t find the back of the net against the Zee-Bees (7-5-6), largely due to senior goalkeeper Brandon Gonzalez, but Ahonen’s steady play helped Warren avenge a 2-1 loss in a North Suburban Conference game on Oct. 3.
Warren senior forward Michael Yang scored the winner in the 58th minute, taking a long pass, making a 180-degree turn to get free and then drilling a shot from 21 yards out. It was Yang’s seventh goal of the season.
“I knew the ball was behind me, so I just tried cutting it over him and started running,” Yang said.
Gonzalez, who finished with six saves, kept Zion-Benton in the game. Warren junior goalkeeper Ethan Cole also stood out, making three highlight-reel stops in the final 15 minutes.
Lucas Ahonen, a captain and three-year varsity player, said he has improved his game since his sophomore season to become a regular in the lineup.
“I matured and got better, and (my dad) put more trust in me, and we needed me to step up more,” he said.
Jason Ahonen, a 1997 Zion-Benton graduate who took over the Warren program in 2008 and led the team to the Class 3A state title in 2012, said he has cherished watching his son’s game evolve.
“I think he’s playing the best soccer of his life right now,” Jason Ahonen said. “Lucas grew up coming to our games. We brought him up in his sophomore year, and he’s been a mainstay ever since.
“Being a coach’s kid is hard, but he’s like another coach. Overall, it’s been a wonderful experience. I’m very curious to see where the game takes him.”
Lucas Ahonen had eight goals and 12 assists last season after moving from his typical position at left back. His creative skills and high soccer IQ were always evident, but he stepped up his attack this season.
“This year we had to have somebody pick up the tab scoring goals,” Lucas Ahonen said. “For me, it was getting in dangerous spots to score goals and improve my free kicks. I’m a senior, so I knew it was my turn to take over to help us win games.”
Zion-Benton coach Cliff Pontillo, who was winning games before Lucas Ahonen was born, intends to step down after leading the program for 20 years.
Following the game Tuesday, Pontillo shared two long embraces with Jason Ahonen, his former assistant at Zion-Benton. The Ahonens have deep ties at the school, where Jason Ahonen’s two brothers also played and his wife, Cyranda, is a math coach.
“It was a little poetic justice, since Jason and I started together,” said Pontillo, who still plans to coach Zion-Benton’s girls soccer team in the spring. “It’s a bookend.
“It’s wonderful seeing his son.”
Bobby Narang is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.