FRANKFORT – When Jim Lock took over as Lincoln-Way Central’s boys water polo coach in 2013, he inherited a program that had won just one game the year before.
But you’d never know that after watching how his Knights played in Saturday’s Lincoln-Way North Sectional championship against Sandburg.
Facing a program that had won four trophies in seven years, Central used a strong defense to make history by beating the Eagles, 8-6, for the school’s first sectional title.
Central (21-10), which was making its second sectional final appearance and first since 2006, meets Stevenson in Friday’s 5:45 p.m. quarterfinals in Lincolnshire.
It capped a big day for the Knights, who also edged Bremen co-op, 12-11, in the girls final, qualifying coach Karen Desruisseaux’s program for their third state trip in four years. Central meets New Trier in Thursday’s 7 p.m. quarterfinals at Stevenson.
In the boys final, Pat Burke, Andrew Doepp and Cody Torres each scored two goals, Zach Otto and Matt Klock also tallied and goalie Jake Burke came up with several big stops.
“This is all thanks to coach Lock, who started with us in my sophomore year and really helped us to learn the fundamentals,” said senior Pat Burke. “This year’s seniors have really stepped it up by doing the right things. My brother Jake in goal has also stepped up and our sophomores went all out today, so this was very exciting.
“Last night, we saw Sandburg take it to H-F (Homewood-Flossmoor) and earlier in the season, we lost to both Sandburg and H-F. So after that, we knew that we’d have to win this the hard way, but that made it even sweeter. In every practice we’ve worked so hard for this. Since Day 1, we’ve had the mindset that we had to go to state this year.”
Central led, 1-0, after one period before Jim Caliendo’s Eagles (20-12-1) scored three straight goals. But Doepp connected with 1:28 left before the break to boost the Knights.
Two straight goals by Pat Burke late in the third period gave Central a 5-4 lead and a tough shot from the side by Torres with 3:52 left followed by a close-range tally by Klock with 2:04 remaining gave Central an 8-5 advantage and basically sealed the deal.
“This is awesome,” senior Otto said. “It’s so great that we’re the first team ever from our school to win a sectional and I hope that it sets a precedent that Lincoln-Way Central is here to play. Our coaches are great and we have a bunch of great kids coming up, so I hope that this really sets the tone for the next couple of years. Sandburg is such an elite program and it’s great that we’re up to their level and able to beat them. It’s wonderful.”
In the girls title game, Central scored the last three goals of the first half to grab a 6-5 lead. But Bremen (17-15) got a goal late in the third and early in the fourth period to go up 10-8.
Kenzie Applequist and Cailey Davern (two goals) scored to tie it at 10 with 4:18 to go and Alli Ramirez (three goals) answered with a score with 2:46 left to tie it again.
“It’s amazing,” Ramirez said. “I went to state my sophomore year and felt like I couldn’t contribute that much since our seniors led us. But this is my senior year and now we’re leading our team. We have so much individual talent and we’ve brought it all together as a team. Our first game was against them and they played great, just like they did today.
“I can’t even put into words how excited I am to be going back to state. It’s such a big accomplishment for all of us since this is what we’ve all wanted.”
Knights goalie Erin Kay halted a Jaguars shot with 2:05 remaining and Kim Bernhard (three goals) scored the game-winner with 1:43 left. In the last minute, Bremen was high and wide on attempts.
Central (18-10) also received two goals from Nicole Howe and a score from Delaney Shepherd, who has been a member of all three state squads. Applequist, Bernhard, Davern and Ramirez joined Shepherd on the 2013 team that took second at state.
“This was definitely a huge win,” Shepherd said. “We just tried to play our best this season, not necessarily expecting to go to state, even though that was the ultimate goal. We’ve definitely worked as a team and pulled it off. We played them in the first game and lost by a wide margin so it was big to beat them and show how much we’ve improved. We’ve proved that it takes seven players to win and we worked our butts off this season to come this far.”