After pulling ahead to a comfortable 2-0 first-half lead at home against Manteno on Tuesday, the Bradley-Bourbonnais boys soccer team felt a bit of intensity mount in the second half after Gio Arrigo’s goal eight minutes into the half.

But thanks to two goals from John Sadulla in the final three minutes, the Boilermakers were able to breathe a sigh of relief as they earned a 4-1 win in a game that was much closer than the final score indicated.

“On the bench, the whole mindset was really positive,” Sadulla said. “On the season I have 11 goals, so they were just telling me to put it in the back of the net and that gave us some relief. I really just went out there and made every run with all my energy.”

The win improved the Boilers to 9-4 on the year, clinching their winningest season since 2019 before even starting Southwest Suburban Conference competition. And it’s no coincidence that all of their goals Tuesday came from the senior class head coach Andy Stembridge has praised for shifting the culture. Brayden Watters got the Boilers on the board seven minutes in, with Guadalupe Valadez adding his sixth goal of the season just five minutes later.

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Bradley-Bourbonnais' Bennett Dykstra, center, tries to get a shot on goal as Manteno's Justin Foster, right, defends in a game on Tuesday, September 16, 2025. (Nicholas Holstein for Shaw Local)

“We live and die with a lot of those seniors,” Stembridge, who celebrated his birthday with a win on Tuesday, said. “They’re taking it and running with it, which is fantastic. John just showed great leadership. He’s a goal scorer and when he gets in position to do so, he’s very clinical in front of the net and is able to put it away. He’s been doing that when we’re able to get the ball to him, so that’s something we’ve been working on, for sure.”

After earning their second straight All-City title with wins against Bishop McNamara and Kankakee and a win over Herscher last week, Tuesday’s win also gave the Boilers a sweep over all of their local opponents. It was also the first time the Boilers and Panthers have met in boys soccer since 2017, a 7-0 Boilers win in the first game of a season that ended at the IHSA Class 3A State Finals.

Watters said that as the biggest school in the area, the local games always feel like must-win contests, and they carry the adrenaline that comes with that mindset into their play.

“It’s crazy, we get a ton of energy,” Watters said. “To be honest, we feel like we have to win and assert local dominance. But we have a ton of energy before the game and just carry it onto the pitch.”

After taking their two-goal lead early on, the Boilers did what they perhaps do best, relying on the defensive talents of their midfield to keep Manteno’s capable offense at bay. With an inside-out mentality, that defensive effort in the midfield is what Stembridge has preached with the program.

“We’ve been highlighting that throughout the year and kind of got away from it in some of our more recent games,” Stembridge said. “But just bringing that back and owning our defensive responsibilities in the midfield, the guys are recognizing when we win the midfield we’re getting more chances going forward, we don’t have to chase the ball as much and can really just dictate the game and control the rhythm.”

But the Panthers (6-2-2) didn’t give up. Arrigo’s goal came as they shifted the possession battle to the other end of the pitch, coming up with a couple more chances that they couldn’t quite put away before Sadulla’s late push put the game out of reach.

“We made some adjustments at halftime and I think it put the boys in better position for the second half,” Panthers coach Oscar Farfan said. “Once we got that goal to cut it to 2-1, you could tell their energy just changed. They were into the game more and figured they had a chance to win it, and I thought we played well. We just got a little bit of tired legs at the end and how that happened, but for the most part, I’m happy with how they played today.”

As the Boilers begin SWSC play next week, the Panthers turn their attention to the Rivals Cup that they co-host with Peotone, a tournament that starts Tuesday and ends next Saturday. The Panthers, with a deep senior core of their own, checked most of the career to-do list off during a magical 2024 season, but hoisting the Rivals Cup trophy has eluded them.

“They all want to graduate with one, and the younger kids want to win one as well,” Farfan said. “Our senior class has won the conference, won a regional, won a sectional, but I think they want to end their high school careers checking this one off as well.”