Downers Grove North junior forward Ty Peboontom deems his first varsity goal, which he scored against St. Francis two years ago, to be the most memorable of his three-year varsity career.

But close behind on his list of favorites is arguably his most important.

Peboontom scored that one in the 66th minute of Thursday night’s annual crosstown clash against Downers Grove South. It broke a 1-1 tie and held up as the game-winner as the visiting Trojans eked out a 2-1 victory.

“I would say that’s top two in my whole career,” Peboontom said. “I remember last year we lost in penalties (to Downers South).

“We should not have lost that game, and winning this game is just one of the best feelings we could possibly have.”

The decisive strike came against the run of play and was a result of a quick build-up that began when senior forward Braeden Page sent a long pass into the middle to senior midfielder Oliver Davies.

Davies turned and passed to Peboontom, who was open in the right side of the Downers South box. He slotted his shot inside the left post for his ninth goal of the season with 14:25 remaining in the second half.

“It was definitely a great ball that started off from Braeden,” Downers North coach Rafal Slomba said. “Oliver was able to bring it down and just lay it out in front and Ty was able to hit it first-time side netting. That was a great shot.”

Davies, who had given the Trojans (9-9-1) an early 1-0 lead when he nodded home a cross from Page at the 32:37 mark of the first half for his team-leading 14th goal of the season, said he heard Peboontom before he saw him.

“Braeden gave me a great ball,” Davies said. “I was able to chest it down and I heard Ty’s voice in my left ear, so I tried to just turn and give him a ball through. He did the rest.”

Indeed, Peboontom was ready to do some damage.

“I noticed that the left back always stood very high, so as soon as Ollie got that ball in the middle, I knew there was nobody on me,” Peboontom said. “So I called as loud as I could and saw the left corner was open and just passed it right in.”

The goal came 13 minutes after the Mustangs (3-10-1) had equalized on sophomore defender Zeke Hall-Taylor’s header goal off a corner kick from Brennan Free.

After being outplayed in the first half, Downers South began to get the upper hand in the second half. Even after Peboontom’s goal, the Mustangs were the more dangerous side, seeing a potential game-tying header hit the left post.

“It was definitely a typical North-South game,” Downers South coach Chris Hernandez said. “There was a lot of physicality and we saw a lot of aggression and intensity between both teams.

“We saw them coming into the box and we knew that was a danger, getting players late in the box, especially playing off their back shoulder. We saw that on their first goal, didn’t track their player. The last goal was just like that, too.”

Slomba was impressed with the Mustangs’ effort.

“Credit to Downers South,” Slomba said. “I definitely think that in the second half they had the majority of the chances.

“We were defending a lot. We only broke that one time but we were fortunate that it wasn’t a lot more.

“The way that the kids responded is the way that any coach would want.”

As a result, the Trojans captured the trophy that goes to the winner along with the bragging rights. The prospect of raising the trophy was what got Peboontom’s pulse racing after he scored, and it stayed up the rest of the way.

“I think my heart rate shot up to 150, I’m not going to lie, as soon as that happened,” Peboontom said. “We got that lead, it was just a mix of emotions, all positive of course.

“And the result of winning, hey, there’s no feeling that can beat it.”