Boys Soccer: Timothy Christian flips the script, beats rival Wheaton Academy in PKs for third place at state

EAST PEORIA – Back-to-back state soccer championships wasn’t in the cards for Wheaton Academy last weekend.

League rival Timothy Christian, meanwhile, had a hand in shuffling the deck.

Flipping last year’s script in a couple of ways, the Trojans edged the defending champion Warriors 2-1 in a penalty kick shootout in the Class 1A state third-place game Oct. 29 at Eastside Centre.

“The only thing more difficult to winning one [state] championship is to come back and do it again,” said fourth-year Wheaton Academy coach Cody Snauffer just 24 hours after falling to Belleville Althoff in a reversal of the 2021 title game. “At the end of the day, things just didn’t quite click.”

Timothy Christian avenged not only a 2-1 Metro Suburban Conference loss to Wheaton Academy on Sept. 15, but a 6-1 setback to the Warriors in the state semifinals in October 2021.

The Trojans also enjoyed being on the other side of a shootout after dropping one to Bloomington Central Catholic in last year’s third-place contest.

“We’ve been in shootouts. It’s something we seriously work on since day one back in August,” fifth-year Timothy Christian coach Joel Zielke said. “Our kids fought extremely hard and it’s satisfying to see that hard work rewarded.”

Tied 1-1 at the half, the teams battled through a scoreless second half in a back-and-forth pace that featured 16 corner kicks.

In the best-of-5 shootout round, Wheaton Academy got a stop and a goal by senior co-captain Caleb Mariotti to seemingly take control early.

However, Jake Firnsin, Cameron Baker and Marc Gamble Jr. all strung together tallies for Timothy Christian while Wheaton Academy twice hit the crossbar before Jakob Carlson’s goal.

When Connor Riddle’s final shot sailed wide right, the Trojans finally were able to exhale.

“We know each other very well and we’ve always been back and forth with them,” Zielke said. “We know they are a quality team and there’s a lot of respect between the programs.”

Snauffer concurred.

“It’s a match we always look forward to,” he said. “They’re a great program with a quality coaching staff that plays the right way.”

Senior co-captain Josh Mariotti gave Wheaton Academy a 1-0 lead at 23:23 in the first half when he poked in a rebound after Timothy Christian goalie Peter Buikema couldn’t corral the loose ball after stopping the initial shot.

Timothy Christian squared matters quickly when Caleb Hoekstra tallied from point-blank range at 25:48 on an assist from Baker.

“I’m proud of our kids. They have played hard all season and just getting to state is a remarkable accomplishment,” Snauffer said. “Having it end this way is both hard and frustrating.”

It was the third time Wheaton Academy (15-6-3) has garnered a fourth-place state trophy in program history, joining previous efforts in 2012 and 2013. The Warriors also have two third-place showings (2005, 2017) in addition to championships in 2014 (2A) and 2021.

Timothy Christian (17-10) added to its Final Four resume that includes titles in 2009 and 2015 and a pair of second-place finishes (2008, 2014).