Richmond-Burton‘s players and coaches made their final walk of the season after a 3-0 loss to Chicago Academy in the Class 1A Johnsburg Sectional championship on Saturday.

The Rockets, who applauded and thanked their supporters in the visitors’ bleachers, are all too familiar with that walk after suffering their third sectional final loss in as many seasons.

Richmond-Burton coach Casey DeCaluwe, though, believes it is only a matter of time for his side, which will return all but three (Nate Larson, Dane Gardner and Luis Munoz) next season.

“It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get the job done, but I couldn’t be more proud of these kids,” said DeCaluwe, in his 15th season. “The work that they put in the past three years to be in this game says a lot about the group and where the program is right now.

“We’ll get over the hump and we’ll get into that supersectional, and when we do it, we’ll be dangerous. We only graduate three, so the group will be hungry. They’ll start the work in the offseason, and we’ll be ready for getting to bigger games.”

After the teams were held scoreless in the first half, R-B (17-8-2) was unable to contain Chicago Academy junior striker Bryan Juarez, who entered Saturday’s final with 31 goals. The talented forward put the Cougars (16-4-3) ahead 1-0 after sneaking past Will Gardner and Larson with 29:59 remaining in the second half.

Juarez gathered a pass from Momen Zedany and blasted a shot past R-B junior goalkeeper Easton Wold (nine saves). After the Rockets pushed up another forward to try and find an equalizer, Juarez added a second goal less than six minutes later, assisted by Daniel Delgado-Perez.

“We knew exactly what was going on in the game. We knew who we had to watch,” DeCaluwe said. “We allowed (Juarez) a little bit too much space in the second half that he didn’t get in the first half. You let a player of that caliber have that much space, he’s going to make you pay.”

Senior midfielder Aaron Holloway added the Cougars’ third goal with just under 10 minutes remaining.

Chicago Academy had never won a sectional title in any sport before Saturday.

“It means a lot to our school because we’re a really small school,” Juarez said. “It was really important to us that today we made history. I’m really proud of my boys. They all worked hard, every single one of them. They fought for every ball.”

“This year the boys have been locked in. They’re super excited,” Chicago Academy coach Raudel Damian said. “Bryan (Juarez), he’s a dog. He’s been a big player since freshman year. Without him we’re a hugely different team. He’s that X player that gets our team going.”

Richmond-Burton finished with six shots on goal, but the Rockets’ chances were few.

A poor goal kick by Chicago Academy gave them a chance with 15 minutes to go in the first half, but junior Trey Maziarz was unable to get enough on his shot that hit off a defender and was saved by Aldair Figueroa (six saves), who was making his first varsity start in goal after an injury to the starter in the sectional semifinals.

Larson said the Rockets were unable to carry over any momentum from the first half shutout into the second.

“We were feeling good defensively holding one of their better players (Juarez) down, we just couldn’t find that goal in the final third,” he said. “Our composure just wasn’t there today. ... Theirs was, and that’s really what ended our season.”

Junior forward Nick Kyes was unable to pinpoint what exactly went wrong on the offensive end for the Rockets, who were averaging 3.54 goals a game going into Saturday.

“We just weren’t clicking,” he said. “Even though it was 0-0 (at the half), we were feeling great. I still thought we were going to find a way to win. I don’t know what happened. We put our hearts into it. We just couldn’t find it.”

With only three seniors graduating, Larson expects the Rockets to be back in the same position next year.

Richmond-Burton last won a sectional title in 2019. It will enter next year with three straight regional titles.

“I think there’s a lot of good in their future,” Larson said. “It’s a really close-knit team and we practice all the time. We just really work together. I think they have the opportunity to, if they want it, to go and get it.”