Rey Vargas finally saw what he’s been looking for in his young Dundee-Crown team in its win over Crystal Lake South on Thursday.

The Chargers entered the match with a 5-6-3 overall record and were winless in their past four matches, going 0-2-2 during that span. D-C regrouped after being down 1-0 in the second half to win in overtime.

“This is what I’ve wanted to see out of them,” Vargas said. “We’ve been kind of up and down a little bit through the season. This is the first time I’ve seen them step up even more than they have.”

D-C had struggled to gain momentum for much of the first half with a younger roster that features one freshman and three sophomores. One of those sophomores, Gaby Herrera, scored the match-winning goal against the Gators in overtime.

The Chargers had to grow quickly against tough opponents. They lost to Rockford East (9-5), Zion-Benton (10-3-2), Fremd (6-5-2), Mundelein (5-4-6), Lockport (11-2-1) and St. Charles East (11-1-2) and struggled to put together complete matches.

“We’ve played halves,” Vargas said. “We’re a team of first halves and second halves, we haven’t played a full game with intensity, and I thought this was one that we stepped up and actually completed a full game. That was great to see from them.”

D-C built upon its win over South and went on to beat Burlington Central 2-1 on Saturday. With seven matches left in the regular season and a Fox Valley Conference title up for grabs, the Chargers know how much of a momentum-changer Thursday’s win was.

“It’s huge for the program, it’s huge for all the fans,” Herrera said. “It’s huge for the teammates.”

Crystal Lake South’s learning moment

South coach Brian Allen tried to find the positives from the Gators’ loss to D-C.

“It’s a good learning moment,” Allen said. “We’re still young, we’re still getting better. There are things that we can take away from this and get better on the physicality and mental side of it and not letting it influence how we play technically is a big piece and hopefully we’ll learn from that and get better.”

Although there was some controversy in the match with a goal being disallowed, Allen thought his players could have done a better job of capitalizing on their chances and reducing the Chargers’.

D-C won the match in overtime after a ball bounced off the top post and Herrera knocked it in. Allen said his team should have cleared the ball out and not given D-C a chance to walk it off.

Allen hopes Thursday’s tough loss is one that has a greater impact on the team as the season reaches its final matches and the postseason begins.

“This one will sting, but it’s a long season,” Allen said. “There are lots of games in front of us. We’re going to learn from it, get better and hopefully put ourselves in a better position to still be in the race at the end of the season and in the playoffs.”

Crystal Lake Central regroups with wins

Crystal Lake Central regained its confidence last week after a stretch of five matches where the Tigers didn’t win.

The Tigers defeated Cary-Grove, Hampshire and Woodstock North last week after losing all four matches in the Mid-Suburban Tournament the previous week.

“We learned that we can get up again and fight again, we can continue to go,” Central coach Jay Schwarzrock said. “It’s OK to take it on the chin, but what you do next is the biggest question. After that week, we got back up.”

Central not only battled tough opponents in the tournament when it lost to Loyola, Streamwood, St. Charles North and Lake Park. The Tigers are without starting goalkeeper Anthony Bellino for the rest of the season with a fractured fibula while captain Anthony Virruso is trying to come back after suffering an injury during summer play. They also played without James Durcan and Jack Graham for a stretch.

Schwarzrock is encouraged that the Tigers have regained their confidence as they prepare for the final stretch of the regular season.

“We haven’t played our best soccer yet, but as we keep getting better and learning the system that we put in and we have a more consistent starting lineup and we understand our roles better, we’re going to be a team on the rise,” Schwarzrock said. “That’s exciting to see.”

Marian Central rolling into final stretch

Everything is coming together for Marian Central as it prepares to finish out the regular season.

The Hurricanes are 9-2-1 after their 6-0 win over Harvest Christian Academy on Monday night and have won eight of their past nine matches. With the team playing well together and players returning to the lineup from injury, coach Art Dixon likes the direction his team is heading down the stretch.

“It’s them working together as a unit versus just being out there, moving around on the field,” Dixon said. “They communicate with each other, they’re moving to back each other up and they’re getting into position to help each player out.”

Dominic Aragona, Nate Iafigliola and Henry Bonnet have each returned from different injuries, with Aragona scoring two goals and Iafigliola recording a hat trick against Harvest Christian on Monday.

The Hurricanes will finish off the regular season Jefferson, Grayslake North, Antioch and Wheaton Academy, which will provide them with four different styles to face as they prepare for the postseason.

Dixon is excited to see everything come together at the most-important time of the year.

“It’s huge,” Dixon said. “By having everyone working together, out on the field and getting to the point where we’re almost completely healthy, I feel like that will be our advantage when we get to the playoffs.”

Class 1A postseason seeds announced

The IHSA announced the Class 1A seeds for the upcoming postseason.

Marian Central earned the No. 2 seed in the second subsectional of the Wheaton Academy Sectional. The Hurricanes will start the postseason against No. 6 seed Richmond-Burton in their own regional Oct. 11.

Marengo was seeded as a No. 4 seed and will play No. 5 Johnsburg in the Marion Central Regional on Oct. 12. The regional final will take place Oct. 15.