Lockport breaks postseason hardware drought

LOCKPORT — In the past four seasons, the Lockport Township boys soccer team has been as good as anyone in the area.

Through the end of this regular season, the Porters had 50 wins during the past four years. But one thing had eluded them, a postseason plaque to show their success.

Until now.

The Porters defeated Shepard 2-0 on Saturday afternoon in the title match of the Class 3A Lockport Regional.

It was the fourth regional championship for Lockport (16-1) in school history. The others were a Class AA one in 2007, and Class 3A titles in 2011 and 2014.

“It’s something that was missing and we underachieved,” Lockport coach Chris Beal said of his team not winning a regional in the past few years. “But this is just the start of it with us having this opportunity going into the sectional.

The 16 wins also tie the Porters 2013 team (16-5-2) for second-most in school history. Their 2014 squad (17-3-3) had the most wins before losing 2-0 the Thornton Township in the finals of the Sandburg Sectional.

No. 2 seeded Lockport has an opportunity to equal that win mark back at Sandburg for the sectional semifinal on Wednesday at 6 PM against Bloom Township. The Porters won the matchup between the two teams 3-2 back on Sept. 8 in Chicago Heights.

Saturday’s regional title game was scoreless at halftime and Beal wasn’t too happy with his team’s attack. But that changed just 11 seconds into the second half when sophomore Nathan Blazewski took a ball just inside the box on the right side and blasted it off the inside of the left post and in.

“We really talked about what we needed to do,” Beal said. “Adam (senor Adam Doyle) played a great ball and Nathan scored. We know what Nathan can do and he had that mentality there.”

After a great start to the season, in which he had two goals in the first two games, Blazewski hit a personal drought. His only other goal before Saturday was on Oct. 5 in a 6-0 home win over Homewood-Flossmoor.

“It was just a good ball and I kept running and put it through,” Blazewski said of his fourth goal of the season.

The Porters scored again exactly 10 minutes later following a foul in the box. Gabe Czako was entrusted to take the penalty shot and the senior defender delivered for his first goal of the season into the upper right corner with 29:49 to play.

“Danny (Jimenez) got fouled and they trusted me to take it,” Czako said. “I just stayed relaxed and knew where to put it. (To win a regional) is really awesome. I love these guys.”

Czako, who is a senior, anchors the Porter backline along with juniors Dominic Williams, Sean Flannery, and Ryan Pavelka. Czako is also the placekicker for the Porter football team. So his two fall sports teams are currently a combined 24-2.

“It’s just amazing, it’s such a gift,” Czako said of that opportunity. “It’s just great to be part of both teams.”

Shepard (13-9-4), which was the No. 11 seed in the sectional but upset No. 6 seeded Sandburg in penalty kicks after a scoreless game in the semifinals, didn’t have many opportunities. The Astros briefly appeared to score on a blast by junior defender Isaac Guerrero with 25:38 to play in the game. But they were whistled for offside.

Senior Pat Marshall recorded the shutout. It was the Porters ninth of the season.

Makonnen Stampley, who is Lockport’s leading scorer with 15 goals and 10 assists, nearly had a goal in the opening minute of the game. But his shot hit the crossbar, bounced down, and was ruled not to cross the line.

“It was close, we thought it went in but the official said no,” Stampley said. “But we came back, we had the confidence.”

Stampley missed 20 minutes of the first half after getting hit just above his left knee. But the senior, who was born in the United States but grew up playing soccer in Ethiopia, He wasn’t going to miss this moment for himself of the team.

“It feels great,” Stampley said of winning the regional. “Many of the past teams haven’t accomplished this but we did and there’s more to come.”