Naperville North’s Sam Hess made his coach cry on Friday, although the junior defender didn’t do anything wrong.
On the contrary, Hess did everything right.
“I got choked up at halftime because Sam had played so hard throughout the first half,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “He’s just a really special young man.
“He’s the heart and soul of this team, for sure.”
Indeed, Hess already is that in his second season as a co-captain of the Huskies. He locks out opposing offenses with his outstanding play at center back, and every once in a while, he gets a chance to rip another team’s heart out.
That’s what Hess did to Oswego East, scoring a goal just 80 seconds into the game. It ended up being the game-winner as the top-seeded Huskies cruised to a 5-0 victory at the Class 3A East Aurora Regional championship game.
It’s the 30th regional title for Naperville North (20-1-1), which advances to the semifinals of its sectional. The Huskies will host either fourth-seeded West Aurora or fifth-seeded Bolingbrook at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Hess’ goal, his fifth of the season and second in as many playoff games, came after Connor Hanrahan’s aggressive play forced a corner kick.
Josh Pedersen served the corner kick to the back post. Hess’ first shot was blocked, but he buried the rebound.
“The ball came in, and I headed it back post,” Hess said. “There was a guy there on the post, so he blocked it. It fell right to my feet again, and I just volleyed it in.”
Scoring first doesn’t guarantee victory, of course, but it increases the odds of doing so. The ninth-seeded Wolves (13-7-4) had played the Huskies 13 days earlier, and that game was tied at 1-1 before Naperville North scored four goals in the final 12 minutes and won 5-2.
“It’s important to set the tone, and that’s what it felt like,” Hess said of his goal. “Everybody was excited, and from that point on, we were just playing really hard.”
The Huskies were relentless, and Hess was aggressive on both ends of the field. He set up the second goal when he sent a long ball up the right wing to Jaxon Stokes, who breezed past a defender and scored to make it 2-0 with 17:34 left in the first half.
“Me and Sam play club together, so we knew what we were going to do already,” Stokes said. “I looked at him, and he played it over, and I was ready, and I just passed it into the goal.”
It was Stokes’ 19th goal of the season, which led the team at the time. But Naperville North’s other star striker, Noah Radeke, tacked on three insurance goals, giving him 20 for the second consecutive season.
“It was a great performance by us,” Konrad said. “It was probably one of our better ones we’ve put together for a full 80 minutes.
“I was happy to see Sam get one. That early goal definitely set the tone.”
Stokes agreed.
“Sam doesn’t really get many opportunities to score, so I’m happy to see that he got a goal for himself, two games in a row now,” Stokes said.
Hess, of course, didn’t slack off on defense. He helped goalkeeper Jack Bouska, who made four saves, record his 13th shutout.
Players like Hess often get overshadowed by the offensive fireworks produced by Stokes and Radeke, but Oswego East coach Steve Szymanski is a big fan.
“What’s crazy is I think their center back (Hess) is, if not as good, maybe better than those two guys,” Szymanski said. “We played them twice, and I don’t think a ball has ever gotten past him.
“The one ball, our forward completely had it, and he literally battery-rammed him to win the ball. I think their three guys are the three best players we’ve seen all year.”
Will Hess continue to find the back of the net?
“Believe me, I don’t look at that stuff,” he said. “It’s more of just can we win each game. That’s two out of seven, and we move to the next game.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
