BLOOMINGTON, Illinois — Senior midfielder Nolan Ewanic wasn’t deterred by Naperville Central’s two-goal deficit in the Class 3A Normal Supersectional on Tuesday night.
After all, Ewanic waited three years for his chance to star for the Redhawks.
“It meant a lot, especially my senior season, first year on varsity, top goal scorer,” he said. “It took a lot of hard work not just from me, but from the whole team. We put our best effort out there.”
Indeed, Ewanic scored a goal to cut Edwardsville’s lead in half, and senior forward Nathan Laird tied the game to force overtime.
But Edwardsville eventually won in a shootout, outscoring the Redhawks 4-2 in penalty kicks, to advance to the state semifinals in Hoffman Estates on Friday.
Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said he isn’t surprised that Ewanic, who made his varsity debut this season, is the player who started the comeback. Ewanic’s goal came with 35:20 left in the second half.
“Nolan has an endless work rate,” Adams said. “A ball got tipped up, and he battled through it — goalie comes out, he plays it, gets tripped up. Just being able to fight through it, that is definitely an encapsulation of the season that Nolan has had his senior year.”
Ewanic understood the urgency of the moment, so his relentless motor came into play at the right time.
“I was just communicating with my teammates,” he said. “I was working on and off the ball just to keep possession. I saw an opportunity for a flick through. My teammate Eli (Jarrell) had a great pass, a chip through. I just played it over the keeper.”
With new life, Naperville Central (16-5-4) had the Tigers (15-8-1) on their heels. Laird had a great run with the ball that resulted in the equalizing goal.
“It was amazing,” Laird said. “I kind of cut in, and I shot it.
“Yeah, it went in, but we didn’t get it at the end.”
Adams was glad that another senior, Laird, came through for the Redhawks.
“Both of them are kids that worked and worked to be able to do that,” Adams said. “It was a good thing. Nathan has been a dynamic force for us. He’s able to break down defenses, cause them problems.”
Twenty seconds after Laird’s goal, however, a controversial red card left the Redhawks one player short for the rest of the game. They still managed to force a shootout for the fourth straight game.
“You’re down a player, so you’re hoping to get through without a goal,” Adams said. “At the same time, you’re like, ‘The math is not good.’”
No team has as much experience in shootouts as the Redhawks, but that also means there’s film on their strategy.
“I’d say it could definitely go both ways,” Ewanic said. “We’ve gained confidence from it, but at the same time, doing something over and over again gets repetitive, and teams can look at that.”
Ewanic and the Redhawks, who were unbeaten in their previous eight games, didn’t want the season to end that way. But it was a remarkable run to the brink of the state semifinals.
“I think we went further than we thought we could at the beginning of the season,” Ewanic said. “Props to us for that. We worked hard the entire season to get to this point. It has to come to an end at some point.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter.
