As Lincoln-Way Central’s players and coaches celebrated a regional championship, sophomore midfielder Johnny Roussakis was hunched over, grabbing his back.
Roussakis put the top-seeded Knights on his back at times Friday in a dramatic 3-2 shootout win over Reavis, scoring in overtime and in the penalty kick session.
He did it while fighting a back injury.
“I have a stress fracture in my vertebrae and I’ve been playing through it,” Roussakis said. “I found out last week. It’s rough. I’m in a lot of pain, but I’m just trying to go through it, work hard and do whatever I can to help my boys.”
The Knights (17-1-2) advanced to Tuesday’s Class 3A Sandburg Sectional semifinal against fourth-seeded Romeoville (18-4-3).
Roussakis scored on a 25-yard shot in the fifth minute of overtime to put Lincoln-Way Central up 2-1, but Reavis stunned the Knights in the final minute as Carlos Ramos’ header with 36 seconds to go forced a tie and brought on penalty kicks.
Still, Roussakis was not fazed.
“We just knew we had it in us,” he said. “We practice those PKs days in, day out in practice and we were ready to battle. We got a little luck on the post, but we got the job done. We go home with the ‘W’ and a plaque. That’s really nice.”
The Knights made all four of their PK attempts, with Roussakis capping it in the fourth round. Reavis had a shot go off the crossbar and another off the post, and the Knights won the shootout 4-2.
“I walked up there, took my breath,” Roussakis said of his shot. “I knew my spot. I didn’t let anyone get in my head. I put it there.
“I’ve been ready to do my part on this team and put in my 80 minutes. We’ve had a big year. We’re ready to keep moving. We still have a lot of work to do. Five more.”
Zach Davis, Eddie Rafacz and Nico Espinosa also scored in the shootout for the Knights. Rafacz added a goal in regulation.
Lincoln-Way Central coach Dave Brown was not surprised to see Roussakis step up with the season on the line. He has been one of the Knights’ most impactful players, taking many corner kicks and free kicks.
“We asked a lot of him in the spring as a freshman and it carried right over into the fall as a sophomore,” Brown said. “He’s a tremendous leader, even as a sophomore. He’s the most vocal player on the field.
“We played one game without him against Bolingbrook and everybody was saying, ‘Man, our team is so quiet right now.’ He’s a tremendous asset to us. He’s a phenomenal player.”
Freshman redemption: Freshman Logan Wilkins scored two goals Saturday to lead Beecher to a 3-0 win over Grant Park in the 1A Manteno Sectional championship game.
It’s the second sectional title in program history for the Bobcats (22-6), and Wilkins earned some revenge in the process.
“When we played Grant Park the last time, we went into a shootout and Logan missed his shot and we lost,” Beecher coach Dawn Compton said. “That was his last memory of playing Grant Park and that weighed heavily on him, so I was excited for him to come back and score those two goals.”
Sectional showdown: St. Laurence (17-4-2) won its own 2A regional with an 11-0 rout of Bulls Prep and a 4-2 win over Muchin.
The top four seeds all advanced to the St. Laurence Sectional. In Wednesday’s semifinals, the second-seeded Vikings meet third-seeded Solorio (13-5), while top-seeded Payton takes on fourth-seeded St. Ignatius.
“These are all good teams, so it’s going to come down to one moment and one play,” St. Laurence coach Jaime Alonso said. “We have to be ready.”
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
