Bulldogs football season comes to an end

The football team ended their season with a tough loss to Fenton for the conference title this year. The game started with Fenton having a strong first drive and taking over the first half leading 13-0. The Bulldogs attempted an onside kick to give them the ball, but it failed. They would then score twice to knot the game up. Fenton would reply with a big run that led them to a late touchdown to secure the win. 

“I was disappointed with our end result, but not in the effort the boys put in,” Coach Jason Rech said, “we were only a few plays from changing our record to 6-3 or better.”

This was Rech’s first year as head coach for the Bulldogs, and the first change in the offense in many years. The new system was new and did quite well. Coach Dallas Till said, “ it was a good system and everyone enjoyed working and talking about it and it brought the coaching staff and the team together.”

Looking back on the season, Coach Rech said, “it was a quick, fast paced four months. I did not get as much time with the this team as I will next year.” Coach Rech will be able to develop his team in the off season in the weight room and in the summer more effectively.  Now that he assured the head coaching position for next year, he can prepare much earlier than this year.

The Bulldogs will be letting go of nineteen seniors and Rech cannot thank them enough for the hard work they put in throughout the years. The final season record was 4-5 overall (4-2 in conference) just one game short from taking conference.  Next year will be exciting with over 10 returning juniors to the lineup to hoping to take conference.

Boys soccer playing gaining conference momentum

The Riverside Brookfield Bulldogs men’s soccer team scored its third win against conference rival Elmwood Park 7-1 on Tuesday, September 28^th. This win improved their record to 3-8 overall (3-5 Conf.). The team has been struggling against tough non-conference teams. The team does not have a chance for the conference title they were shooting for; however they still have a chance for the regional title. 

All of the game’s goals were scored in the first half of play. To start the Bulldogs strong, Junior Ruben Chavez scored the opening goal. Chavez would finish the game with a hat trick. Two other goals came from senior captains T.j Armic and Alejandro Amaya. Also leaving the game with goals were Hrvoje Zolo (Sr.) and Cateyano Chavez (Soph.).

In the second half the both teams would not score a single goal. The second half consisted of Bulldog dominance with excellent ball control and goalkeeping by junior goalkeeper Max Ohle.

Ohle in the net has been great for the team this year. He missed a couple of games earlier in the season to a groin injury; thankfully he has been healthy since recovery and will be a valuable asset for the rest of the season.

“The injury of Ohle was a huge moral blow to the team, but now he is back, healthy and most of all ready for regionals,” said Armic.

Thursday they played another conference rival Timothy Christian. RB would walk away the victor with a 5-2 win. This win brought their record to 4-8 (4-5 Conf.) on the season. This win makes the team 3-1 in their last four games.

Scoring for the team were R. Chavez two goals, Tyler Polanski one goal, C. Chavez one goal, and Eddie Marentes one goal. This displayed another example of the explosive offensive style of play they have.

On Friday they faced long time rival Ridgewood Rebels at Shuey Stadium. The Bulldogs lost against the Rebels the last time they met 4-2. Looking for revenge from the last loss they would play a very tough game.

This game would have a very questionable ending. The game would end in a tie 2-2 without an overtime period, however this was a conference game so the concern was that the game should of have been continued into overtime. R. Chavez would leave the game with a pair of goals on the night.

EXTRA:  Read full coverage of 2-2 tie controversy here.

The tie leaves the team with the record of 4-8-1 (4-5-1 Conf.) which isn’t what they hoped for this season. Amaya said, “We started off really bad but we have improved and grown a lot as a team.”

Thursday the dogs played new conference rival Glenbard South at Glenbard. Glenbard South was just added to the Metro Suburban Conference last year. The Raiders have been giving the team problems all year. In the first meeting they had Glenbard walked away with a devastating win 1-2 at our home field. This game would be completely different RB was shutout in a rough 5-0 loss.

With only two scheduled games left in the season the dogs are out of the running for conference. Their next two match ups are October 12^th and 15^th at the lovely Shuey stadium. They will play Illiana-Christian and Ridgewood.

The Dogs have had a long season compared to last years, but they still have high hopes for the regional competition. They will be faced up against St. Francis in their first match. They beat them last year and Polanski said, “To win this game we are going to play hard, watch their film, feed Ruben, and get the W.” The game is October 20^th at Shuey Stadium.

MSC adds two new teams

After three years, the Metro Suburban Conference finally added two more teams this year: Timothy Christian and Illiana Christian.

For the past three years the conference has consisted of Riverside Brookfield, Fenton, Elmwood Park, and Ridgewood. Many people have believed that this conference is too small and weak of a conference for RB to take place in, but with the two new teams, coaches and fans hope that this will change.

Assistant varsity and head sophomore basketball coach Mike Reingruber said “Both teams are going to help our conference tremendously; they both have quality programs with a successful past.” The jury is still out on whether or not this will hold true, as only time will tell.

Many coaches feel the same way with the two new teams in the conference. However with both private schools having an upside in recruiting, it will give the four remaining teams a great challenge and make a great addition to the conference.

Unlike every other sport, football does not get the addition of the two new teams to the conference. Many still feel the competition is too weak for the sport and that there is a need to add more teams to make it more competitive for themselves as for the other conference teams.

Varsity football player Ian Robertson said “Our conference is already inexperienced as it is and adding more teams to it will give it even worse of a reputation, us original teams have to make it as high of a potential as we can before a change is necessary.”