Quiet assassins: QND soccer team turns laser focus into rout of Mendota for sectional title

MENDOTA, Ill. — Everything Greg Reis observed Saturday morning left him convinced the Quincy Notre Dame boys soccer players had the right disposition to run down a sectional championship.

“We had a special energy when we went to mass and then went to breakfast,” the QND coach said.

Yet, the tone seemed to change when the buses arrived at the game site.

“We walked across the field and it got really quiet,” Reis said. “I went into the locker room and I was like, ‘I don’t know about this.’ I got a different feel. But once the guys stepped across that line, it was game on.”

The Raiders had a 365-day mission to complete.

One year after a numbing one-goal loss to Mendota in the sectional title game, QND earned a rematch and left no doubt it was getting redemption, hammering the Trojans 7-1 in the championship game of the Class 1A Mendota Sectional.

“Coming into this game, all we ever talked about was a revenge season,” QND senior forward Tanner Anderson. “Coming in here, at their place with their crowd, this was a super big game for us, and we came out firing. Luckily, we got on them early and gained control.”

The Raiders were so intent on doing so it impacted their pregame demeanor.

“Everyone was locked in,” senior defender Colin Kurk said. “The first hour and a half or two hours of the bus ride, until we got to the rest stop, we were all chatting and getting excited. After that, we were locked in and ready to go. Everyone knew this was business.”

There’s more business to be done.

QND (16-6-2) will face Bloomington Central Catholic (20-5-3) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Class 1A super-sectional at Chillicothe IVC. The winner heads to the final four in East Peoria, a site where the Raiders won the state championship in 2018 and finished third in 2019.

After winning its 16th sectional championship, QND is one victory away from guaranteeing itself the eighth state trophy in program history.

“We have to stay focused and stay locked in,” Anderson said.

Laser focused described Saturday’s effort the best.

“I don’t think anyone was speaking in the locker room,” junior forward Leo Cann said. “Everyone was super locked in, very dialed in the whole time. We got locked in before the game and it was good.”

Losing the coin toss didn’t alter that.

Mendota (19-7) won the right to choose which direction to attack in the first half, and with a steady wind gusting to as much as 15 mph at times, the Trojans made the smart decision to play with the wind at their back for the first 40 minutes.

“They chose the right side,” Anderson said. “We wanted the wind, but it kind of worked in our favor. Normally, you wouldn’t think of it that way, but it kind of did. We got on them early. The wind was a big factor in this game.”

Failing to snare the lead took the wind out of the Trojans’ sails.

Rylan Fischer’s long throw-in from the left sideline got flicked by Anderson into the box to Cann, who punched it into the side net for a 1-0 lead 11 minutes into the game. Five minutes later, Anderson was tripped in the penalty area and converted the subsequent penalty kick for a 2-0 lead.

“We didn’t let playing into the wind faze us,” Kurk said. “We went right at them right away.”

Surrendering a goal didn’t faze them either.

After Mendota freshman Johan Cortez blistered a shot into the upper far corner of the net from 25 yards outs, cutting QND’s lead in half, the Raiders answered. In a span of less than three minutes, John Drew set up Cann for his second goal and then Cann assisted on Anderson’s second tally, giving QND a 4-1 halftime lead.

“We knew we had to come in with energy, but we couldn’t come in too hot,” Kurk said. “I think we came in perfectly and put it to them.”

In the second half, with the wind at their backs, the Raiders quickly put the game away.

Anderson scored twice in the first three minutes of the second half and Cann added another for a six-goal lead with 35:31 to play. A steady defensive effort rode out the rest of the game.

“The whole week we were talking about redemption story, redemption story, redemption story,” Cann said after his fourth hat trick of the postseason. “It feels so great to come out here and win, but to 7-1 them, that really feels great.”