BURBANK -- After outscoring its first four South Suburban Conference opponents by a 19-4 margin and getting off to a 3-0-1 start in league play, Reavis may not have expected that it would have much of a fight on its hands in Tuesday's home match against Evergreen Park, which started the season 1-7-0, with five of those losses coming by six goals or more. 

But in a good example of just how competitive the league can be, the visitors, who only had 14 players, not only hung tough with the Rams but only trailed 2-1 heading into the final 12 minutes of play.

That's when Reavis finally broke things open, getting an insurance goal in the 69th minute and then adding two more tallies in the final 4 minutes, 30 seconds, to capture a 5-1 Red Division victory on a rainy and blustery afternoon in Burbank.

Junior Galileo Figueroa completed the scoring and his hat-trick in the 79th minute for Reavis (6-2-3, 4-0-1) when he put in a short attempt following a pass from senior Krystian Paluch. Figueroa’s afternoon of work earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor.

Paluch, who shares captain duties with senior goalkeeper Bartosz Obrochta, scored the Rams opening two goals of the second half on headers. The first came from close range in the 69th minute after a corner kick from junior Vladyslav Yaremkiv.  In the 76th minute, he connect on a corner from junior Jesus Pantoja.

"We have a solid conference, so we can't underestimate any opponent," Paluch said. "We came into the game working kind of slow. But even though we didn't have our main man up-top, Diego Ochoa, we have to find other ways to get the balls in. 

"I feel like we mentally lock in for the big games. I've been playing with a big group since freshman year. This is our year. I think that we can make a deep run in the playoffs. I like the togetherness. When we're together as a unit, we're a tough team to beat.

"We're going to Iowa (for the Great River Classic). We're excited, because we want to see the best teams. We know that we can compete with them. Hopefully we will, because there are going to be some good teams out there."

With senior Diego Ochoa unavailable for the match, the Rams had to use a different plan of attack. Figueroa was very effective at getting past defenders to put himself in numerous good scoring opportunities.

Figueroa connected for the first time in the 14th minute when Pantoja sent in a free kick. Junior Dawid Witkowski got a touch on it and sent the ball to Figueroa, who finished from just in front of the net.

However, Evergreen Park (3-8-0, 1-4-0), which entered with a two-match win streak with victories over Agricultural Science and Richards, evened things in the 18th minute when Oscar Morin connected from close range on a header following a corner kick from Ricardo Sanchez.

Reavis moved back in front for good in the 38th minute when Figueroa used good footwork to work his way past two defenders and ultimately was fouled in the box. He converted the ensuing PK to give the hosts a 2-1 advantage at the intermission.

"Our conference is good," Rams coach Mark Gniadek said. "Every year people ask me who do I think will win the conference. I always like to think that we have a chance, but you know that every game is going to be tough. It's going to be a battle; it's going to be physical. There are quality players on every team, but that makes it fun. 

"I think it was a beautiful day for soccer. It was a little frustrating to begin with because there were about four or five balls that just rolled by the back post and a little bit more urgency might have gotten a guy there. And a little more focus maybe keeps that shot on target. 

“We were down a couple of players, but that's no excuse. The guys on the bench did a great job of stepping up. Some guys that don't normally play as many minutes got a lot of minutes today, and they did really good.

Looking ahead to the Great River Classic Gniadek said: "It's definitely a great opportunity to hang out and bond and just to spend time with each other. We're going to play three really good soccer teams, too.

"We've got a great group of seniors, and they've all kind of bought in since they were freshmen. They listen; they're motivated; and they try to do what I ask of them most of the time. They've been committed. We did all of our days in the summer, and we got out here and conditioned."

Reavis looked to add to its narrow advantage with numerous good scoring chances during the first part of the final half. 

In less than 15 minutes, the Rams received a long attempt from Figueroa, a liner from the side from senior Daniel Garcia and a header in front of the net from Figueroa, which were all hauled in by goalkeeper Adriel Mena.

A bit later, Paluch went just wide on a close try, and senior Andy Garcia just missed connecting, The Reavis had a long span with zero good chances before Paluch collected his initial goal to give his team a two-goal advantage.

After Reavis scored on its first good opportunity of the match, it looked like it might go up 2-0, but Daniel Garcia's long attempt was hauled in by the keeper.

Not long after it evened things at 1-1, Evergreen Park threatened again just prior to the midpoint of the opening half but Charlie Gricus was denied on a long attempt by Obrochta.

Reavis responded with a pair of good chances from senior David Garcia. The first effort cleared by a defender and the next went just wide following a corner kick from Pantoja.

With just under 10 minutes left before the break, senior Nikolas Lara sent in a shot that was deflected away, which resulted in a corner from Pantoja that went to David Garcia, whose header went a bit wide.

Following a 1-2-0 start in its own Windy City Classic against a trio of goof squads, De La Salle, Mount Carmel and Lincoln-Way Central, where it allowed seven goals, Reavis has only yielded the same number of scores in its last eight matches to help it go on a 5-0-3 run.

The Rams have recorded three shutouts in their last eight matches and have allowed just one goal four other times, including against quality sides St. Laurence, Stagg and Lemont. The lone team to score more than one goal against them was T.F. United (co-op), which they played to a 3-3 draw.

"We started off slow in our season, because we played really tough teams," Witkowski said. "But once we started playing in the South Suburban Conference, we have connected as a team. 

"All credit to Evergreen Park, they did do really good. But I also feel from the start that we just played really slow. Sometimes we go at each other, but we have good chemistry. We're always talking with each other if anything is wrong. We're really just a close group."

Now the team heads west to compete in the Great River Classic at the TBK Sports Complex in Bettendorf, Iowa, beginning today with a match against Dunlap (Ill.), before facing Springfield (Ill.) at 3:15 p.m. Friday.

Reavis returns to league play Tuesday with a match against Bremen in Midlothian. The Rams will square off against perennial Red Division nemesis Argo in Summit on Thursday, but that match may be rescheduled to a later date so it can once again be contested at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview. 

Starting lineups

Evergreen Park
GK: Adriel Mena
D: Israel Fagbulu
D: Malachi Espinoza
D: Charlie Gricus
D: Oscar Morin
MF: Ricardo Sanchez
MF: Cole Nardo
MF: Eduardo Galvan
MF: Payton Bailey
F: Jacob Garcia
F: Armando Rangel

Reavis
GK: Bartosz Obrochta
D: Krystian Paluch
D: Daniel Garcia
D: Tom Wojtanek
D: Xavier Arroyo
MF: Dawid Witkowski
MF: Dante Meza
MF: Jesus Pantoja
MF: Issa Muthana
F: Galileo Figueroa
F: David Garcia

Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Galileo Figueroa, jr., F, Reavis

Scoring summary

First half
Reavis: Galileo Figueroa (Dawid Witkowski), 14'
Evergreen Park: Oscar Morin (Ricardo Sanchez), 18'
Reavis: Galileo Figueroa (penalty), 38'

Second half
Reavis: Krystian Paluch (Vladyslav Yaremkiv), 69'
Reavis: Krystian Paluch (Jesus Pantoja), 76'
Reavis: Galileo Figueroa (Krystian Paluch), 79'