Nottingham upsets division-leading Steinert

HAMILTON >> Wild Jeff Fileus and his teammates on the Nottingham High varsity boys soccer team believe that when they play like a family, they can beat anybody.

After Friday night, many believe them.

The Northstars capped a week in which they also defeated Hightstown by knocking off crosstown rival Steinert, 2-1, at Al Cowell Field in Veterans Park.

That’s noteworthy because Nottingham entered the game with a 2-6-1 record, and the Spartans came in leading the division with a 7-2 overall record.

“This was a great win and a great fight,” said Fileus, a junior forward/midfielder after hugging most of his teammates following the win. “Steinert is a very good team. We won as a team. We won as a family.”

Fileus was at the heart of that family as he led Frantzly Petit for the game’s first goal in the 17th minute. Then, in the first minute of the second half, Fileus received a pass from Kemoy Pink and put a shot behind Spartans junior goalkeeper Trevor Giordano to give his team even more confidence.

“They think I’m sleeping, and that’s when I strike,” Fileus said.

As much as the first goal put head coach Anthony Tessein’s team behind the eightball, the second tally made it very much an uphill climb the way the Northstars’ defense of Devin Coleman, Jason Toledo, Angel Rodriguez, Jared Rodriguez, Nate Charles and Charles Rosales were clamping down in front of junior goalkeeper Pat Luckie.

“We came out slower than them, and they came out ready to play,” Spartans senior back Brandon Jones said. “We weren’t there mentally or physically.”

Jones gave his team a last ditch hope when he came out of a scramble to kick in Steinert’s lone score with 1:47 left.

It was not enough to get the Spartans, who return to Cowell Field Saturday night to play Hamilton West, past head coach Mike Braender’s team as they used the whole field to play like the family Fileus and Co. believe they can be.

Steinert (7-3) 0 1 — 1 Nottingham(3-6-1) 1 1 — 2

Goals: BJones (S), Petit, Fileus (N); Assists: Fileus, Pink (N).

Shots: 8 (S), 10 (N); Saves: Giordano 5 (S), Luckie 7 (N).