As a three-year starter and captain, senior defender Matt Mucha has used all his experience to lead Stagg.

Finishing his career strong has been of utmost importance.

“Starting as a sophomore and ending up being a captain, you’re thrown into the gutter right away,” he said. “Your game expands a lot quicker. Junior year, we had a solid team and a good season, and senior year, this is the last dance, so we wanted to make it count.”

After a rough 1-3 start, Stagg turned things around to win four of its next five games and clinch a share of its second straight SouthWest Suburban Red championship.

The Chargers will be co-champions with the winner of Monday’s game between Andrew and Lincoln-Way West.

“We had a three-game losing streak, but we came back,” Mucha said. “Going into conference, we knew we wanted to get this done. It’s a short season and we just wanted to win something.

“We couldn’t win regionals or anything like that, so we wanted to get the conference.”

The shortened season and COVID-19 issues can make it easy to lose focus, so Mucha has tried to be the one to pull everyone together.

“Some of these guys need a little bit of nudging or a little bit of motivation to focus in practice and play their best in games,” he said. “Everyone needs a little push sometimes. You have to have that tenacity to keep going.”

Stagg coach Mike Kealy has been able to depend on Mucha on the back line for the last three seasons.

“It seems these days that everyone wants to be the next Ronaldo or Messi,” Kealy said. “Everyone wants to be an attacking midfielder or a forward. It seems like we’re getting less and less defenders in our program, so that’s one of the reasons he came up into a big role at such a young age. He was ready, though.

“Since then, he’s been a captain on and off the field. He’s a fantastic young man. I had him as a student, and I can’t say enough good things about him off the field.”

Welcome back: Eisenhower and Mount Carmel both made successful returns to the field last week after not playing for over two weeks due to COVID-19 quarantines.

Eisenhower, which was 2-1 before its shutdown, picked up a big win over T.F. United and tied Bremen and Shepard, ending the Astros’ perfect season.

“That break hurt us,” Eisenhower coach Iran Rodriguez said. “Getting these guys back going after that layoff, it took a while. Our guys, especially our seniors, have been through a lot the last couple years, so we’re happy to be where we’re at.”

Mount Carmel played just one game before its layoff, but went 4-0 last week, beating Fenwick, Brother Rice, Providence and St. Ignatius.

The Caravan visit St. Laurence for a Catholic Blue showdown Thursday.

Clutch kick: Senior midfielder Drew Murphy’s penalty kick goal in overtime Thursday lifted Lincoln-Way West to a 3-2 win over Stagg, but Murphy had some anxious moments after he struck the ball.

“I hit the ball and I was terrified,” Murphy said. “I saw it curving and I was like, ‘Oh, shoot.’ It hit the inside of the post and I got even more scared, but it went straight up and in, so that was nice.”

The victory kept the Warriors alive for a share of the SouthWest Suburban Red title heading into Monday’s game with Andrew.

“With no playoffs, conference is like the holy grail right now,” Murphy said.

Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.