Marian Catholic’s Antonio Ferreira felt like he was living out a movie script on Monday night.
A fairy tale, at that.
On his senior night, Ferreira poured in a whopping five goals. He also did that against rival Homewood-Flossmoor. Oh, and he made school history in the process.
“For any game, to get five, it’s incredible,” Ferreira said. “To do it on senior night and a rivalry game is just even better. It’s a big day.”
Ferreira broke the program record for career goals with his monster performance while leading the host Spartans to a 6-2 victory over the Vikings in Chicago Heights.
Devin Smith added a goal and Fabian Medina made five saves for Marian Catholic (10-7-1). Damian Lopez and Adrian Desiderio each scored a goal for H-F (3-12-1).
Ferreira, a senior forward, came into the game with 78 career goals, three short of the record held by 2015 graduate Alec Guarino.
Guarino, the 2014 Daily Southtown Boys Soccer Player of the Year, went on to play at Butler and Purdue Northwest and spent a couple seasons as an assistant coach at Marian Catholic.
Ferreira tied the record with two first-half goals before scoring three more in the second half as the Spartans broke the game open following a 2-1 lead at halftime.
To make things more impressive, Ferreira did not play high school soccer as a freshman and has compiled 83 goals in less than three seasons.
“I did it with the help of my team and my coaches,” Ferreira said. “Every game, we all try to give our best and I do my best, too, to put the ball in the back of the net.
“It feels great. You’ve got to try to be the best in everything you do. Thankfully, I’m pretty good at soccer.”
Marian Catholic coach Diego Herrera said Ferreira holds himself to a high standard when it comes to scoring.
“His mentality is, ‘I’m going to score three goals and if I don’t, I didn’t do my job,’” Herrera said. “His touch in tight space is unbelievable. His mental toughness is the most important thing.”
Ferreira also has the ability to change a game in an instant.
H-F controlled the first 20 minutes of Monday’s game before Ferreira got loose on a counterattack and scored. Just 61 seconds later, he found the net again to make it 2-0.
Ferreira had an even quicker outburst in the second half, scoring his fourth and fifth goals of the night just 16 seconds apart.
Smith, a senior midfielder, has become accustomed to seeing that kind of brilliance from Ferreira.
“He’s a great player,” Smith said. “His left foot … that man’s got a great left. He’s got speed and when he’s on the ball, you can trust him.
“He’ll make something happen. He’s a real joy to play with.”
Ferreira has been far and away his team’s top goal-scorer every season since he was a sophomore. Opponents know that and focus on trying to stop him.
“It feels good but also not good at the same time,” Ferreira said. “I’m getting that recognition from teams around the area, which is nice, but at the same time it gets more difficult when people start knowing me more and their game plan is to put two guys on me the whole game or even more.
“There have been games where I’ve had like four guys on me.”
His solution?
“Just keep going,” Ferreira said. “If I let that get to me, I’m letting my team down. I’ve just got to keep going.”
Ferreira has kept going all the way to the top of the program record books.
“I’m just happy for Tony,” Herrera said. “He’s a good player and a good leader. All the goals and assists and everything he’s gotten, he’s earned. He’s a hard-working kid. I’m going to miss him.
“You can’t replace 80-plus goals.”
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