Over 130 years after De La Salle opened, senior midfielder/forward Alex Panduro threw everything he had into his ultimate goal of bringing the school its first team state championship in any sport.
Consider that mission to be accomplished. And now, Panduro and his teammates are letting it all sink in after winning the Class 2A title.
“At school, everybody’s grateful and they’re all congratulating us,” Panduro said. “It’s an amazing feeling. To me, it’s very crazy that in the 100 or even more years of De La Salle, we’re the first people to win a state championship trophy and lift it up together.
“In the future, it’s still going to be crazy to think, ‘Oh, it was my team that won the first state plaque.’”
Panduro, the 2025 Daily Southtown Boys Soccer Player of the Year, led the Meteors there. He scored 38 goals to finish with a program record of 104 for his career. He added 14 assists.
And his teammates, according to senior defender Christopher Dingle, knew they could always count on Panduro when he was needed the most.
“In the biggest moments, he always comes through,” Dingle said. “We just feel like he’s going to make something happen.”
Panduro is often the shortest player on the field. And before an incredible playoff run last year, he was sometimes overlooked on his own roster as the Meteors had another talented player in 2025 graduate Mario Ramirez, who earned all-state honors as a senior and is now playing at Lewis.
However, after he scored 13 playoff goals last fall and earned 2024 Daily Southtown Boys Soccer Player of the Year honors, Panduro certainly wasn’t sneaking up on anyone this season.
“Last year, people didn’t really know me and who I was,” Panduro said. “It was just like, ‘Oh, there’s some small kid. He’s going to be easy to guard.’ Then they’d see me go play how I play.
“This year, people were seeing it differently. They were putting two or three guys on me sometimes. I didn’t let that stop me.”
Panduro adjusted by making sure to get his teammates more involved and by being active away from the ball, using his speed to find openings.
De La Salle coach Francisco Martinez made sure Panduro did not force things.
“I told him he didn’t have to do it all by himself,” Martinez said. “You have guys around you. I told him there were times when he’d have to put the team on his shoulders and he understood that.
“He kind of made it his job to make sure all the guys were on a mission.”
The objective was to finish the job after De La Salle lost 3-2 in 2024 to Belleville Althoff in the Class 2A state championship game.
The Meteors experienced more nail-biting moments at state this year, going to overtime in both the semifinal and the championship game, beating downstate Washington in penalty kicks for the title.
Panduro, as usual, scored in both games.
“We were definitely motivated from last year,” Panduro said. “We wanted to come back. It left a bad taste in our mouth. This year, we wanted a taste of victory. We wanted to know what that felt like.”
Panduro originally planned to quit high school soccer after his junior season to focus on playing for FC United in MLS Next.
Instead, that desire to win state made him work harder than ever. He learned how to fully harness his skills.
“I remember him freshman year, he was already a talented player but he had a lot of growing up to do,” Martinez said. “I told him that during the playoffs last season and then this year, his maturity went through the roof.
“He started separating himself from the people who don’t have the same dreams and goals.”
About those dreams. Although the state championship one has been realized, there are many more for Panduro to chase.
He plans to play in college and is still deciding on a destination. And then …
“I want to go big, play big,” he said. “I want to play around the world, professionally, anywhere I can.”
