By Ed Muniz-Photos by Renee Kaspar
Football games were on the docket in Bloomingdale last Saturday. The Bloomingdale Bears hosted their annual Pre-Season Bowl, extending invitations to teams from Carol Stream, Elmhurst, Elk Grove and Addison.
After a few weeks of practice, teams were biting at the bit, ready to play against an opponent.
Circle Park would be the host location as Flag and Tackle players finally got to show off their skills. The Bears four Flag team kick-started the day which was then followed by 13 tackle games that included all 12 Bears teams on two fields.
Following the 10U game, Mike Loughnane’s 11U Bears would host the Carol Stream Panthers on the main field.
The opening quarter was a barrage of quick scores by the Bear. The Panthers were reeling and never could recover from the 29-point pasting the host Bears gave them in the first 10 minutes of play.
The 29-0 score was carried through the remainder of the game, propelling the 11U Bears to their first victory of the year.
“Tony, the coach from Carol Stream, is a great guy. I tried my hardest to do what I could to not to make the score worse,” said Coach Loughnane. We talk once a week me and him, we exchanged film all of last year. It’s a preseason game so it really doesn’t mean anything, but my boys came out and played really well. We have a new offense and defense from last year and we really did well on both sides.”
The Bears were a juggernaut in this game. They displayed a readiness and timing you don’t normally see early in the year.
The offensive display was smooth from blocking at the line to blocking downfield. Backs were successful for the most part because of them. The running game showed power and speed. They were able to capitalize on any flaw the Panthers had and made it look easy.
Defensively, they controlled most of the play giving the visitors next to nothing on the ground, swarming to make a stop. But they did show a kink in the armor when the Panthers were able to complete a long pass.
After a series of runs by Joey Caputo, the Bears were just shy of the goal-line. Called on again, Caputo took the handoff and found the endzone for the Bears opening score. Adding the point-after via the pass to Samuel Gaffney for the 8-0 lead.
Shortly after stopping the Panthers, Bloomingdale extended their lead with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Bears’ Quarterback Robert Alvarado to receiver Cruz Votruba after getting behind the Panther defense and adding the point-after via the pass.
The Bears defense was stymying the Panthers offense with their swarming attack.
Frank Battaglia and Vinnie Camarata led the early onslaught, keeping the Panthers frustrated offensively. Add Anthony Passini in the mix after recovering a Panther fumble giving the Bears offense another opportunity to score, which they quickly did.
Three straight runs by Gaffney gained 25-yards for Bloomingdale, setting up teammate Vincent Corso. After taking a handoff form Alvarado, Corso streaked 14-yards for the fourth Bears touchdown with eight seconds left in the first quarter. Gaffney added the point-after giving Bloomingdale a dominant 29-0 lead after one quarter.
Opening the second quarter on defense, the Bears continued to dominate play at the line. Tackles by Battaglia, Andrew Mallinder, Ryan Loughnane, Camarata, Passini and Leonidas Collins, still kept Carol Stream scoreless, but a long pass completion caught the Bears by surprise and showed a vulnerability.
Carol Stream failed to do much after the long pass. Tackles by Battaglia, Passini and Collins forced a Panther turnover on downs.
Changing things up offensively, Coach Loughnane gave other Bears an opportunity offensively.
With time nearly expiring in the first half, runs by John Deichl and Nikolas Gounaris moved the ball down field with 18-yards and 15-yards gain respectively, but time ran out to end the first half.
Bloomingdale had a comfortable lead entering the second half and began it defensively, with Camarata, Ryan Loughnane and Corso each making stops, forcing the Panthers to turnover on downs.
The ensuing offensive Bears series saw short runs by Corso, Gounaris and Ryan Loughnane followed by a fumble. Bloomingdale was forced to give up the football on downs.
Carol Streams next series saw them go to the air, but Bloomingdales’ Samuel Gaffney defended the passing attempt in stellar fashion, preventing the completion.
Entering the final quarter, Carol Stream still maintained control of the ball as their offense was doing just enough to keep it.
An 8-yard completion was their highlight but again strict defensive play from Gounaris, Battaglia and Gaffney ended the Panther surge.
The Bears ended the game with their offense trying to move the ball. A broken play on second down netted Deichl 18-yards, but no serious scoring threat developed as the game came to an end, giving the Bears a 29-0 victory.
The Bears could be a team to watch in the 11U Gold division this year. This is a talented team that plays well together and as one. There were numerous standouts in this game on both sides of the ball.
Leading the new offense for the Bears requires a focused individual with intelligence and the ability to run plays and make sure teammates are where they need to be.
Robby Alvarado displayed that in this game.
“Its easy knowing the plays, you just have to do them over and over. What’s hard is when a new player comes in to replace someone injured, you have to be able to explain the play quickly because they may not know it as well. It can disrupt how the offense runs.”
Alvarado also took blame for some of the miscues on offense. “I was trying to get the plays off really fast so some of the fumbles we had was because of that. I thought overall I played pretty well but our team played even better. We knew the plays well and knew where the blocks were and tackled really well.”
Offensively, Joey Caputo was the standout, displaying speed and elusiveness. He seems to run effortless and showed bursts of speed that quickly got him through openings. Scoring twice. Caputo gave notice he can score from anywhere.
“I was reading the holes and great blocks,” said the modest running back. “I’m more of an elusive back, not really a juker. I just run quick and make it hard for them to tackle me. I think I can read the holes better, first couple of plays I didn’t do a good job at that.”
“I had great blocks today, so it made it easy for me. Johnnie Panzini blocked great today. Even though our defense was pretty good today, we got beat on the pass, so we have to get better there.”
Defensively, the Bears were solid. They limited the Panthers to just a couple of plays that grabbed big chunks.
Frank Battaglia was a specialist on defense. His aggressive play and size work well for him as he disrupts plays and comes away with tackles or assists on them.
“I’m good at finishing tackles by going low,” said the lanky Battaglia. “I play outside linebacker and I’m at the line a lot so I usually throw off the end and try to make the tackle. This wasn’t a bad for me but maybe I could block better and tackle harder. I like to make the tackle but I like playing both sides. I prefer defensive. Our defense is pretty good and I like how we all go to the ball.”
You could say the Bears had two defensive stars in this game with Vinnie Camarata being the equal of Battaglia’s effort. Camarata made numerous tackles throughout the game. He doesn’t have the size of Battaglia but is as aggressive as his teammate. He showed an all-out effort to make the tackle every time he was near the ball carrier. He commits like he was shot out of a cannon.
“I make a lot of contact, I don’t avoid it, I just go for it. It’s what I do well,” said the Bears Cannonball. “I have good vision and see quickly where the ball is going, so I react quickly and head to the ball’s direction. I probably could do a little better, but I thought I played pretty good today and so did a lot of guys.”
Other Bears contributing to the win included Maximillian Maciejczyk, Javonni Mitchell, Sunny Squeo and Chris Ryan.
Coach Loughnane added:
“Last year we had 27 kids on the team, this year we have 19 which makes it a lot easier for us coaches. This year, our guys have a chip on their shoulders after losing four games by a point last year, they want to comeback this year and finish off games.”
“Snap count is something we have to work on in practice. We start facing the better teams, we are going to have to go on two and three to try to win games. We’ll have to improve a few things. I’m kind of a “Debbie Downer“when it comes to these kids.”
“You notice we didn’t tell anybody how great they were, we don’t do individual awards or anything like that. We’re a total team game and make sure the kids know that eleven kids matter on the field at a time.”
Coach Loughnane was still quite happy with how his team played and looks forward to seeing where they stack up in the strong Bill George Youth Football League.
The 11U Bears could be a handful for many teams. The Saturday tune-up will payoff big beginning next weekend wherever and whomever they play.
**Additional Photos are available for purchase at JustAllSports.Zenfolio.com link on home page in photos.**
