By Ed Muniz-Photos by Renee Kasper
** Additional Photos are available for purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p903471080 **
The Bloomingdale Bears played host to their annual “Bloomingdale Bowl” on August 19.
A bevy of football games were on tap on two fields held at Circle Park.
Twelve Bloomingdale Bear teams would face teams from Carol Stream, Tri-City and Elmhurst in the preseason kick-off event.
Among the Bears teams taking on foes were the 11-Under team in the Gold Division of the Bill George Youth Football league.
Led by coach Rod Anderson, the 11-U Bears used speed and elusiveness to overwhelm the visiting Carol Stream Panthers, enroute to a dominating 20-6 victory.
“We’re a small team, we’ll always be the smallest, but these guys got heart,” said Coach Anderson. “We play physical, we play tough, we do that well. We use good technique and coach them to do the right thing. That’s what they do, use good technique and they’re always gonna win in technique and knowing what to do.”
Anderson did state they weren’t perfect and felt there were a few things to work on which included sustaining their blocks and cleaning up penalties.
“It’s a lot to do with mental mistakes, we discipline them in practice. We’d like to be able to change the count and going on two more but mentally, they’re not there yet. We will keep working at it,” said the chuckling head coach.
The Bears’ offense was clicking well. Although undersized compared to those lined up across from them, their speed and agility had the Panthers chasing them down field.
Running-back Chase Gravina isn’t big in stature, but he is fleet a foot and a difficult catch for the Panther defense all game.
Quarterback Logan Anderson seemed to be the perfect guy at the helm of the offense as he executed well all day.
The Bears took the open drive and quickly moved upfield. Gravina opened with a 21-yard burst and another run of 14-yards on his first two carries. Angelo Morales got into the action carrying the rock twice for 17-yards which had the Bears just three yards from the endzone.
Called on for the third consecutive time, Morales powered in for the open score. When Anderson found Brian Ficek for the two-point conversion, the Bears led 8-0 early.
Defensively, the Bears were a swarming bunch, like gnats that won’t leave you alone hovering around you constantly. The tackling talents of Evan Schwind and Morales were key and forced the Panthers to go three and out, turning over the football on downs.
The second go on offense, the Bears found it a little more challenging but still managed to up their lead.
An 11-yard run to the outside saw Gravina looking like he may score once he hit the near sideline, but the Panthers’ Malik Brooks showed he could move his large frame and chased down the elusive running-back.
Brooks, Carter Jones and Jacob DeLeon were doing all they could to stop the Bloomingdale offense, but it was a tough go.
Anderson found Owen Salter on the 9-yard pass and soon after, Gravina showed his speed and raced 46-yards for the Bears second touchdown and a 14-0 lead.
“The second I was getting the ball, I knew I could score every time,” said the confident Gravina. “I knew I was going to get downfield, at least one yard. I just knew it. I have good speed, but my size doesn’t help me much.”
Gravina wants to be better at getting his whole team up for games. “I think I could improve a lot, so I’d give myself a B-minus or C.”
The Panther offense was trying to get going now down two scores. Quarterback’ Giovanni Sisson decided to take matters into his own hands and legs.
Sission would kick start the Panthers by calling his own number, carrying the offensive attack. Of the following eight offensive plays, Sisson ran the ball six times, gaining several yards. He too was quite elusive and displayed a knack for escaping for added yards.
He also completed a 9-yard pass to Javier Ayala to open the second quarter. Unfortunately, the Bears defense stepped up enough to stall the Panther drive at the Bears 16-yard-line.
Tackles by Logan Jarock, Lucas Nosek, Frankie Jurkowski, Yonatan Arellano, Nathan Avila and Morales helped but it was Lazo Lovelace that led the defensive stop with 3 tackles of his own.
The Bears added to their lead on their next possession after being set up with a 58- yard pass completion by Anderson to Fieck followed by a 24-yard pass from Anderson to Salter. From there Morales raced 6- yards for the Bears third touchdown and a 20-0 lead at halftime.
Morales was a key two-way player. He was active on both sides of the ball but contributed more defensively.
“I think I’m staying in a good base and putting my head in the right place when I’m tackling,” said Morales. “Last year I wasn’t good at tackling and containing as a corner, but this year I’m good at containing and I’m tackling really good. I like playing aggressive and making the hits and being the “Hammer”.
The Panthers opened the second half with Sisson again doing much of the offensive tally. Another 8-play drive saw them move the ball, but penalties would drive them back at the costliest time, once again unable to maximize a great drive.
Tackles by Gravina, Avila, Salter, Joe Turek and a pair each by Lovelace and Jarock kept the Panthers off the scoreboard.
The Panthers finally scored early in the fourth quarter after the defense play of Brooks, Vito Fellino, DeLeon and a big tackle for loss by Masen Pagan stopped the hosts.
A heavy dose of Sisson and Jacob Steder moved the ball to the Bears 5-yard-line. From there Steder was able to blast in for the Panthers first score of the 2023 season and cut the score to 20-6.
The Panther sideline was jumping up and down with 7:05 left when an onside kick was recovered by Brooks which gave the offense another chance to score.
The Panthers put together a 9-play-drive with Steder getting his number called often, producing hard fought chunks of turf. Unfortunately, time was not on their side and a last-minute heave fell incomplete, which allowed the Bears to run out the clock for the 20-6 victory.
“I thought getting the snap off was easy for us today,” said Bears Quarterback Anderson. “Getting passes off today was hard because there were always guys in my face. I like being a leader on the field. I like passing and getting big yards and scoring. I think I could improve my accuracy and put the pass on them instead of over-throwing the ball because I do that sometimes. I thought our team played pretty good today.”
Others giving their all for the Bears in their win include Lorenzo Flores, Dominic Garcia, Giorgio Lekbello and Leondis Collins.
The Panthers played hard and also had efforts from Jaiden Andreotti, Michael Dietrich, Vince Marino, Vince Trioa, Alan Golinski, Angelo Rafael, Antonio Tunzi and Gianni Leggett.
