By Ed Muniz-Photos by Paul Connolly
**Our Apologies, Additional Photos are not Available for this game. Just All Sports will again cover the WNFL Varsity on September 4 to provide a better, full experience. **
Debuting in their 2024 Wednesday Night Football League opener had the Varsity Orland Park Pioneers fired up ready to go. Displaying a joyous exuberance that teenagers seem to have an abundance of.
The Pioneers were amped up, ready for their game on August 28 under the lights against the Frankfort Falcons to kickoff.
While the rest of the Pioneers began their season the previous week, these Pioneers were unable to. Of course, patience was at its limit for many of the Varsity players.
Using the running attack of Luke O’ Reilly and Joey Driscoll and timely passing by Quarterback’ Kyle Krokos, the Pioneers two touchdowns were more than enough.
Throw in the Pioneers swarming and opportunistic defense, the Falcons were shutout, 12-0, capping the successful evening for the Pioneer program, winning all the three games played.
Opening the game, the Pioneers gave the Falcons a preview on their first series of what to expect the remainder of the game.
The defense of Caden Votteler, Rhett Capps, Cristian Arevalo and Michael Sraga forced the Falcons into negative yards, and into relinquishing the football on downs.
Taking the ball on their opening series, the Pioneers used runs by O’Reilly (5 carries for 20 yards) and Driscoll (21 yards on two carries) and the passing of Krokos (2 of 2 for 10 yards) on the 9-play drive that culminated with a touchdown run of 4 yards by Driscoll and a 6-0 lead in the second quarter.
On the ensuing Falcons series, Jack Bordelon came up big, recovering a fumble on the Falcons first try.
Again, the Falcons were seeing a heavy dose of O’Reilly as the feature back of the Orland Park offensive attack, but they did force a turnover on downs once in the second half.
After getting the ball back nearing the conclusion of the first half, the Pioneers’ Joey Driscoll found the endzone just before halftime.
A perfect pass by Krokos was cradled in by Driscoll who streaked 31 yards into the endzone for the touchdown and a 12-0 lead.
“The blocks were good today on my runs,” said Driscoll. I think when I see daylight, I run. I use my blockers and follow them but if I see an opening, I accelerate through it. Just getting the ball and scoring a touchdown is an amazing feeling, I love getting the ball on a handoff or pass.”
The second half saw no scoring, the Pioneers didn’t need to.
A stifling defense was carrying the game at that point. Players like Bordelon and Driscoll were leading the defense.
“I was just getting a good push, pushing them back,” said Jack Bordelon. ‘Everything was just going our way today. For me, I felt the energy today. Playing at night; it’s the best, you feel the energy and excitement. We need to fix the holding penalties on offense, but still a good win.”
Although the Pioneer offense bogged down in the second half, there wasn’t a sense of needing to score. Field General’ Krokos directed the offense, got plays off and used up time.
“Being short, which is not a gift, I could still see over the line because of my line blocking, it was great,” said Krokos. “I made one bad read today, it is what it is and I just gotta learn from that.”
“I need to put a little more air on the ball because on the deep passes I like to zip it, give the receivers a better chance to catch the ball and not overthrow them. I could still improve my reads by making them quicker too. I didn’t get hit once while throwing, thank you offensive line and kudos to the defense, they made stops on every play.”
Give credit to the Falcons, their defense stepped up their play and didn’t give up another score.
The Pioneers did have opportunities but passes just out of reach of receivers or passes that should have been caught but receiver not maintaining their routes, were minor issues the Pioneers can fix.
Penalties came into play as well. Little things were preventing the Pioneers from adding to their score.
Overall, the Varsity Pioneers showed they have the talents to vie for league title but do have room for improvement. But on this evening, they celebrated the long-awaited opening to their WNFL season with a victory.
The Pioneers also benefited by the skills and support of fellow teammates like Rayn Beeler, Colin McElligott, Connor Ward, Colin Kluever, David Kopec, Thomas Elliott, Santino Marrella, Ashton Brennan, Mason Overmyer, Wyatt Heinze, Luke Rybak, Henry Byrne, Keegan Fogarty, Layth Zughayer, Nicholas Davis, Ryan Almasri, Harley Camargo, Noah O’Kennard, Nicholas Baniewicz, Mark Gresch-Lisula, Jude Doftert, Nathaniel Owei, William Reilly, Brandon Castillo, Aidan Rios, Jacob Morakinyo, Cameron Taylor, Abdallah Abuhamda, William Gardner, Ezennaya Nwachukwu, John Marcos, Nolan Burns, Daniel Evers and Brady Straka.
