By Bobby Narang- Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
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NEW LENOX– After a late kickoff due to a longer-than-expected previous game, the 12U Mokena Jr. Celtics were fired up and ready for a big game.
The Jr. Celtics came out onto the field before the opening kickoff with enthusiasm, excitement and anticipation for a big battle against the Tri-City Wolverines.
There was just one problem – the visiting Wolverines played up to their nickname.
The Wolverines were a tab bit faster, bigger and stronger than the Jr. Celtics. That difference showed up in the scoreboard. The Wolverines broke up a scoreless halftime, tallying 12 points in the third quarter and tacking on a fourth-quarter touchdown for a 18-0 victory over the Jr. Celtics at Providence Catholic High School on Saturday night.
Sitting in the northern corner of the stadium, off to the sidelines, the Jr. Celtics spent the majority of their postgame talk getting some advice from De La Salle football coach Harold Blackmon. A standout four-year starter at defensive back for Northwestern, Blackmon praised the Jr. Celtics for their effort and encouraged them to stay positive and to keep working hard.
The motivation talk inspired the Jr. Celtics. Part of the reason was a long and tough game that wore down the depleted team. Several injuries during the game hampered the progress of the team against the physical and strong Wolverines.
“They were definitely a very big team,” coach Bob Russell said. “I thought we had the game in control pretty much in the first half. We had some lost opportunities. Throughout the game, I was very proud of the boys. They fought until the last minute. We had a lot of injuries in the week and during the game. It was the next man up. They fought really hard. We will continue to fight. This team will never give up.”
Running back Nakahti Thompson was doing his normal shifty moves and making plays. Thompson was a big-time player throughout the game, finding holes in the defense, pushing himself for extra yards by carrying defenders and using his shifty moves for big runs of 9, 8 and 8 in a three-carry span over two quarters to finish with a team-best 52 yards on the game. Thompson was a warrior, even making a point to get some assistance to listen to the postgame talk by Blackmon and Russell despite his injury.
Also, Andrew Lowry had a big game, opening up with an 11-yard burst to finish with 27 yards. Michael Brown added 18 yards on the ground to go along with his quarterback duties. Nolan Purtill came up big in the second half with four rushes for 24 yards.
“Nakahti played great, but the entire backfield also played great,” Russell said. “Andrew Lowry was a beast at fullback and Michael Brown did a great job leading the team. The offensive line did a very, very good job. Caleb Jablonski and Jackson Shanahan were great. Jackson has a kid twice his size. Frank Vosholler IV was great and Graham Salvador also did a great job on the line for us. Anthoni Stefos also blocked great at tight end. We had a couple of lost opportunities on offense, but everyone fought the entire time.”
Brown was steady at quarterback battling a strong rush by the Wolverines. He had trouble finding time to throw the ball but managed to elude defenders for a few runs to extend drives.
“We played hard, blocked well and ran hard,” he said. “We didn’t play our best, but we didn’t give up. They had a good defense. We just put our heads down when they scored. We have to keep our heads up all the time. We played good in the first half until they started scoring in the second half.”
Lowry said he enjoyed the extra time playing fullback, earning a few carries to help the offense and keep the hard-pushing Wolverines’ offense off the field.
“I felt awesome to run the ball,” Lowry said. “I thought we played really hard as a team. I didn’t get much yardage, but it was fun to run the ball. They were big on defense, but I thought we played well overall. We have to work harder and to get under guys that are bigger than us. That last touchdown hurt us. When they scored, our mood went down. We have to keep it up.”
Stefos was a tired after a long day playing tight end and linebacker, but he said the final outcome wasn’t a true indicator of how close the game was for the home team.
“The other team had some pretty big backs and they run pretty hard,” Stefos said. “We did a good job, though, bringing them down. We tackled good and gave it our all. That’s why we kept the score close, especially in the first half. We just struggled to get big plays on offense. We have to keep playing like this and we will eventually finish a game.”
The defense did a good job keeping the Wolverines from scoring in the first half. Christian Taphorn intercepted a pass near midfield with 35.1 seconds left until halftime. Thompson added to his busy day by also intercepting a pass and running 15 yards with 1.2 seconds in the quarter.
“The defense really controlled the line of scrimmage and didn’t break,” Russell said. “I just think we ran out of gas because we had so many injuries. We had so many kids on both sides of the ball. We didn’t have the energy in the second half. We have 28 kids on the roster, but I think we finished the game with 13 kids.”
Despite the tough home loss, the Jr. Celtics 12U team had several players step up in the game. Those players included Brayden Firlit, Hunter Guisinger, Frank Vosholler IV, Christian Taphorn, Thomas Walsh, Ethan Vargas, Dominic Nenchausky, Jackson Shanahan, Robert Hauck, Jaxon Brown, Caleb Jablonski, Carter Gericke, Graham Salvador, Logan McGrtath and Lincoln Lopez.
The combined PeeWee and Junior Varsity cheerleaders were a positive sight with their stellar routines and energy they brought that helped the football team. The PeeWee members included Angelica Enright, Gabrielle Migacz, Luciana Kolenko, Teagan Smith, Bevin Scanlan, Mia Rhodes, Charlotte Fowler, Madison Baker, Anya Stojak, Alexis Vollman, Eloise Morrison, Madison Varnado, Ashlyn Woods, Olivia Freyer, Gianna Ponzi, Abigeal Shaughnessy, Gianna Picciola, Jessica Short, Penny Oeser, Chloe DiBennardi and Brianna Adair.
