11U Jr. Celtics Pull Off Amazing 16-12 Victory over Saints

By Bobby Narang- Photos by Gary Larson

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NEW LENOX– Exciting…..Thrilling…..Exhausting.

The 11U Mokena Jr. Celtics experienced those emotions and several others in a thrilling two-hour plus game on Saturday afternoon at Providence Catholic High School.

Battling the Plainfield Saints, the Celtics fell behind early, committed way too many penalties, including losing two touchdowns via yellow flags, made some costly mental and physical mistakes, but in the end, it all turned out in their favor.

Thanks to amazing defensive stand that ended with a safety, the Jr. Celtics scored the winning touchdown in the final seconds to pull out an amazing 16-12 victory over the Plainfield Saints.

With his team assembled right behind the southern goalpost, the Jr. Celtics coach John Milosovich was ecstatic over his team’s resiliency and fortitude batting through all the adversity for a comeback victory against an undefeated team.

As Milosovich was discussing the victory, he glanced over at the main grandstand at a filled that has featured several elite teams, where a 30-yard banner stated “Play Like a Champion Today.”

His tough and determined team certainly did that against the visiting team. The win improved the Jr. Celtics’ record to 4-2.

“It was a big win for us because we’re getting closer to heading to the playoffs,” Milosovich said. “We’ve been working so hard. We’re positioning ourselves for the playoffs. It was a big win because they’re the first seed and we’re undefeated. We knew it was going to be a tough game for us. That’s a well-coached team. We’re excited our kids kept coming back the whole game and just excited and happy for the guys. They’ve been working hard in practice and each week been getting better.

“They played like a champion. It was a great win against a really good team. It’s great to see these guys putting things together as a team. We’re starting to peak and come together as a team. It’s fun to coach these guys. I’m really happy for them. It was a great team win. All phases of the game contributed. The offense made plays. The defense made plays, the offense scored and the special teams stepped up. All three phases made plays for us to win the game today. I’m really proud of them.”

The game lasted almost 150 minutes, but it was well worth every minute, including an action-packed fourth quarter that all fans from both sides bewildered at the outcome.

The Jr. Celtics overcame a 12-7 deficit heading into the final quarter by relying on a big-play and opportunistic defense and a grind-it-out offense that played flawlessly in the final minutes.

“The offensive line stepped up and did a great job blocking, especially late in the game and on the final drive,” Milosovich said.

The Saints kicked off the fireworks by seizing a 6-0 lead with 8:23 left in the opening quarter, stunning the crowd with a 56-yard deep pass for a touchdown.

The Celtics answered with a one-yard TD plunge by Garrett Hansen just four minutes later to take a 7-6 lead following a successful point-after-attempt. The visiting team provided another shocker by taking advantage of a good defensive stand, and a key timeout to set up one final offensive play right before halftime.

The Saints scored an 82-yard touchdown on another long bomb pass to take a 12-7 edge into halftime.

Sudden and frustrated by the last second-quarter TD, the Jr. Celtics composed themselves at halftime.

Milosovich said his players responded to the halftime talk by the coaching staff that implored them to keep pushing despite the deficit.
“We talked at halftime. We’re still in the game, and we got some big plays, like the safety and the kickoff return after that.”

The Jr. Celtics heard the message loud and clear. The defense buckled down and shut down the Saints’ passing game, not allowing a single point in the final two quarters. Bryce Kaplan had a key fumble recovering midway through the third quarter to keep the game close. Hansen and Kaplan both had third-quarter sacks.

The offense took a little bit more time to get flowing. Gavin Collins made the key defensive play, sacking the opposing quarterback in the back of the end zone for a safety to slice the deficit to 12-9 with just 2:14 left in the game.

“They had a couple of plays where they would do the fake and the quarterback would take the ball, so I saw that play coming and came into the backfield to get that safety,” Collins said.

After earning great field position following the safety, the Jr. Celtics’ offense woke up with the drive of the game. Colin Bailey’s kickoff return of 35 yards, after the safety, put the ball at the visiting team’s 11-yard line with 2:03 remaining.

Three plays later, on third down and two, Kaplan burst through a gaping hole to score a four-yard touchdown for the winning score.  

“I thought I was going to get stopped because I knew one of their really good players was in good position to get me, but the line blocked a big and wide hole for me and I ran,” Kaplan said. “We beat an undefeated team that’s the number one seed. The defense worked really hard to get them tired.”

Running back Colin Bailey rushed for 26 yards to provide a big chunk of the attack. Teammate Christopher Neyland Robinson led the team with 52 yards on the ground, including a 14-yard run.

“It was a great game and we had really good blocking,” Robinson said. “We moved the ball and just have to focus on which count we are on. I thought we would score on the final drive and we all tried hard to win the game.”

Hansen, a quarterback, also passed for 29 yards and ran for 21 yards to go with his one-yard TD.

“Our blocking was great today,” Hansen said. “Our running was great. I was kind of scared on that (last) drive. I really wanted. I started jumping up and down after he scored. Bryce, Colin and Neyland ran great all over the place.”

The Jr. Celtics’ defense sealed the win with solid showing on the Saints’ final possession.

“We saw in the first half that they did a lot of passes on the outside, so we were trying to contain a lot,” Collins said. “This was probably one of our best wins.”

The Jr. Celtics were all smiles after winning the nail-bitter, with all the kids rejoicing in the postgame talk with their coaches. Despite a ton of penalties, turnovers and mistakes and allowing a pair of long touchdowns, the Jr. Celtics prevailed with a possible season-turning comeback victory.

Collins, a defensive end, was a big-play machine, mainly on defense. His toughness and ability to get open field tackles uplifted the entire team.

Matthew Curry, a cornerback and kicker, said everybody on the team stepped up to get the win.

“I’ve been working hard in practice to earn some reps,” Curry said. “I just tried to hit people on defense. Our coaches really wanted us to stop them and win this game. This feels great to beat an undefeated team which beat us last year.”

The Jr. Celtics also picked up great efforts from Carter Bellik, Charles Fletcher, Micah Barnett, Gavin Collins, Easton Breen, Elliot Bodine, Nikko Triolo, Lucas Gravitt, Nathan Quiroz, Austin Crites, Lorenzo DeCarlo, Grant Smith, Andrew Chudzinski, Adeyinka Bobade, Asher Kokolus, Broderick Wallace, Matt Curry and Travis Delisle in the exciting comeback win.

The Jr. Celtics picked up a lot or motivation from the cheerleaders. The team of 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 inspired the team with their well-versed routines and nonstop cheering.

**Our Apologies, there are no Cheerleader pics available for this game.**