By Ed Muniz-Photos by Kathy Jones
** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p247875459 **
October 1 brought the second day of slated home games for the Jr. Celtics. The schedule would start early and feature five games for the Sunday.
Games would be contested at 9U, 10U, 11U, 12U and finally 13U.
Entering week six play, Mokena featured two teams with undefeated records and atop the standings at 9U and 13U. All games would see winning records on the season from the Jr. Celtics.
Hosting the Darien Swarm, the Jr. Celtics treated them as unwelcome guests in their shutout, 28-0 dismantling win.
Three touchdown runs and a long touchdown pass highlighted the Mokena first half. For all intense purposes, the first score would have sufficed the way the Jr. Celtic defense played.
The Jr. Celtics defense plays as one unit. They share the wealth in their tackling game. A multitude of players can stand out in any one game. Their success comes as one, as was displayed in this game.
It wasn’t long after the beginning of the game that saw the Jr. Celtics jump ahead.
Ater runs by Ryan Ripoli, Tyson Gagan, a keeper by Johnson and William Guinea, Johnson again went to Ripoli who found an opening up the middle and didn’t stop until 35-yards later in the endzone for the opening touchdown just a couple minutes in and a 6-0 lead.
Darien would get their chance, but it was a disaster from the get-go. A fumble on the first snap lost them 8-yards, an incomplete pass and a tackle by Michael Lehnerer had them punting in their three and out opening.
Johnson went to work on the very next play. A pass to Gagan found its mark, he proceeded to speed away from the chasing Swarm and completed the 41-yard touchdown pass. Ryder Runia added the 2-point kick which gave Mokena a 13-0 lead.
Rhett Johnson is the type of quarterbacks coaches covet. He’s like having a coach on the field. He guides the 9U Mokena offense in total command and knows where everyone should be on each play.
Not prone to making mistakes and a good decision maker, Johnson knows his role exactly.
“I get the dual threat of running the ball or passing it, its why I like playing Quarterback,” said Johnson. “I call the huddle, I give them the plays and we execute them really well. I get a lot of action playing on offense, defensively I play safety, so I miss out on a lot of tackles. I think I can improve not over pursuing on defense.”
The Swarms second series turned out worse than its’ first. After Johnson stopped the first running attempt, the Swarm fumbled the snap but recovered the football. Their next play was a pass attempt that found the welcoming arms of Johnson for the interception.
One play later, the Swarms deficit grew larger.
A handoff to Guinea went 23-yards for the touchdown, after the turnover, giving the Jr. Celtics a 22-0 lead with Runia’s conversion kick.
You could only wonder what the opposing sideline was thinking after they found themselves down three scores still in the opening quarter.
The Swarm simply couldn’t help themselves. Their next series saw them producing negative yards along with a holding penalty to start the efforts. Tackles by Johnson, Tommy Kroll, Geno Vosholler and Guinea forced the visitors to punt again from their own 19 after starting the drive at the 35-yardline and end the first quarter.
The next Mokena drive saw them go to their ground game exclusively. It took then seven plays to cover 26-yards. Three runs a piece by Johnson and Kroll culminated in the endzone on Gagan’s 3-yard plunge, increasing the Mokena advantage to 28-0.
One last first half series by the Swarms saw them again run only four plays with tackles by Guinea, Vosholler, Runia and Christian Carlson.
A 3-yard run by Kroll closed out the opening half.
Beginning the second half with a running clock, the Swarm saw improvement in their game. The Jr. Celtics defense did bend but not break. The main difference was the second half saw no scoring from the Mokena offense.
The swarm offense did run multiple plays, using up the entire third quarter on their opening drive. Their 12-play drive drove them inside the Mokena 5-yardline but on fourth down, Johnson made the stop to keep the visitors scoreless.
On the long Swarm drive, Mokena grabbed tackles from Evan Doman, Brayden Luczynski, Vosholler, Johnson, Ripoli, and Camden Dvorak.
Entering the fourth quarter, the changes to the Jr. Celtics offense saw them punt for the first time in the game after three runs.
Two plays later, the Jr. Celtic defense created a turnover. Johnson forced a fumble with his tackle of a Swarm runner and Tompkins recovered the loose football.
“I think I play pretty good both ways. I enjoy getting tackles and also running the ball,” said Tompkins. “I prefer playing offense, but I did pretty good on defense today. I still think I’m really good at running the ball and I block pretty good too.”
The game concluded after two runs by Kroll grabbed 17-yards and an 11-yard dash by Luczynski.
“It was easy to run through the holes when I was at fullback, the line opened big holes,” said Kroll. “On defense, I kept getting around the block to make a tackle. Playing both sides of the ball, is like the same, we play pretty good on both sides. I think our defense was better today in this game. If we keep working at practice, we will get better.”
Several other Jr. Celtics added to the win, they include Casey Gahan, Dean Copack, Gabriel Glover, Andrew darnell, Vincent Bennett, Knixon Hazdra, William Janik, Brady Lindholm, Cameron Richards, Liam Kruse and Dominic Brown.
With the 28-0 shutout win, the 9U Jr. Celtics improved to 6-0 while the Swarm fell to 3-3
Cheering throughout the game and entertaining the crowd at halftime were the Jr Pee Wee Cheerleaders. Among them giving their all were Elizabeth Costello, Angel Delgau, Reese Erickson, Olivia Gonzalez, Brooklyn Gorenstein, Ava Gorman, Liliana Gotkowski, Emmy Holland, Brooke Jacobson, Brynn Kaplan, Charlotte Kelly, Harper Kloiber, Adriannna Magana, Natalie Mellon, Ella Pearson, Briella Price, Mariana Santoro, Valentina Santoro, Valentino Santoro, Josselyn Smith, Mckenna Smith, Mackenzie Tunney, Maya Varnado and Lillian White
