Argonauts 13U Stay Close but Fall 22-18 to Porters

By Bobby Narang- Photos by Gary Larsen

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ALGONQUIN— A strong start is often a good sign in football.

Establishing momentum with a quick opening play or scoring drive is usually an indicator of good things for a team.

Dominating the line of scrimmage, slowly – or quickly – moving the ball down the field builds morale and often shows the practice leading up the game was well orchestrated and attentive to details.

The 13U Alqonquin Argos, coached by Dustin Covarrubias, fit that mold early in Sunday’s game against the Lockport Jr. Porters.

On their first drive, the Argos rode their massive tailback, Max Michalski for three of the first four plays. As perhaps the biggest player on his team, Michalski is a load for opposing defenses to stop, especially when he lines up in the backfield and runs the ball.

He gained four yards then an additional seven yards on his first two carries on Sunday. He bulldozed his way for another four yards on the fourth play, but he was held to no gain on third down. The Argos came up empty on fourth down to halt the drive.

In their second possession, the Argos attacked back with a longer and more time-consuming drive. The six-play, 72-yard possession ended with Maddox Schroeder’s 52-yard touchdown pass to Cayden Barnes.

After the Argos recovered the onside kick, they weren’t able to move the ball on their third drive.

Soon enough, the Porters seized control of the game with an opportunistic offense, well-played situational play-calling and relying on turnovers to notch a 22-18 victory over the Argos.

“After a bye week, we came out flat and it hurt us,” Covarrubias said. “After the first drive, we couldn’t catch up with them. They played very well. Lockport is a very stout team and always has been. Last year we lost I think by the very exact score. Now, we have a 20-day layover before we play in the state championship game.

“We’re going to have a lot of practices and will improve after this game. We talk about doing the little things right, but unfortunately, we didn’t do a lot of them right today. But we will learn from this and be ready to go for the D1 state championship in three weeks. I want to praise our linebackers. They played really well today. Cayden Barnes, Dylan Genchi and Thomas Dobrowolskiplayed absolutely out of their minds, and our offensive line played really well.

“Our running game with Max ran the ball well. We had a couple of miscues in the passing game, but we will get better.”

The Porters, who scored a touchdown on their first possession, rode the steady play of quarterback Luke Schumacher to the victory. A quality passer and a runner, Schumacher scored two rushing touchdowns, including a 13-yarder for a 16-6 lead late in the second quarter.

The Argos closed out the half with an impressive drive, sparked by quality passing from Schroeder who relied on his connection and chemistry with Barnes. The drive marched all the way to the 1-yard line following a 14-yard reception by Barnes with 13.6 left in the half.

Michalski capped the drive with a 1-yard TD plunge, which was helped by a good block from Tyler Covarrubias that sliced the deficit to 16-12.

The visiting team went to work in the third quarter, padding their lead to 22-12 thanks to an 11-play drive that ended with Schumacher darting nine yards for a touchdown. Michalski, though, made a big play by blocking the PAT.

The Argos’ second possession of the half showed signs of life, when Brixton Mercado hauled in a 26-yard pass over the middle to set up the offense in a good position to cut the deficit to one score. The drive hit a snag after the Porters tightened up on defense to force a two-yard run and three incompletions.

Michalski said the Porters’ defense was tough, but the Argos made too many mental and physical mistakes.

“They had a good defense, but we made some stupid plays,” Michalski said. “It stinks because I feel this is a team we can beat, but we beat ourselves. We moved the ball pretty good and had some good catches and plays, but we have to learn from our mistakes. We made too many of them.”

The Argos, though, still have some life in their offense, showing their fortitude following some rough play in the last two-plus quarters. Starting at Lockport’s 25-yard line thanks to a blocked punt by Aiden Bluhm, the Argos moved the ball to the 5-yard line via a 15-yard pass to Michalski.

After a sack, Genchi caught a seven-yard pass. The short drive came to a positive end on Schroeder’s 13-yard TD pass to Barnes with 12.7 left in the game.

The visiting team sealed the victory by recovering the onside kick to spoil the chances for the Argos from having one final play to notch a thrilling comeback.

Barnes said the Argos wasted an opportunity to close out the regular season with a signature win.

“Today’s game was tough,” Barnes said. “They were a different team, dominating on the line and we just missed some of our blocks so we couldn’t run the ball really well. In the passing game, we had some good plays.

“We have to get ready for the D1 state championship and improve on our mistakes. We have a good team but just made too many mental mistakes. We have to get back to practice and practice harder and more to get be ready for our next game.”

The Argos had a team effort in the loss, getting contributions from Adam Burczynski, Aiden Cupal, Michael Brey, Julius Chavez, Ayden Garcia, Waylon Anderson, Daniel Heller, Aiden Eckart, Cavan Lukes, Lucas Gillette and William Hardy.