By Pat Z McGavin-Photos by Renee Kaspar
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GILBERTS— When the father of Giovanni Palermo approached coach Jon DeCoste about joining the Algonquin Argonauts 6U program, he tried to hold back his enthusiasm.
“He told me I don’t want to be one of those typical fathers, but I think my son is pretty good,” DeCoste said. “I told him to have him come to practice, and we’ll see.”
It took seconds of the first practice for DeCoste to see the same thing.
“He’s really good,” DeCoste said.
The younger Palermo is fast and explosive with the ball, and relentless pursuing the opposing ballcarriers.
“I practice hard, my heart is good, and I eat healthy and I’m one of the fastest guys on the team,” he said.
Palermo scored four touchdowns and made six touchdown saving tackles in the Argos 6U Homecoming game against the Oswego Bears in Pop Warner action at Gilberts Elementary School on Sunday, September 21.
No official score is maintained in the 32-minute game. The Argos had four touchdowns to the three scored by the Bears.
Palermo was the player of the moment. He had help throughout the team, from both other standouts to one player enjoying his biggest moment of the season.
“It’s great to have a kid like that because it allows us to move kids all over the place, and put them in different positions because we always know we have him,” DeCoste said
“Winning is fun, and every kid wants that. At the end of the day, we want them to learn things so that next year they can start with a few things already in their pocket.”
The blend of power, speed and ferocity sets Palermo apart. On the Argos’ opening possession, he got a pitch and simply motored around the right end for a 61-yard touchdown run.
His speed is not limited to just one side of the ball. On the Bears’ first possession, a fast running back reversed field, broke a couple of tackles and appeared headed for his own score.
Palermo put on the jets and chased him down for the tackle. Everybody in attendance there knew who and what to look out for.
“Someone put a block on that No. 51,” an Oswego parent yelled out.
At the 6U level, DeCoste said, the primary concerns are development and teaching. Some of those lessons were challenged by the athletic and fast backs from Oswego.
“Our No. 1 thing with the kids is we tell them to say low,” DeCoste said. “Our No. 2 thing is we tell them not to let them get outside. They hurt us a couple of times by breaking containment.”
Even in the times when an Oswego defender was able to get the angle or catch up with Palermo, there was no guarantee the Bears had the ability to stop or tackle him.
After the Bears answered the first touchdown with their own, Palermo took a deep toss around the right edge and raced toward the sideline.
As a Bears defender converged on him, he deftly stiff-armed in finishing off the 65-yard touchdown run.
“I like to use everything when I’m out there,” Palermo said. “I never give up. I like running to the ball, and hitting whoever is on the other side with the ball.”
Palermo was the standout. The Argos had other players who performed majestically. Malachi Simmons is the quarterback. He offered a sharp contrast to Palermo.
On several occasions, he faked the handoff and used his own speed and quickness to get around the edge against the Bears.
“I’m fast, and I love getting the ball and doing something with it,” Simmons said. “I love to run or make those tackles on the other side.”
With Palermo and Simmons providing the offensive spark, players like Hayden Collazo and Renzo Gamo stepped up with their hustle and sharp tackling on the defensive side.
Collazo and Gamo each had four tackles, with three resulting in negative plays.
“We do a lot of sprints and we train hard for the game,” Collazo said. >I like to run and go out there and hit. I’m hard-working, and my heart is very good.
“I play hard every time.”
The defense bent a couple of times and was victimized by some outside running plays.
The Bears were so preoccupied with Palermo he was illegally blocked on one touchdown by the Bears that was overlooked by the officials.
The second half was very much a piece of the first, with Palermo blasting off runs of 23 and 25 yards to set up his final touchdown.
He got the ball going right, and he switched fields and scored from 17 yards out down the left sideline.
His play is just contagious for every player on the team.
“It’s hard not to get excited when you see him rip off an 80-yard run, or when he gets into the backfield and nails a kid,” DeCoste said. “It’s awesome when you see kids not even in the game cheering and talking.”
On the final possession, Palermo made his sixth and final chase down, touchdown-saving stop by dashing down the left sideline and stopping the Bears’ runner at the five-yard line.
After Beckett Benacka, Collazo and Gamo combined on back-to-back stops, the unlikeliest of players denied the Bears a final chance to score.
Lorenzo Miron broke through the line for a two-yard loss.
“That’s his first tackle of the season,” DeCoste said. “It’s great when you see something like that. You work the whole season to get this point. We tell them, you’re there, just now make that one more step.
“They learn how to do that and make a stop. It was a great atmosphere with everybody getting fired up and excited, making tackles, staying low.”
The Algonquin Argonauts 6U team had many standout contributors in their Homecoming performance. They included Carter Hopkins, Jack Anfeldt, Santiago Ocampo, Wyatt Pelkey, Noah Carroll, Jeremiah Bradford, Isaiah Craddock, Clayton Mcdade, Daniel DeCoste and Benjamin Smith.
