By Pat Z McGavin- Photos by Renee Kaspar
** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p1006671381 **
MOKENA— The Jr Celtics 7U team fought through adversity and hardship to arrive at a place where everything felt right.
The slow start was a distant memory, and the team was just where it wanted to be, seemingly on the verge of winning.
Mezzo Funk was fittingly in the spotlight after his two-way play put the Jr Celtics back in contention.
He lined up for the winning two-point kick.
“I was a little nervous,” he said. “I made three kicks before during this season.”
His kick bounded off the bar and fell backwards in the Jr Celtics’ crushing 7-6 loss to the Addison Cowboys in Pop Warner league play at Main Park on Saturday, October 111.
“We just had to wake up in the first half, and the game could have been 100 percent a different score out there,” quarterback Sebastian Kouba said.
“There were a few more things we could have changed. I don’t know what to say. It feels terrible, and we want to get this taste out of our mouth.”
The Jr Celtics lost one of their best players, running back Cooper Surber, to a serious leg injury in the first half.
On the opening possession, Surber had a 47-yard run called by a holding penalty. The early mistakes showed how the team was just slightly out of rhythm at the start.
Logan Cesek picked up the early slack by driving through several Cowboy defenders for an 11-yard run. He showed speed and brute force in not going down easily.
“I like to make contact and break ankles,” Cesek said. “I wanted to run past them, and not worry about breaking ankles, because another guy was there to tackle me.”
In what turned out to be their best drive until the end of the game, the Jr Celtics weaved together different running actions to push the ball down the field.
Cesek and Liam Adent each blasted off for 12-yard runs to reach the Cowboys’ 12-yard line. Disaster struck with Cesek stopped for a one-yard loss and then back-to-back fumbled exchanges on the shotgun snap.
Kouba was sacked on fourth down, ending the promising drive. What happened next was even worse.
On the Cowboys’ second play from scrimmage, the Jr Celtics lost contain and allowed a 47-yard touchdown run.
Addison punched home the conversion run for the 7-0 lead.
“We just have to be unselfish, and play harder,” Kouba said.
The devastating injury to Surber knocked the life out of the Jr Celtics the rest of the half. In a foreshadowing of the second half, the defense started to make its presence felt.
After Ronan Gleason made a touchdown-saving tackle, defensive lineman Ryan Sanders had a big stop for a loss that helped scuttle a drive by the Cowboys.
In the closing moments of the first half, Adent broke free for a 27-yard run. Cesek followed with his own sharp run. The team ran out of time, and the Jr Celtics got to halftime trailing by just one score. More significantly the team showed signs of life, and breaking free of the early disappointment.
“I just needed to wake up,” Gleason said. “Our whole team needed to wake up. If we were awake during that first half, I think it would have been double that score.”
The Jr Celtics were ready to play at the start of the second half, with Gleason and Knox Kucala teaming up for a series of negative plays.
Cesek made another stop for the fourth down loss.
”We just stopped watching, and started playing and getting in there and making those tackles,” Funk said.
Eventually the game came down to the final possession with the Jr Celtics again. The team took over with 5:37 to play.
Funk started things off brilliantly with a 26-yard run. Camden Styx had a seven-yard burst. The team was again forced to improvise with Kouba temporarily knocked out of the game after taking a hard hit.
On the defining drive, the Jr Celtics went to a Wildcat variation with Adent taking off with a lot of direct snaps.
“We were able to get more plays where we had three blockers outside, and that was easier for us to get more yards and get a better touchdown,” Adent said. “I was following my blockers, and they tried tracking my space. I tried staying up, and they fell off of me. I just tried to play as hard as I could.”
Adent had a 14-yard run and another 15-yard burst to put the ball at first and goal with under a minute to play. Cesek hit pay dirt on a four yard touchdown run on a reverse. Funk started out right and took the ball around the left edge.
“I just saw a whole gap here that was wide open, and I ran over there,” he said. “I ran as fast as I could.
“I was about to dive, but then I noticed I could just lean in and score. We had pretty good success running that play. We had good blocking. I got hit in the face a lot that hurt me a lot, but I just had to get revenge.”
Just 29.8 seconds remained on the clock. The Funk kick needed another inch or two of elevation. That was as close the team came to victory.
“We could come back in the bowl game, if we see them again,” Cesek said.
Despite the heartbreaking loss, the Jr Celtics had many standout contributors in the 7-6 loss. Their members were Gannon Mathis, Brantley Fischer, Camdyn Brigham, Grayson Erickson, Colin Frainey, Gavin Poulos, Clyde Miuccio, Luke Rockett, Jackson Baker, Kaleb Cloutier, Fitzgerald Blythe, James Dillon and Leonidas Christou.
