By Ed Muniz-Photos by Raj Chavda
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NORTHLAKE—After being outplayed for three quaters; being shutout and dominated; a sense of urgency suddenly the 11U came over the Algonquin Argonauts. An errant Darien pass on fourth down fell incomplete early in the fourth quarter and forced the Swarm to give up the ball on downs.
Starting at the Argos 21-yard-line, the Argos were still going to their workhorse, Wade Vanderkamp. Two straight runs produced seven yards but on his third consecutive try, Vanderkamp took a handoff, cut left and was gone, Like a shot out of a cannon.
Wade cleared the second level so quickly, it seem to stun and surprise the Swarm defense as they gave chase.
All game up to that point, Darien had kept the Argos offense to a minimum. They stymied the Argos ground game and controlled much of the play with a smothering defense
When Venderkamp cleared the second level, he didnt stop until he reached the endzone on the 73-yard touchdown. He also added the point-after and brought the score to 18-7. With the score, it sparked an entertaining last 6:31 of the game.
“I feel good after running the ball alot. I’m kind of mad that we lost,” said the Argo star running-back Wade Vanderkamp. “I’m very tired, I’m going to go and take a nap. When I’m running hard and getting nothing I’m not really thinking a lot, I’m just a little frustrated.”
“On the touchdown run, I found the hole to start off with, went through the “A” gap and then saw a hole outside, poppped out and ran as fast as I could praying noone was behind me trying to tackle me. When you score, you dont really think about it, you just jump around and get happy. In the end, we just did what we had to do in those moments, you go quick , just do it trying to score.”
The Argos went on to score another touchdown and then nearly came up with the onside kick with a few seonds left. Had they, instead of an 18-13 loss, the game could have become a comeback that is spoken about for years.
“They started off slow, fought through some adversity and tighten the score,” said Coach Antonio Wilder. “We didnt show any quit, they showed me that they have some fight in them. It turned out to be a little too late but we never quit. Time wasn’t on our side in the end but sometimes thats what happens.”
“We need to start with a little more aggression in the first half. We started off kind of slow. We need to wake up from the very beginning and give ourselves a better chance to succeed. We need to execute a little sooner and not in the last five minutes of the game. I’m proud how we finished. In the second half we fought and made it a game. We started off slow and in the end, we had an opportunity to tie or even win the game inches from recovering the onside try; so close.”
The Argos looked sluggish out of the gate offensively. Defesively, the initial start of the game, the Argos held the Swarm to four plays and forced a turnover on downs. Tackles by Crue Sayler, Manny Lindstroem and Wade Vanderkamp quickly squashed the Darien effort.
The first quarter ended scoreless but midway through the second quarter, the Swarm broke the ice after the Argos went for it on fourth and long from their own 22-yard-line. Three plays later on the short field, Darien connected on a 20-yard touchdown pass, jumping ahead 6-0.
The ensuing kickoff appeared to be mis-kicked but good enough for the football to float just beyond 10-yards, surprising the Argos front line which was then recovered by the Swarm, giving them another offensive possesion.
The Argos defense was up to the challenge with stops by Gabe Gutierrez and Mike Wetzel. Following an incomplete pass, the Swarm punted which ended not costing the Argos nothing but time.
The Argos’ grabbed 12-yards on their next play when Lash connect on the pass to Crue Sayler but the Argos could only add three yards on the next four plays, resuting in them giving up possession.
With time running out in the first half, the Swarm worked quickly moving towards the endzone with a completion being the key play to the Argos 4. From there with 13-seconds left, the Swarm scored again on the four yard run to up their lead to 12-0 at halftime.
The second half opened with the Argos trying to right the offensive ship. Unfortunately, much of the Argos offensive struggles from the first half continued to open the third quarter. After after a couple of runs and and a pair of incompletions, the Argos gave up the football on downs. Three plays later, the Swarm upped their lead to 18-0 on a run up the middle from 16-yards out.
The Argos got back into the game in the fourth quarter. A 73 yard run by Wade Vanderkamp closed the score to 18-7 after he also added the extra-point.
The score lit a fire for the Argos. They forced a punt from the Swarm four plays later behind the tackling of Manny Lindstroem, Kaiden Blackwell and Vanderkamp.
With time eroding away, the Argos went into hurry up mode and had success with it. Struggling earlier to get their offense going, here they were executing and making no mistakes . Quarterback James Lash was smooth running the offense along with pin-point passing, moving the ball quickly upfield. His line was providing blocks and exploding on the snap and Vanderkamp used his power and speed to gain yardage.
Everything was clicking .
When Lash connected with Brady Steinhaus for 22-yards, the Argos were just outside the red-zone. Add a 15-yard run by Gutierrez followed by Lash again making the right pass to Sayler from 9 yards out, the game suddenly was at 18-13.
All momentum was now on the Argos side as they tried on onside kick late in the game. The ball bounced and took uncontrolled movements past the Swarm front line giving the Argos the chance at recovery. Vanderkamp and a Darien player arrived at the ball nearly at the same time. A small struggle ensued but Vanderkamp’s valient effort came up just a moment too late as the Swarm gained possesion to seal the game.
Quarterback James Lash felt the way they played at the end was how they should play from the start.
“We weren’t really doing well starting the game, we didn’t fire off the ball and let guys get through so it was hard for our offense to get going,” said Quarterback James Lash. “We fell in a hole in the end we couldn’t get out off. Their line was hard for us. They were stacked up with a five front, so they were powering through and we couldn’t get an outside ball.”
“They were quick to the edge too. They were lacking a little bit too, there were clear holes going forward. in the end, the whole fourth quarter was Wade (Vanderkamp). It felt good scoring, it gave us that little fire of hope that you still have a chance, Wade almost got that ball at the end, had he, we could have scored and tied it up or won.”
Early on, the Argos defense was led by Manny Lindstroem. The defensive lineman was trouble for the Swarm as he grabbed several tackles headed his way. He was quick off the snap and out-played his opponent easily.
“All I’m doing is thinking I have to tackle the guy coming to me,” said the Lindstroem. “I was trying to add more tackles but as the game went on, I was slipping and maybe a little tired. They double teamed me a few times so I had to work harder. I think I just need to pratice more and get better. I like playing defense. I play offense too but I prefer defense because I get a lot of tackles and thats what helps us in close games.”
Other Argos that provided all they could throughout the game were Chase Konishi, Isaiah Martinez, Johnny Konkey, Ricardo Martinez, Antonio Wilder-Douglas Jr., Trevor Quatroke, Mike Wenzel, Jameson Webb, Max Backaus, Bryce Lemon, Jackson Blakey, Zavion Haralson, Sammy Roumbos, Brett Vance, Leo Young and Josh Skrodski.
