By Ed Muniz- Photos by Lauren Gray
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ORLAND PARK- All Season the River Valley Youth Football League has run a “Fifth Quarter” for those programs with large numbers.
At each of the four levels within the RVYFL a “Fifth Quarter” was implemented a several years ago to give players of little to no experience and of limited skill levels to face and play against similar opponents prior to the regular schedule game.
Its success has given players of all ages a chance to develop at their own pace against other players of the same skill level.
Many of those same players play in the Wednesday Night Football League but not all. Some only play during “Fifth Quarter” play thus a 25-minute game of 12. 5 minutes on offense and 12.5 minutes on defense is all they participate in.
If an opponent can’t field a “Fifth Quarter” team, unfortunately, those designated strictly to that may not see any action at all.
For Coach Pat Richardson, that didn’t sit well for him, so he went out and organized a full game with officials and everything a full game features for his team of SLW Fifth Quarter Pioneers.
Hosting a Bill George Football League team from Lemont, the players and parents were given an opportunity to play and watch a complete football game with four quarters, that saw the Pioneers shutout the Lemont Hornets 20-0.
“It was a blast,” said Coach Richardson. “They’ve been working hard all season, and this was an opportunity for them to get out there and play. Great night, Great game. Lemont, I give them a lot of credit, they came out, we made them better, they made us better.”
A real contrast of the teams was visible in the way the Pioneers and Hornets call plays and get to the line.
For the Pioneers, they are well organized, huddle up, call the play and head to the line of scrimmage knowing where they are supposed to be while the Hornets took a long time in the huddle, then needed assistance from coaches to get into the right position on the field. It was the same way defensively.
The Pioneers are well disciplined and coached extremely well.
“We preach that at practice,” said Richardson. Pay attention, open your ears, close your mouth and just listen and they do, they do a great job and you can see it out on the field. We don’t have to coach them while we are out there. If they have a question they ask, they know where they are supposed to be and that goes from all our Reds, Whites and blues, they are very disciplined.”
Initially, the Pioneers went to their defense, Scooby Ballouta and Shane Sternberg made short work of the Hornets, forcing a punt.
Runs by Paxson Leithleiter, Sean Johnson and Henry Wade moved the ball quickly downfield. The seven-play drive culminated in a 33-yard touchdown run by Johnson that gave the Pioneers an early 6-0 lead.
And active defense by the Pioneers limited the Hornets to just three plays again with Johnson and Quinn McCarthy forcing a turnover on downs entering the second quarter.
With the short field, it took the Pioneers just one play to extend their lead.
Scooby Ballouta took a handoff from Wade and raced 20-yards for the Pioneers second touchdown of the game. With Wade adding the extra point, the Pioneers now led 13-0.
“I scored because my team blocked the people,” said diminutive Scooby. “I look for the holes then I go into the gaps so I can get a touchdown. I’m hard to tackle because I’m small, if I was bigger I’d be way better because my legs would be stronger too.”
The Hornets came in and saw the Pioneers really amped up for this game, led by a quick to the ball defense. McCarthy continued his stellar play grabbing additional tackles along with Martin Groark and Brady Higgins also adding to the tackle tally, but it was Luke Holoubek that pressured the Hornets most.
Holoubek seemed to be around the ball every play making or assisting on stops.
“The best part about today was just having fun,” said Luke. “Winning the game was too fun. We did well running the ball and making tackles. I want to score more touchdowns, that would be better for me. The whole team played good today.”
Holoubek was key in the shutout, grabbing several tackles for the Pioneers.
The Pioneers upped their lead right before halftime. After Ballouta had a pair of runs for 13 yards, the ball went to Paxson Leithleiter. He started right but quickly saw an opening and cut back to the middle where he raced 30 yards for the touchdown. He also added the point after for the 20-0 lead with just 15 seconds before halftime.
“When the guys are trying to tackle me, I just shake them off and then just go,” said Paxson. “I think I am hard to tackle because the way I shift my weight around, but I like defense more because I like making tackles on guys.”
The second half saw the Pioneers and Hornets defenses limit the opposing offenses. The runs that were working the Pioneers offense down field disappeared as the Hornets picked up their attack in the second half.
For the Pioneers defense, it was business as usual. The tackles kept piling up with Michael Maurella, Scooby, Xyan Bell, Holoubek, Wade and Leithleiter all adding tackles. Another also saw his defensive play become dominant as the game continued.
McCarthy showed everyone just how talented he can be.
“Mostly I had guys in front of me, I was just pushing them out of the way to make a tackle,” said McCarthy. “53 was pretty hard, but I got through him and got the tackles. I was trying to get the tackles in the backfield, so they don’t get up field. I wish I got more tackles and scored touchdowns but I’m happy still.
Another that contributed from both sides of the ball was Henry Wade. The play caller sometimes used his elusiveness to advance the ball offensively while defensively he was quick to the ball for the stop.
“I track where the runner is going and then I tackle him right away before he jukes me,” said Wade. “When I run the ball, I get my head low a little and I use my speed because its hard to tackle me and I kinda stiff arm a lot. I like playing both ways if it helps us win.”
Other Players adding to the win with their skills or by support were Peyton Barbee, JJ Abuzir, Nate Abbs, Taylor Morandi, Moody Jaber, Zakariya Jaber, Luke Bosack, Sean Kikilas, Zachariah Ballouta, Wyatt Kipper, Lawson Capps, Alex Kopec, Brady Higgins, Zakariya Jaber, Lorcan Redmond, CJ Hufford, Bennett Kersten, Vinny LaPapa, Dominic Maurella, Gavin Garrity, Michael Ramos, Arthur Slabenak, Ian Frost, Jonathan Mizera, Ammar Abdelmuti, William Jordan, Jordy Kolodziej, Michael Sweis, Thomas Richardson, Paul Rylan Davies and Luke McDoniel and Amari Adigun.at
