By Bobby Narang- Photos By Lauren Gray
** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p518838787 **
MOKENA— The 10U Jr. Celtics football team wasted little time imposing their will Sunday afternoon.
The Jr. Celtics recovered a fumble in the opening seconds of the game, then scored touchdowns on their first three drives against the Yorkville Foxes.
Despite having home field advantage, the Jr. Celtics were outnumbered by the visiting team. The red-clad Foxes brought a big cheering leading team, which led to an influx of Yorkville fans dominating the attendance.
Even so, the Jr. Celtics were undaunted and set the stage early in the game for another dominating performance for the program.
The Jr. Celtics scored 19 points in the first half to notch a 31-0 running-clock victory over the Foxes at Main Park on Sunday. With the win, the Jr. Celtics (3-0) have continued their solid start on the season thanks to strong play on offense, defense and special teams.
“The kids are playing well on all three phases of the game,” Coach Tommy Comise said. “We are usually smaller than every team we go up against, but we changed up our defense and use our speed to our advantage and the kids are rallying to the ball.”
Comise said he was happy to see his team fighting for the victory on the hot afternoon. He noticed numerous players were helping the coaching staff throughout the game.
“We had good leadership today and I had a lot of kids coming back to me and telling me what plays to run,” Comise said. “I have a lot of smart football players. We have a tough group. We won’t be an easy team against any team we come up against. Last year it was a completely different story. This year this team came back and are hungry. This was a complete team victory.”
The Jr. Celtics’ offense grinded down the Foxes with an powerful running game, led by John Skuzinski V and a potent defense, which relied on gang-tackling and dominating the line of scrimmage.
“The defense was very strong today,” said Aiden Samanich. “It was a fun game for everyone today and we got a shutout.”
Offensively, Skuzinski was the star of the game. He opened the first drive of the game for the home team with two impressive runs to set up quarterback Pax Kirk’s one-yard TD run for a 7-0 lead. On the second drive, Skuzinski scored the first of his four TDs with a three-yard run into the end zone for a 13-0 advantage.
Comise said Skuzinski is a special runner.
“He’s always been a grinder for us,” Comise said. “We always want to put the ball in his hands. He always runs really hard and his vision was at the highest for this game. He followed his pulling guards and did a great job.”
Skuzinski was just getting started on Sunday. He scored on a three-yard run in the second quarter to hand his team a 13-0 lead. The strong running back busted through the defense for a five-yard TD late in the quarter to lift the lead to 19-0.
In the second half, Skuzinski found some open space and darted 41 yards for his third touchdown, and set up the running clock with a 62-yard TD early in the fourth.
Skuzinski said he was happy to contribute to the victory, nothing he plans to celebrate his memorable performance with a steak dinner.
“My favorite TD was probably the last one,” Skuzinski said. “Coach called a play to go outside, and I saw the whole outside and just ran. It felt so good. This has to be my best game of the year. I just followed my blockers. They all did great. Without them, we wouldn’t be this good.”
The Jr. Celtics had numerous other players step up to help record the impressive shutout victory. Kirk had a long run on the first drive to set up his TD. Kirk also recorded numerous tackles on defense and added a 31-yard scamper late in the second quarter. He busted free for an 11-yard run early in the second half and helped keep the visiting team scoreless by combing with Skuzinski for a tackle to stop a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
“The first play of the game coach told us we were going to run a jet and we got a good play,” Kirk said. “I was happy to end the drive with touchdown. I just handed the ball to John and he just ran and bounced off the tacklers. He had a great game. Our offense pushed us all game down the field and helped us make great plays.”
Two-way lineman Nash Surber was in the middle of the action all game. He had several solid blocks and helped blow up Yorkville’s offensive plays with his penetration on defense.
“On defense, we played very good and offensively we opened us holes to run the ball. We made several good tackles and the O-line made great blocks,” Surber said. “We’re happy to be 3-0. It feels good. I’m very excited for the rest of the year. It was fun to watch someone run for touchdowns. I liked the whole game today.”
The shutout victory included help from the entire football team: Finn Ward, Jimmy Short, J Hosman, Owen Miller, Nick Mainor, Vince Veyneygas, Mikey Comise, KahLOHjehroh Dinaso, Jake Guisinger, Rhett Pruhzune, Leo Drabeck, Joey Paciorek, Isaiah Hosman, Hendrix Bernard, Luckas Juricic, Jack Christou, Jack Sanders, Wes Surber, Declan Faul and Anthony Raspanti.
