By Kevin McGavin- Photos by Lauren Gray
** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p486833817 **
CHICAGO— In the sport of football, momentum is a precious commodity.
“We had a lot of momentum at the start but then lost it at the worst time,” Keaton Kastys remarked.
Kastys is a member of the Illinois Junior Celtics’ 10U Division 3 football team. The Illinois Junior Celtics team was on the wrong side of four unanswered Rockford Wolves scores Saturday afternoon at St. Rita High School.
The Junior Celtics made serious inroads to their deficit, only to fall short in a 30-19 loss. It was the fourth loss in five games for the resilient squad.
“I will say the encouraging thing is everyone is trying their best,” said two-way Junior Celtics starter Caesar Kanu. “They are not committing to failure. We are heading for good times.”
The Junior Celtics had to overcome adversity on their first possession of the game when starting quarterback Elijah Bogle was forced to leave the contest with a lower-leg injury.
But Austin Boyer and Kastys not only made a seamless transition on the very next play but also lessened the impact simultaneously. Boyer, the Junior Celtics’ feature back, moved to quarterback and promptly found Kastys, who had burned the unsuspecting Rockford secondary by five yards, for a 23-yard scoring strike. The Boyer-Kastys collaboration capped a seven-play, 56-yard drive.
“We did it for Elijah, who got hurt, and came back in the second half to play,” said Boyer. “When Elijah got hurt, I told the (head) coach (Mike Denton), ‘Make them pay,’” Kastys said. “I ran the route and caught them off guard. It was a great throw by Austin.”
Kastys’ conversion attempt was denied by the Wolves, and it did not take long for Rockford to assert its speed among its skill-position players.
In what would be the defining period of the contest, the Wolves struck for touchdowns on three consecutive drives. On all three occasions, the Wolves’ formidable speed on the outside spelled doom for the Junior Celtics as big plays resulted in Rockford assembling an 18-6 lead at the intermission.
Rockford had scoring runs of 24, 50 and 51 yards on its consecutive touchdown drives.
“They beat us realistically on three or four plays for non-contain on the outside,” Denton said. “We have practiced the last three weeks on how to outside contain. It’s back to the drawing board.”
“The reason they got us is that we stumbled a little bit and got carried away (with our emotions),” said Junior Celtics two-way player Grayson Tadin. “They pushed us a lot harder than I thought they would and sometimes got around us.”
Following its opening-drive score, the Junior Celtics’ three possessions before halftime ended with either Rockford holding on fourth down or forcing an interception.
The second half could not have started in a more inauspicious manner for the Junior Celtics when the Wolves’ return man scooted 72 yards with the third-quarter-starting kick off.
The one bright spot for the Junior Celtics during the Wolves’ 24-point unanswered run was their ability to stop all four Rockford conversion attempts. But the Wolves’ kickoff return touchdown unwittingly caused a spark for the Junior Celtics.
Beginning at their own 37-yard line, the Junior Celtics showed life when James Preston motored 22 yards–the longest of their 21 rushing attempts–on the ensuing possession.
Boyer would do the rest. Returning to his customary running-back position as Bogle returned to the fold to start the second half, Boyer used his bulk to extract maximum pressure on the Wolves’ defense.
Boyer, who led the Junior Celtics’ with 70 yards on 16 carries while augmenting his afternoon with 53 passing yards on nine completions, took matters into his own hands on the following two possessions. Boyer would score twice on punishing inside runs, from three and nine yards, respectively, on consecutive Junior Celtics possessions.
The back-to-back Boyer touchdowns were possible after Henry Bass recovered an unintentional onside kick following the off tackle plunge by the Junior Celtics’ offensive workhorse.
“Austin placed it perfectly right in front of me,” Bass said of Boyer, who doubles as the Junior Celtics’ place-kicker. “There was a big pile; I didn’t have it at first. I ripped it from the other team.”
With the ball at the Wolves’ 18-yard line, Kastys’ nine-yard gain off a shovel pass from Boyer presaged the Junior Celtics’ running back scoring from the same distance on the next play to reduce the deficit to 24-19 with eight minutes and 10 seconds to play.
“I just felt really good to get into the end zone two times,” Boyer said. “In usual games, I only get in there once–which is a good feeling–but two is just amazing.”
Unfortunately for the Junior Celtics, however, Rockford responded with its third touchdown run in excess of 50 yards to account for the final score.
The Junior Celtics’ final two possessions ended with forfeiture of downs and the Wolves’ second interception of the game.
“It was a good feeling, but at the end of the day we lost,” Zach Obeng said of the Junior Celtics’ comeback bid.
“It’s the testament to what we have told them all year,” Denton said of the Junior Celtics’ response to early predicament. “If you battle hard, the results will come.”
William Dybas, Ahmad Awad, Aiden Cesek, Max Sharpe, Zakai Obeng, Angelo Cameo, Jackson Aldworth, Jesus Delgado, Finn McDonnell, Calogero DiNaso, Lorenzo Aldworth, Alex Wallace, Leo Blythe, Chase Eddington, Porter Ronk, Owen Brennan, Henry Richardson and Zach Bal-Denton all met their playing-time requirements–12 total snaps on offense, defense or special teams–for the Junior Celtics.
