By Bobby Narang- Photos by Lauren Gray
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MOKENA— The 11U Black Jr. Celtics football team had a tough test on Sunday night.
Playing the final game of the day for the program, the Jr. Celtics looked across the field and saw an imposing team.
The Humboldt Park Patriots had several players over 180 pounds, including numerous tall and physically strong athletes.
Yet, the Jr. Celtics didn’t let the size of the Patriots affect them during the game.
The Jr. Celtics scored a touchdown on their second possession, played strong defense and relied on a powerful running game in a 32-0 running-clock win over Humboldt Park.
There was one negative in the blowout victory for the Jr. Celtics: An upper body injury to star running back Brayden Simon late in the fourth quarter. Sitting down with his shoulder wrapped in ice, about eight yards behind the sidelines, Simon watched the postgame handshake line form.
Just then, his teammates darted toward him and circled around him and starting chanting words of support, namely “MVP, MVP,” for their standout teammate. Simon’s strong running helped wear down the big Patriots’ defense, sparking a second-half surge of points.
Simon ran for 148 yards and a touchdown and caught a touchdown to lead the offense.
“I had one running play in which I broke through,” Simon said of his 54-yard TD run in the third quarter. “They were stacking the line and it was nice because I was able to break through and it was just green grass from there. I just tried to run hard. It was a fun game. They had a lot of big (players).”
Coach Mike Denton said the Jr. Celtics (1-2) were motivated to record their first win of the season on Sunday.
“We made adjustments all season,” Denton said. “The last two games were really close. We probably could’ve won both of them. We ran out of energy. Today, we set the tone early. Brayden is a heck of a player. I don’t know if I’ve seen another kid at his age. Hopefully, he can come back from his injury. He’s the heartbeat of our team.
“The whole O-line and D-line did their jobs and did the dirty work. We have a team that will not stop battling until the whistle. This is more what our team will be like than in the first two weeks of the season.”
The Jr. Celtics’ defense helped kickstart the momentum early in the game, when Ceaser Kanu recovered a fumble with 6:47 left in the first quarter. The offense marched down the field, led by several runners to score the first touchdown. Elijah Bogle, Austin Boyer and Simon all took turns carrying the ball until Bogle scored on a 36-yard TD run for a 6-0 edge.
Steven Green came up big on special teams with a TD-saving tackle on the kickoff return, which led to a quick possession by the Patriots.
The Jr. Celtics seized the opportunity with some quality play-calling. Boyer broke free for 18 yards, Simon added a 12-yard run and Bogle hit Simon for an 11-yard TD pass. Leo Blythe recorded a sack on the ensuing possession to set up another scoring chance.
But the Jr. Celtics lost a fumble and tossed an interception on their final two first-half possessions. With the Patriots struggling with fatigue, a host of penalties and bad snaps, the Jr. Celtics gained control of the game in the second half. Green found the end zone with a one-yard TD run to pad the lead to 20-0.
On Humboldt Park’s next drive, Zakai Obeng had a tackle for a loss, Kanu added a five-yard tackle for a loss and an errant snap ended the drive for the visitors.
Two plays later, Simon burst through the defensive line and darted 54 yards for a touchdown to increase the lead to 26-0. Chase Cummens hauled in a 22-yard TD reception to end the scoring with 5:06 left in the fourth quarter.
“I was running my route, faked the (defender) out with a five-yard out and cut right and cut up and caught the ball,” Cummens said. “We all played really good and had a lot of fun.”
Defensive end Ceaser Kanu was a menace all game, disrupting Humboldt Park’s offense with his speed off the edge.
“Our defense was really good today,” Kanu said. “We stopped them on the runs and forced fumbles. I knew I could use my speed to get past them. I used my tactics to get around and get to the quarterback.”
Blythe, a nose tackle, said the defense played with an edge to keep the Patriots from scoring.
“We played really good today,” Blythe said. “We kept each other up and didn’t pull each other down. Our coaches helped us these past two weeks with all these mechanics to get this win.”
Defensive tackle/offensive lineman Liam Kruse also spent most of the game in Humboldt Park’s backfield, breaking up running plays with his presence and notching a few sacks and tackles for a loss. Kruse made some noise on offense, blowing up the Patriots’ defensive line with his strength.
“I felt good about both lines,” Kruse said. “I just tried to have fun and win this game. I wanted to stand out today.”
The Jr. Celtics also received contributions from Zachary Obeng, Finnian McDonnell, Quinn Collins, Greyson Tadin, Collin Freeman, Brock Walsh, Dominik Brown, Angelo Cameo, Zachary Bal-Denton and Henry Bass.
