By Ed Muniz- Photos by Renee Kaspar
** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p503954014 **
PLAINFIELD— If you weren’t able to be in Plainfield last Saturday, you missed the latest episode of “The Westin White Show”.
You missed a quite entertaining performance by its leading star. From the onset, White was in top form, impressing all who were watching. It wasn’t just a physical performance it was artistry in movement. His juking and jiving dance moves along with the strength of his agility displayed a skill-set that few at his age have. Lets not forget an awarness of avoidance and a quickness and speed that created space.
Yes, “The Westin White Show” was quite entertaining to all, but so were his cohorts. Among them were Thomas Fletcher, Max Lepore, Bear Petrocelli and several others .
Their performance after being off a week was so stellar, it left little doubt why they ran roughshod over the 8U D2 league after an opening set-back and made them the top seed of the Chicagoland Pop Warner playoffs.
Their dismantling of the Bolingbrook Trojans enroute to a 34-6 trouncing on October 25 in Plainfield, catapults them into the State Championship Final next Saturday with a chance of competing for Regional Title as the reward with a win.
“We game planned for what we had to do and we executed it,” said Coach Dave Cercone of his 8U Jr. Celtics. “Number 12 was their whole team and we got to the ball quick. Our main goal was stopping number 12. We felt that was their whole team. They ran him, tried reverses, tried having him be quarterback, we just had to put a spy on him and make sure when he crosses the line of scrimmage, we had six guys on him.. When he has a head of steam going, he is hard to bring down, he’s so much bigger than everyone else.”
“We had a lot of gang tackling too. We were quick to the ball and it wasn’t just one guy. I tried to get many of our guys involved in our offense and we showed we have other weapons but Westin is a game changer. He has great field vision, he cuts and jukes when he needs and has a violent stiff arm; he is a talent. We showed we have more talent too. Thomas Fletecher came to play, he is my utility player. Anything I ask of him he does. He is not our quarterback but believe it or not, he has more touchdown passes. I’m very nervous for this next game but looking forward to it like you can’t believe.”
On the very first play of the game, White took a pitch and dashed 65 yards for the games first score. Landon Brown added the point-after for a 7-0 lead just seconds into the game, setting the tone for what was to come.
On the following Trojans series, White took the main stage again, snagging an interception and returning it 25-yards after a pair of tackles by Max Lepore.
Brown open the next offensive Jr. Celtics series with a run of 6-yards, followed by White adding 26 more yards on his run to the Trojans 2. From there White scored his second touchdown and upped the lead to 14-0 after Brown’s point-after.
You can’t say enough about the Jr. Celtics offense featuring White and company but defensively, they also are a force to be reckoned with.
Thomas Fletcher made his pressence felt immediately. On the next Trojan series, he made three of he next four stops along with a solo by Petrocelli and Lepore forcing a turnover on down by the Trojans, early in the second quarter.
“I thought I played defense really well. I feel I’m more a defensive player,” said Fletcher. “I really like tackling guys. I think I need to get lower especially tackling that big guy on their team. He was kinda hard all game for us. Just trying to tackle him needed a few guys. I was following the ball pretty good because I can see where its going quickly so, I get around the ball a lot.”
After White began the Jr. Celtics following series with an 11-yard run, Fletcher went to the air and connected with White on the 25-yard touchdown pass. Fletcher added the point-after and grew the lead to 21-0.
The Trojans were reeling especially their coaching staff as the game had gotten away from them way before halftime. Their one weapon, a thick, large physical young specimen of skill was carrying the weight and hopes everytime he was called on, but it wasn’t enough with the swarming Jr. Celtics getting to him in droves. He did swat several away but numbers out-played size for stops.
After once again stopping the Trojans on downs, the Jr. Celtics were back at it, looking to score again. White demonstarted his elusiveness and ability to juke, and quick-step sideways and cut to an opening on his Zig-Zag, right to left run of 42-yards.
From the Trojan 3, Petrocelli was able to bound into the endzone for the touchdown and a 27-0 lead.
“What was working for me was getting to the outside and I appreciate the way the line was blocking,” said Bear. “I juke a lot and like it. I just try and find a spot to go through so I don’t get injured. I like running the ball because I get to excercize my legs. I really like playing football, I like playing both sides of the ball because I also like tackling.”
The game was well in hand and several other Jr. Celtic players got extended opportunties to play. Still, the defense continued its stellar shutdown work. White once again came up with another interception to squash any scoring hopes for Bolingbrook in the opening half.
The Trojans finally saw their big man break free opening the second half, swatting away would be Jr. Celtic tacklers, powering 65-yards for their lone score of the game to bring the score now to 27-6.
The Trojan score didnt sit well with the Jr. Celtics. They answered back quickly. First, a White run of 13-yards, then a reverse by Petrocelli, followed by another White sprint of 27-yards, a 14-yarder from Lapore and probably the most entertaining run of the game by Petrocelli.
Bear started right nearing the sideline but saw it was filling then reversed his way left nearly to that sideline then back right to the middle, looking for an opening and finally running for 6-yards while running over 60-yards in the process.
The drive ended on the next play when Lepore powered in from a yard out for the touchdown, extending the lead to 34-6.
The Trojans big man again went for big yards before being tackled on the next play but he was showing signs of fatigue after being tackled by White who is half his size. Two plays later, Fletcher came up with a fumble heading onto the final quarter. Neither team scored in the fourth but defense for the Jr. Celtics gave their offense another opportunity when off a defelction, Emmet Juknevicius found the ball in his arms for the interception.
One last series saw White again give the audience a closing act of his show with a 25-yard sprint. Although he didn’t score, just his gliding with the football appeared to be in slow motion as you admired his running style.
“When I see a guy coming at me, I just move to the side,” said Westin. “I didn’t think it was hard playing against them. On defense we were stopping number 12, he is a big guy but we stopped him a lot. I don’t think we could do anything better today. We all played good.”
The game eneded two plays later, advancing Coach Cercone and his Jr. Celtics into a rematch of an opening loss with Ottawa. This time for a State Championship.
Other Jr. Celtics that helped in this win were Francis Zalud, Mason Comise, ames Mellon, Soren Fleck, Ronan Lahey, Jaxon Franz, Jaxton Yaeger, Sebastian Diaz, Oliver Bogle, Calvin Wilson, Camden Kokolus, Jackson Paul, Rory Brennan, Michael Ruth, Jacob Palacios, Mario Williams and Brandon Bellik.
