By Miles Toogo- Jenn-Anne Gledhill
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ELMHURST— Heading into week six of the Chicagoland Pop Warner schedule, the 8U Red division saw one lone team sitting atop the standings and also as its only unbeaten team.
The standings also saw one lone team that remained winless.
When the Jr. Celtics Red were on tap to visit the Elmhurst Bears on September 26, the matchup would have the two, top and bottom teams face off.
On paper, the game looked like a huge mismatch with the Jr. Celtics subduing everyone they faced by a double digit difference. Their closest game was a 10-point victory in week one. In contrast, the Bears had only score twice in a game once during their winless streak. Amazingly, their two score game was infact aganst this same Jr. Celtics team in a previous meeting.
Heading into this game, the Jr. Celtcs had scored 145-points in five games while allowing 55, while the Bears had scored 25-points in four games while giving up 62.
A certain disparity seem to indicate this could be a one sided affair. But this is youth football, lots of strange things happen, so no game is a forgone conclusion. You ask the Bears, their plan was to beat the Jr. Celtics at their Homecoming.
In this case, The Jr. Celtics didn’t play around and did as expected on paper, giving the Bears a dose of reality with the 44-12 dissemination for them and their fans, ruining their celebration.
“I was happy with the defense,” said Jr. Celtics Defensive Coordinator’ Steve Adent. “We did a good job, all the boys firing. Our D-Line really sets the tone for us. Ryan Sanders out there, Ronan (Gleason) and Henry Gloster at the ends, we rotate those guys and JB (Jackson Baker) puts in a lot of work along with Leo Sweis and Cameron Susa- that defensive line really fires off.
“I think we also have one of the best linebacking crews in Pop Warner right now. We did a good job all game. This defense runs downhill and that’s what we teach them, we get to the ball, we attack and we smother. They do a great job doing that, and today you saw that. We got sloppy twice but we learned from that.
Certainly the Jr. Celtics defense was a problem fo the Bears but they also had to deal with a high Powered Running attack.
The three-headed, ground gobbling backfield of Mezzo Funk, Liam Adent and Logan Cesek are simply too much for defenses that aren’t perfect. You throw Bash Kouba at quarterback into the mix, now you have to deal with four threats every time they touch the ball. No wonder they outscore opponents by double digits.
Opening the game with a 10-play drive, the Jr. Celtics did what they always do, run you into a pulp. The trio of runningbacks kept grabbing up yards as if the endzone was giving away Playstations 5. The big play on the initial drive was a 20-yard reverse by Funk. The Jr. Celtics drive concluded on Liam Adent’s 4-yard dive up the middle for the touchdown. Funk added the conversion-kick that put the visitors up 8-0.
The Bears did surprise the Jr. Celtics with a 20-yard pass on their first possession but a swarming, tackling defense by Gavin Poulos, Jackson Baker, Cooper Pell and Logan Cesek quickly limited any additional surprises and when Henry Gloster recovered a Bears fumble to end the first quarter, the Jr. Celtics offense was at it again to open the second stanza.
An unusual play happened next, for some reason no one on the field other than the Jr. Celtics center and Adent, moved on the snap. Everyone else just stood there with the refs just watching. It dawned on Adent to maybe start running so he took off around his right end and once beyond the line of scrimmage, then others reacted. He grabbed 27-yards with ease before being caught at the Bears 10.
A few plays later from the 2-yardline, Cesek plowed into the endzone for the Jr. Celtics second score. Again Funk added the kick which now had the Jr. Celtics ahead 16-0.
Caught napping or maybe just some sloppy play resulted in the Bears scoring two plays later. A 67-yard run for touchdown cut into the visitor lead which was now at 16-6.
One of the best blocks happened on the ensuing play by the Jr. Celtics.
Adent took off right and picked up 35-yards mainly because of the block of his quarterback’ Bash Kouba. A stellar, timely block cleared a path for a big gain. Kouba saw one Bears defender creeping close trying to make the stop but his quick, decisive block cleated the defender and gave Adent a path.
Adent followed that run by adding another 18-yard in the same direction on the next play. From there, Cesek went 12-yards, powering into the endzone for the Jr. Celtics third score of the half and a 22-6 lead.
With a comfortable lead, the Jr. Celtics defense continued to pound the hapless Bears offense. Behind the tackling of Adent, Gloster and Ryan Sander, the Jr. Celtics offense got another crack at scoring again thanks to their defense snuffing out the Bears.
The Jr. Celtics were working quickly trying to score before time elapsed, but their first two plays lost 16-yards. A big run on third down by Adent went 27-yards to the Bears 2 with seconds remaining. A dive by Cesek produced his second score in about 3-minutes, elevating the first half score to 30-6 after Funk once again split the uprights with his kick.
It didn’t get any better for the Bears after that. Their second half opening series produced negative yards on each try. Ronan Gleason, Cesek, Mack Dillon and Pell each made tackles for losses. The defense was relentless and the Bears knew it.
It took just a pair of plays for the Jr. Celtics to add onto their lead. a Quarterback Keeper by Kouba was followed by a 5-yard dash into the endzone by Dillon.
The 38-6 lead convinced the Bears to play out the game as quickly as possible as a running clock still seemed to not be ticking down fast enough for them with the game now out of reach.
The Bears defense looked and played defeated but surprisingly, the Bears offense wasn’t giving in just yet. They managed another big play just before the third quarter ended. A 72-yard jaunt found paydirt and gave the Bears like previously before in their earlier encounter, their second touchdown of the game bringing the score at 38-12.
The fourth quarter saw the Jr. Celtics continue their offensive onslaught after running their way to the Bears 1-yardline. A plunge into the endzone by Pell now had the Jr. Celtics ahead 44-12 late in the game. It wasn’t long after that that the game became official with the Jr. Celtics continuing thier unbeaten season after the decisive victory.
Offensively, the Jr. Celtics are a Juggernaut. They are a difficult stop mainly because of what they throw at you. Stop one, another dominates. They simply are talent ladened and appear to have an advantage even before the first snap in every game. One key reason among many is Liam Adent and his skills. He is just one of the difficulties opponents will have to deal with when they take on the Jr. Celtics.
“I just run hard and sometimes I turn in my shoulder and I stiff arm, I really just run hard,”said Liam. “Sometimes I don’t score, but I get the ball a lot. I’m happy running the ball, I’m happy doing that and playing defense, I don’t have to score because we have a lot of guys that can. I prefer running the ball more than making tackle. We all want the ball, we are all saying I got it, I got it, we just share the football. This is normal how we have played this year. I was close on some plays but I didnt get an interception but I tipped a couple.”
Sure the offense is lethal but on the otherside, the pressure and aggressive display the Jr. Celtics put out there can be inimidating just a few plays into the game. They aren’t perfect but they are talented enough to overcome any mistake.
Players like Ryan Sanders just go out there and do their job. They aren’t flashy in their play but are good at what they’re there for; make stops and prevent scoring.
“What I am doing to help the team is I’m getting tackles in the backfield, pushing guys downfield and getting pancakes,” said Ryan. “I usually explode off the ball and I practice that. At practice we chop our feet around bags and we do this exploding drill which has really helped me. I get off quick because I watch the snap out of the corner of my eye. Winning the way we just did doesn’t get boring, it gets greater every play. We keep trying to shut them down even when we have a big lead. I thought our offense did really good but I don’t think it was better than the defense, just both really good.”
On the opposite side of the ball, the line play of Bennett Thompson is impressive. His size and mobility helps but its is determination to excell whenever a play is going behind him.
“They run the ball behind me a lot,” said Bennett. “I don’t have any pressure when I know they are running behind me because I’m a really good O-Lineman. I take pride on what I do out there. I think my blocking and down field blocking really helps our team. As good as I do, I can still react faster on the snap, firing off on the snap. I’m real happy of this win and how we are playing; 44-12 on their Homecoming game? Yeah, I’m pretty happy.”
The ability to shut down teams and score a lot takes several players some of those unheralded players that contribute in every win also include Anderson Tiwald, Blake Borus, Spike Stambaugh, Knox Kucala, Kelab Cloutier, Fitz Blythe, Patrick Hollis and Leo Christou
