By Ed Muniz-Photos by Renee Kaspar
** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p591048311 **
MOKENA— Heading into the weekends games at Main Park in Mokena, the Jr. Celtics 9U team knew going in, they would face a tough opponent. The Elmhurst Bears featured a difficult task because of their ability to run the ball and an aggressive defense.
Life brings all of us difficult callenges at times, From Youth to Adulthood, there will be sitiuations, hard situations you have to deal with. Of course nothing that can’t be overcome, but we have to deal with them. The same applies in athletics, in particular, Football.
Football presents adversity constantly. Learning the game, plays, positioning, execution and much more. And thats just within your own team, trying to become one unit to succeed. When you do, there’s no better feeling of accomplishment; Individually or team wise!
Now throw in an opponent. You have to be able to counter what an opponent will do. Sometimes you succeed and sometimes you don’t. That is the challenge, figuring out how to be more successful than not against a worthy opponent.
The Jr. Celtics were put to the test by the visiting Elmhurst Bears on September 12 and met the challenge, coming out the 25-18 victors with stellar play on both sides of the ball.
The game featured a little bit of everything. Big runs, Big Pass Paly, hard hits, turnovers by both teams. Each punching the other and waiting for a response.
Twice the Jr. Celtics defense made game tying stops on extra-points in the second half, the last one with 1:10 left in the game.
Offensively the Jr. Celtics used the speed of quarterback Landon Brown and Weston White to score touchdowns along with the power and muscle of Max Lepore for another.
Defensively, the Jr. Celtics made stops when they needed them most. Nicholas Petrocelli came up with tackle after tackle to lead the defense and his solo tackle late in the game prevented the Bears from tying the game.
Timely tackles were the difference in the game, the Jr. Celtics excelled at it.
From the very first snap, the Jr. Celtics defense was up to the task. The Bears threaten to score quickly. A big run had them at the Jr. Celtics 5-yardline but ensuing penalties pushed them back and that was the momentum killer the Jr. Celtics needed.
Four plays later, White, Petrocelli, John Lestina and Lepore delivered stops. The foursomes’ tackling created a turnover on downs, shutting the Bears offense down to prevent a score.
Jumping to their offense, the host used the remainder of the opening quarter to move the ball the other way, creeping closer and closer to the Bears endzone.
Runs by White and Lepore started the trek but it was Petrocelli who made the most of his first carry, going 60-yards before being caught. Three plays later with the Jr. Celtics at the Bears 22-yardline, Brown followed his blocking around right end and dashed 22-yards for the Touchdown and a 6-0 lead.
The Jr. Celtics defense quickly got the ball back to their offense on the ensuing series. The misfortunes of the Elmhurst quarterback became a gift for the Jr. Celtics. A mishandled football was dropped, bounding there onto the loose ball was Luke Rose with the fumble recovery.
Sitting on a short field, The Jr. Celtics looked to add to their advantage but two penalties in a row pushed them back.
A first down and 20 run by White grabbed 13-yards, two plays later on a broken play, White took off right, slowly at first then glided to excelleration, advancing the ball 33-yards to the Bears 2-yardline. One Play later, Lepore powered in on a dive for the second Jr. Cetics touchdown. White added the etra-point for the 13-0 lead.
With a two score lead, The Jr. Celtics defense was carrying that momentum from the score, picking up several stops. Tackles by Lestina, Petrocelli, Ryan Haavig and a sack by Lepore were again limiting the Bears offensive efforts. It became worse when Mario Williams dislodged the football from the Bears runner which was then recovered by White.
The Jr. Celtics gave the Bears a gift of their own when they too fumbled the football back to the visitors just a few plays later.
With 15-seconds left in the opening half, the Bears went to the air trying to score from midfield. After an incompletion, they tried a run with no gain and called timeout for last play. From midfield, the Bears quarterback dropped back and heaved a pass that struck gold as it was hauled in by his receiver who raced 46-yards for the touchdown with no time left to make it 13-6 at the break.
You could feel a momentum swing and it continued into the third quarter with the Bears shutting down the Jr. Celtics offensive series to begin the second half.
The Jr. Celtics now looked to continue its defense prowess to maintain the lead. Hard-hitting tackles were being delivered by multiple Jr. Celtics which included Petrocelli, White, Rose and Le[ore but the Bears continued adavncing towards the home endzone.
The Bears finsihed their second half drive with a 23-yard touchdown after raciing around its left end and eluding the Jr. Celtics defenders. Looking to tie the game, the Bears were introduced again to the hard-tackling of Weston White who came in full-go and collided with the Bears ball carrier to make the stop and keep the Jr. Celtics ahead 13-12.
Still maintaining a lead, the Jr. Celtics knew they had to create more space between them and the visiting Bears on the scoreboard.
They went to work. Going to their ground game, they used the legs of White, Petrocelli and Lepore to advance, keeping possession through the remainder of the third quarter. Continuing their drive as they opened the fourth, the Jr. Celtics kept churning up yards little by little.
Again, White and Lepore were called on with Brown also testing the Bears defense, eventually being just 10-yards from paydirt. On third down, Brown called his own number, took the snap, followed his lead blockers around to the right and reached the endzone for the much needed touchdown. Unfortunately, the extra-point try failed which left the score at 19-12.
The Bears weren’t done. With just under five-minutes left in the game, they looked to tie things up. A couple of runs were met by White for stops but a long pass followed by a long run had the Bears inside the Jr. Celtics 10-yardline.
After a short run was stopped by Sebastian Diaz, the Bears found the endzone from four-yards out that put them one extra-point away from knotting this battle up.
With 1:10 left in the game, in steps Nicholas Petrocelli when needed most.
All game, Petrocelli was making hard tackles, beating the blocking and committing to making a stop. His style is to tackle and make sure whoever he hits knows it. It’s rare that someone eludes him once he puts his mitts on them or smothers you with the body.
The Bears tried going to his side and were met hard and ending, Petrocelli applied a game saving tackle to preserve the 19-18 Jr. Celtics lead with 1:10 left to play
“I was just trying to make a tackle and keep them from tying the game,” said Petrocelli. “I like making contact and finishing a play when I’m on defense. I don’t really think about it, I just go do it. I want to help us win so I do what I can.”
The game wasn’t over as the Jr. Celtics took possession at their own 35. After a Lepore run and a penalty, Weston White showcased his talents one last time, taking a handoff, rolled slowly, hit a gear and then hit the sidelines, racing for 55-yards and the final score of the day, upping the lead to 25-18.
“I was just glad we won. I was running as hard as I could but also trying to make tackles on the defense too,” said Weston. “When I get the ball, I like following my blocks then once I see where I want to go, I speed up and try to score. I think I can run pretty fast and sometimes it’s hard for them to catch me. I also like making tackles too. I see the ball pretty good and try to get there quick.”
Two tries by the bears followed but amounted to nothing as the game concluded.
Some stars of the game were quite obvious for the Jr. Celtics, while others did great things on the field but didn’t stand out like those previously mentioned.
Jaxton Yaeger is the Jr. Celtics right tackle. His line play was top notch. He provide unheralded blocking that helped the running game and allowed for big plays. He just does what is necessary for his team to succeed.
“I thought we played pretty good as team and I did not too bad also,” said Yaeger. “I do like playing the line because if I do my job, it helps us make big plays, It’s important blocking up front and keeping guys away or giving our guys holes to run through. I thought today we played really well and I am happy how I did and that we won.”
One player that gives his all in his limited playing time is Khalid Matariyeh. The receiver/safety doesn’t have the size and posibly the skill-set of others but he has the heart and passion to give his all and help out where he can when called on. He is the type of player that is a sponge willing to learn all he can to improve, coaches love that and see it in him.
“I dont know why it is I enjoy playing football a lot but it is fun,” said Khalid. “I think I do pretty good when I am out there especially if we win. thats the best part. I like being on the team and being out there with the guys. I try to do the best I can and try to find the ball or block out there to help us. Theres a lot to learn and I will keep doing that because I have great teammates and coaches.”
Also adding to the victory with their play were Rory Brennan, Mason Comise, James Melton, Soren Fleck, Ronan Lahey, Thomas Fletcher, Jaxon Franz, Jeremiah Fleming, Camden Kokolus, Stanislaw Pajerski, Calvin Wilson, Jackson Paul and Jacob Palacios.
