By Miles Toogo- Photos by Renee Kaspar
**Additional Photos are available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p179086015 **
The Mokena Jr. Celtics were back at their home field of Main Park.
Week six of the Chicagoland Pop Warner schedule would see several teams come to Mokena to challenge the Jr. Celtics.
The eight-game weekend would feature tackle football from 6-Under to 13-Under.
On tap for the September 30 schedule was a showcase of the 6U, 7U and 8U games. An added treat was that these games would go under the lights in a rare Saturday Night Lights event.
The 6U Celtics welcomed the High Ridge Chargers to kick start the evenings schedule.
At this introductory level of tackle football, games feature 8-man squads. Games don’t take long but within the two-half game, there is plenty of action on the field and much for fans to cheer about.
The Jr. Celtics would go on offense to start the game, taking just two plays for them to jump ahead.
The first play of the game saw Westin White take a handoff and race around his left end, streaking for 59-yards to open the game. He followed that up with an 11-yard scamper into the endzone. Max Lepore added the point-after that gave the Jr. Celtics a 7-0 lead early on.
Now on defense, the Jr. Celtics use the tackling of Jameson White and Lepore to slow down the Chargers trek downfield. White grabbed three solo tackles while White added a pair, but the Chargers were using their elusiveness to gain several yards on each try, eventually scoring from 9-yards out.
“It was hard tackling those guys,” said Jameson. “They were fast, but I was running my hardest trying to make a tackle. I don’t know why I’m good at tackling, but I am. I go after guys no matter what. We should have won today, I don’t think everyone was trying their hardest.”
The Chargers failed to convert the point-after and trailed 7-6
Looking to add to their lead, the Jr. Celtics went again to their ground game.
Lepore was first to add to the Jr. Celtics yard tally with a short 3-yard burst. Next, a try by Westin White was stopped at the line.
The Chargers possessed several beefy players that easily clogged up the line of scrimmage, so running up the middle was difficult at best, the Jr. Celtics quickly found that out.
Quarterback’ Landon Brown called his own number on third down and picked up 6-yards as his run went outside right before being stopped.
The Chargers line was big, but it was the speed of their defensive backs that made big runs to the outside challenging for Brown and company as the game went on.
Needing short yardage to continue the drive, Westin White took the rock and tried to gain the needed yar but was stopped as the Chargers penetrated through the Offensive line for a tackle that loss yards for the Jr. Celtics, resulting in a turnover on downs.
The Westin White try concluded the first half with the Mokena up 7-6.
Much of the 6U play is successful around the edges. Runs up the middle get clogged up quickly as a ball of bodies glide for a yard or two before the whistle.
Running outside is where there’s space. For some teams, they take full advantage of that openness especially if they have a speedy running back or quarterback.
The second half saw exactly that from the visiting Chargers. They often went to their outside edges on runs to gain big yards.
After James Mellon made a stop on the opening play of the second half, the Chargers zipped to the left edge and proceeded to outrun every Jr. Celtic to the endzone 63-yards later. Converting the extra-point, the Charger now led 13-7 just two plays in.
The Jr. Celtics now trailing went back to work offensively, Lepore and Westin White used their running abilities along with a facemask penalty, to advance the Jr. Celtics downfield during their 8-play drive, unfortunately, the Jr. Celtics stalled after reaching the Chargers 15-yard line.
A fourth down run by Westin White was gobbled up for no gain, forcing a turnover on downs to end the promising drive.
With a running clock at this level and lengthy time it takes to get a play off, teams only get a couple of opportunities each half.
The Jr. Celtics offense would not get another chance the rest of the game. The Chargers slowly controlled play after they took over.
Mokena was trying to get the ball back with a pair of tackles from Nicholas Petrocelli, including one that lost the Chargers 5-yards. Also adding tackles were Westin White and Logan Cesek. Unfortunately, time ran out on Mokena which saw the visiting Chargers gain the 13-7 victory.
“Getting around them and tackling their quarterback was easy for me today,” said Bear Petrocelli. “I was getting around their guys and hitting them. I like defense because you get to tackle more, and I really like that. I don’t like it when they take you out of the game when its offenses turn. I want to be tackling the whole game.”
The Jr. Celtics showed a no quit effort in this game. Smaller didn’t mean less for this group. They took on the bigger foe, with the difference being one score. Look for this group to continue to get better, they don’t know not to be.
Others giving their all for the 6U Jr. Celtics include Kai Tuburan, Francis Zalud, Mason Comise, James Mellon, Jacob Palacios, Jackson Baker, Kaleb Cloutier, Mario Williams and Leonidas Christou.
The Tiny Mites Cheerleaders were also there entertaining the sidelines and performing at halftime to the applause of the home crowd. Among them was Brooke Copack, Mila Fox, Jayde Dorosz, Brooklyn Firlit, Calrleigh Gill, Ella Koschnitzki, Maggie Lepore, Sloane Ludwig, Ellie Mahalik, Hayden Neal, Kelsey Niemeyer, Nicole Pflug and June Smith.
