By Ed Muniz- Photos by Raj Chavda
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NEW LENOX— When Coach Pat Richardson and his Super Lightweight Pioneers traveled to New Lenox to take on the Jr. Knights, they expected a tough game. Each team came into the game with just a solo loss.
The week prior, the Pioneers suffered their first loss, so they looked to rebound against a stellar opponent. For the Jr. Knights, after losing earlier in the season, their recent play had shown their improvement, shutting out their last two opponents.
One was trying to get back to their winning ways while the other wanted to continue a streak of shutouts.
After the early morning encounter, both teams continued their trending ways. The Pioneers now have lost two in a row while the Jr. Knights grabbed their third consecutive shutout with the 14-0 victory on September 21 at Lincoln-Way Central HS.
“It’s such a disappointing loss, it feels that way,” said Coach Richardson. “It’s neither an offensive or defensive problem, it’s a physicallity problem. The boys need to decide that they’re not go to let the other team be more physical than them. They know how to play, they know how to block , how to tackle; we just need to figure out why they’re choosing to not be more physical.”
“Things are different now than what it was to start the season. It’s for me to figure it out but we have to remember we’re dealing with little kids too. It’s a choice for our guys. They have to decide if the guy standing across from me, if I’m going to let him be more physical than me. It was the same as last week. Other teams are going to see that and until we make that change, it’s going to be the same thing every week.”
“We have to continue to build our guys up every week. They are a darn good football team, we know they are, lets just get back on track.. lets finish!”
After the Pioneers opening series ended with a punt, the host Jr. Knights went on a 13-play drive. Meticulously they drove behind their center and guards. Play after play, chunk after chunk, the Jr. Knight plowed the middle of the road, gaining four to five yards on every play. Occasionally they experimented outside the tackle box but for the most part, the Pioneers couldn’t stop the power set by the Jr. Knights offensive line.
Starting at their own 46-yardline, and finally sitting at the Pioneers one, a short blast got the Jr. Knights what they worked for, taking a 7-0 advantage midway through the second quarter after converting the point-after.
The Pioneers tried to even up the score going to Peyton Barbee to begin with. His two carries produced 16-yards, racing to the edge and cutting back a bit. Soon the host caught on and Barbee’s next two tries resulted in negative yards.
Again, the Pioneers were forced to give up the ball, this time on downs.
After a couple rushing attempts and an incomplete pass, The Jr. Knights made a rare mistake, fumbling the football with Joey Guest pouncing on the ball for the Pioneers.
“I think I got tired in the second half because this is my first year of tackle so im getting use to it,” said Guest. “I dont really know what it’s like to play as long as we do. I think I’m doing pretty good still but maybe I need to wrap below their waste and finishing the tackle better. I like making solo tackles like I did in the first half. I just need to get used to playing and finding the ball and get use to it.”
With not much time left before halftime, the Pioneers ran out the clock and went to the break trailing 7-0.
During the Jr. Knights scoring drive, the Pioneers were doing all they could to make stops. Tackles by Kitai Hubbard, NIko Scumaci, Scooby Ballouta, Joey Guest, Sean Johnson and Henry Wade, slowed the Jr. Knights but didnt prevent their march.
The start of the second half saw the Pioneers pick-up the defensive aggressiveness with Quinn McCarthy leading the way, the Pioneers bent a little but didn’t break. Tackles by Nicholas Vuolo, Mahmoud Abu Alshaikh, Guest, Johnson and Barbee all helped but it was Quinn McCarthy that help force the punt.
“I thought I played better in the second half,” said McCarthy. “In the first half I wasn’t coming off the ball very good. I wasn’t in on many plays or making tackles. I was seeing how strong the guys facing me were. In the second half I realized how strong they weren’t so I was in making tackles and get in on a lot of plays. I think I tackle pretty good and I’m doing that very good. I also can find the ball and where it’s going quickly, so I push the guy out of the way and try to make the tackle. Our defense has to look for the ball and finish the tackles better.”
As good as the Pioneers defense ws playing coming out of the break, the offense kept sputtering and even lost the football on a fumble after the Jr. Knights punt.
With the short field, the pressure to make a stop was too much for the Pioneers defense. All game the Jr. Knights powered their way up the middle, that continued and spelled disaster for the Pioneers. The Jr. Knights used five-plays to go 34-yards and finish with a 10-yard touchdown run, upping the score to 14-0 after a successful point-after.
Try as they might, the Pioneer defense was no match for the physicallity of the Jr. Knights offensive line. There was a spark besides McCarthy, someone who never backed down and gave his all to make stops. George Buffo was ready for anything that came close to him.
Buffo made himself be at the point of impact on anything his way or ran to assist. His play all game never ceased in trying to make the tackle.
“I was getting through the gap and then seeing where the ball was going, I like chasing and getting to the guy with the ball with my team.,” said Buffo. “I see the ball pretty well and see where everybody else is going and I try to get there fast. I go to where the play is going. I think I need to finish the tackle better and keep wrapping to make the tackle, I’m working on that but I was really trying to help my team today.”
The Pioneers closing efforts would come to a conclusive end when a pass attempt was intercepted to secure the 14-0 game for the Jr. Nights who improved to 5-1 while the Pioneers dropped to 4-2.
The Fifth Quarter Pioneers fared better. Both Royal Ward and Wren Rucinski found the endzone on touchdown runs. Ward scampered 32-yards after recovering a fumble in the backfield and then out-manuevered every Jr. Knight; while Wren Rucinski took a hand off, hit the right sideline and raced untouched 50 yards for his score.
Other Pioneers gave their all in the losing efforts on the field or along the sidelines. That included Stanley Bielawski, Royal Ward, Jax Thomas, Max Kalker, Logan Biskup, Ryker Tyrakowski, Cade Rucinski, Ethan Brandofino, Wren Rucinski, Noah Hammad, Mahmoud Hinnawi, Michael Maurella, Dominic Dronzek, Abdallah Hasan, Henry Kruse, Shane McDermott, Thomas Richardson and Jibreel Morrar.
The Super Lightweight Cheerleaders were also showing their abilities lined up along the sidelines and performing briefly at halftime. They included Normandy Golden, Maddie Battaglia, Everleigh Holdsworth, Hazel Nichols, Emersyn Ramirez, Piper Darin, Savannah Molina, Eva Garza-Perez, Olivia Raggio, Morgan Griffin, Nella Leithleiter, Charlotte Koehn, Lanie Hermann, Emmy Burger, Mia Mizera, Meghan Shilney, Lea Barbee, Chloe Fregeau, Haley Erwin, Eva Aubin, Siena Lang, Olivia Peters, Sofie Annerino, Hailey Valan, Jessa Alvarez, Grace Latronica, Ava Kolodziej, Emma Podoreski.
