By Bobby Narang- Photos by Renee Kaspar
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NEW LENOX – Playing in the 1 p.m. slot on a busy day of football at New Lenox High School on Sunday, the New Lenox Junior Knights Black figured out a good way to entertain the crowd at Lincoln-Way Central High School – highlight-reel plays.
The Knights opened the game with a 70-yard touchdown pass, then proceeded to keep on adding on memorable and exciting plays on the sun-splashed afternoon.
The Knights poured on the points, scoring two touchdowns in the second quarter to record a 44-12 victory over the New Lenox Junior Warriors Black in a junior varsity game.
Coached by Rick Splant, the Knights were a united team that dominated on offense, defense and special teams to pull out the victory.
The Knights, a team of 11 and 12 year old football players, closed out the regular season in grand fashion to improve to 7-1 on the season.
“We had a lot of big plays on offense and defense and they all played well as a team and executed our game plan today and did a great job,” Splant said. “We got big plays when we needed it, especially by Dominic Maciulis. He had big runs and that kickoff return that broke open the game, but I give credit to all of the guys, especially the guys up front creating for everybody else.
“Will Roberts did a good job today, executing a great play for an interception at the end of the game. He jumped the route and made a big play. We scored on all three phases of the game. We worked hard all week, so it was great to score and see these kids execute on every phase. I’m proud of the fifth-quarter players. It was our first fifth quarter where we scored three passing touchdowns and also scored a defensive touchdown. It was a big day for those games. Brady Sorensen played great in the fifth quarter with three touchdown passes.”
Ryan Splant made his father proud by opening up the scoring with a stellar run after a catch for a 70-yard touchdown off a pass at 8:18 of the first quarter for a 6-0 lead.
“It blew the game right open,” Ryan Splant said. “I ran my route and the quarterback did a great job. We all gave great effort the whole game.”
Knights’ quarterback Liam Custardo was a two-way dynamo. He tossed the TD pass to Ryan Splant to start the game, while showing great precision with five completions for a whopping 154 yards and three touchdowns. Custardo also tossed TD passes of 11 yards to Blake Gresky and a 58-yard bomb to Dominic Maciulis.
“We took advantage of broken coverages on several plays, so it was easy to see and they over read our fakes,” Custardo said. “We have a special offense. When we can’t run the ball, we can throw it. When we can’t throw it, we can run it. We’re excited for the playoffs. I think we can win it.”
Maciulis had a big cheering section in the crowd, so he naturally delivered a big performance on the field. He was the star of the game, performing at a high level throughout the game. He ran the ball six times for a team-high 56 yards, returned a kickoff for a 56-yard touchdown in the third quarter and hauled in a 58-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter in a do-it-all outing for the Knights.
“I felt good today, and the holes were open for me,” Maciulis said. “I liked my reception (TD), but also the kickoff one. I broke like five tackles. The offensive line opened up big holes for us to score. The offense did great and we scored a lot of points.”
Defensively, the Knights’ Roman Leos was a big thorn for the Warriors’ offense. He had several sacks, including sacks on back-to-back plays in the second quarter. Leos finished with three sacks. Will Roberts had an interception return for a touchdown for the Knights, and Custardo also showed up big on defense with a interception late in the third quarter.
The Warriors had their share of highlights in the game. They scored their first touchdown via a fumble recovery in the end zone following a 42-yard run by Easton McDonnell to tie the game at 6-6 with 4:36 left in the first quarter.
Falling behind 22-6 at halftime, the Warriors got back into the game thanks to a 52-yard touchdown run by Rylan Hughes to slice the gap to 22-12 with 7:14 on the clock left in the third quarter.
The Warriors made some quality plays on defense, too. Tyson Busse and Mason Habich combined for a sack in the first half. Brendan Glynn also had a sack for a four-yard loss in the fourth and Declan Trotter pounced on a loose ball for a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter.
“They were a good team and we just had a couple of missed tackles, but the kids were aggressive,” Knights’ coach Kevin Curtin said. “At the end of the day, we just came up short.”
Jake Ryan was a key player for the Warriors, running the ball hard in the second half to the tune of 15 yards rushing. Hughes had a team-high 62 yards on the ground, and did a great job at quarterback against a stingy defense.
Easton McDonnell, a wide receiver, said the Warriors played with a lot of heart.
“We played hard and hit hard,” McDonnell said. “It was a tough game. We played aggressive.”
Dennis Curtin hauled in a reception for 15 yards to spark the Warriors’ offense.
“It was a long game, but I feel like we came out pretty strong,” Curtin said. “After the second touchdown by them, we lost some momentum. We made some mistakes but can learn from them. That’s a key in sixth and seventh grade football. I feel like we were sloppy and a lot of our kids got hurt today. We will have to get better and healthy. We went through a lot. We gave a lot but have to work harder.”
Mick Stream agreed with his teammate about Sunday’s game.
“I saw we got beat, but we had aggression but we need more devotion and discipline,” Stream said. “They were very good at running the ball. It’s a team effort. We had a couple of kids get hurt. We need better effort and our team needs to be a team.”
Clark Goodwin, who plays wide receiver and defensive back, said the Warriors had some good moments in the loss.
“It was a good team we played,” Goodwin said. “We have to block better and call out the blitzes. Defense did a good job. The other team had some quick players. We have to step up in practice and learn from our mistakes.”
The fifth-quarter game featured a ton of action with players from both sides playing aggressive on offense and defense to thrill the crowd before the feature game.
The Jr. Knights picked up contributions up and down the lineup. The team also got help from Eli Fagan, Drew Davies, Landon Ozbolt, Blake Gresky, Camden Prieto, Jacob Hack, Nicholas Rodriguez, Alan Haag, Jacob Gnade, Michael Malone, Brian O’Connor, Elijah Forouzi, Dominic Burla, Christian Cerrillo, Caleb Reina, Andrew Villarreal, Jake Clifford, Jace Reich, Reid Mason, Logan Fredrickson, Gage Fawkes, Colin Crosse, Max Zidek, Arlo Walsh, Chase Hernandez, Ryder Runia and Michael Pierce.
The Jr. Warriors played as a team, receiving help from Brendan Glynn, Ethan Cartolano, Beckham Gremley, Brogan Jacobs, Tyson Busse, Clark Goodwin, Braeden Hamilton, Mason Habich, Richard Olszta, Jaxson White, Lawson Lokanc, Conor Gochenour, Benjamin Nielsen, Sullivan Burns, Reggie Hillary, Cael McDaniel, Brady Tigchelaar, Kellen Durkin, Austin Zohfeld, Henry Kustusch, Sean Shelton Jr., Jack Boseo, Andrew Murino, Michael Stephens, Cooper Drew, Matthew Hackney and Bradyn Short.
The cheerleaders from both teams were heavily involved in keeping the spirit up for both teams on the hot afternoon.
The Knights’ cheerleaders included Allie Accettura, Addison Badie, Madelyn Balcerzak, Marissa Borsellino, Ryleigh Donovan, Juliana Fazio, Ava Grasso, Annabelle Gresky, Ella Maher, Brynn Mulcahy, Adelyn Neil, Mila Pagano, Hayden Reid and Madolyn Smith/
The SLW Warriors’ cheerleading team consisted of Jolen Bastian, McKenzie Casper, Presley Erffmeyer, Victoria Kowal, Collier Maynard, Halle McCarron, Cara McDaniel, Gianna Michals, Kaylee Mundy, Mia Nawrocki, Emily Sluzas, Amelia Van Puyenbroeck, Ava Vocu and Delaney Wilson.
