By Patrick Z. McGavin- Photos By Renee Kaspar
**Additional Photos are Available for Purchase for 2 Weeks at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p296416198 **
HAMMOND, IN.— The game frequently demands the star and the role player not only exist side by side, they play off and give sufficient power to each other.
It’s like artistic alchemy or fusion where the individual parts cohere and allow the whole to take off.
The typical headliners of the Junior Varsity of the Orland Park Pioneers made the important early plays against the Northwest (Ind.) Vipers. For about three quarters of the action, the players who typically operate in the shadows had their moment in the sun.
“It was a big opportunity to get some playing time in the featured game, and not just the Wednesday night leagues or the Fifth Quarter,” reserve quarterback Brock Lenzen said. “My line also really played well and everyone did their part.
“We’re all close together, because we practice together and sometimes hang out together.”
The Junior Varsity played one of their most complete and dominant two-way games of the season in the 29-0 victory in a River Valley Youth Football League game here at Bishop Noll on Sunday, October 6.
The players who typically command the spotlight—Enzo Angone, Ben Snider, Nicholas Peisker, Ryan Duckhorn—were typically brilliant in creating the early narrative.
With those starters playing just one quarter, the secondary and developing players all saw significant and telling action. Most impressively the performance and effort never fell off or deviated from the norm.
“Everybody on the team does a great job of listening to our coaches and listening to what they tell us,” Max Streets-Pruitt said. “When we practice, we practice hard, and we never play around.
“We were confident that we could do well today. The overall performance also felt great, and it meant a lot. The back ups were not as happy because we haven’t made it to the Wednesday playoffs yet.”
The Pioneers needed just two plays to reach paydirt following the opening kickoff.
Snider ripped off a 12-yard run on the first play from scrimmage. Taking a pitch from the left edge, Angone turned on the jets and ran 37-yards down the left sideline for the opening score.
Brian Curran was 2-for-3 on two-point kicks.
The quick start empowered the Pioneers to stretch their wings and assert their control over the Vipers. The interior defensive play of Justin McNamara, Qais Naser and Duckhorn throttled the Vipers at every juncture.
The ballhawking Snider underscored his ability to impact the game from either side of the ball. He scooped up a sack stripped and went 27 yards down the right sideline for the second touchdown.
The Pioneers never slowed down, taking over their next possession deep in the Vipers’ territory after pressure against the punter resulted in a huge loss.
Quarterback Charlie Enstrom needed just two plays for another quick score. After his only pass attempt was dropped in the end zone, Enstrom responded by turning a broken play into an 11-yard touchdown run around the right side.
Just over six minutes into the game, the Pioneers were up 22-0. The Orland Park program could literally just dictate the final score.
The second and third-team players began liberally entering the game, by the end of the first quarter. The results did not change. The Pioneers stuffed the Vipers at the line of scrimmage.
Sutter, Streets, Noah Maslowiec and Zackary Salah stepped into their roles seamlessly, running hard to the ball and never allowing any space for the Vipers to operate.
Reserve running back Maverick Vander Veer punctuated the remarkable first quarter play with the final touchdown.
After bursting around the right end for 12 yards, Vander Veer flashed speed and quickness in getting to the edge for the 11-yard touchdown scamper.
“This was only my second touchdown of the season, and I didn’t think I’d get in,” Vander Veer said. “I was surprised almost, but it felt great. I had motivation.
“We wanted to keep playing hard, and not give them any chance of getting back into the game.”
Streets signified the versatile and almost improvisational ability of the Pioneers to make something out of even dangerous situations. He formally concluded the scoring with an alert hustle play.
The holder of the kicking attempts, he controlled the errant snap on the move and broke around the right side and ran in the conversion point.
Everything was coming up roses.
“It was good,” Streets said. “It wasn’t really a bad snap or anything like that. I really could have caught it, and put it down. It is what it is, and we were able to make a play.”
The second half was more of the same, just with just different names and numbers involved in the heat of the action. Quarterback Brock Lenzen directed the second unit offense.
Gavin Loman ripped off a 24-yard run for the offense.
“It was a big opportunity to get some playing time, and my line also really played well,” Lenzen said. “We do a lot of things together. It’s really exciting because you get extra playing time, and we get to show off what we’ve been learning in practice.”
With league rules stipulating the Vipers starting field position deep inside the Pioneers’ territory, the defensive pride held firm, never really allowing any significant offensive plays.
The Vipers had just one first down. Maslowiec, Luke Tonra, Nicholas Dertz, Finn Redmond, Panos Kyros and Gavin Connors maintained the high standards of the starting defenders.
“I’m very happy because we’ve never been that dominant on the field,” Tonra said. “It felt really good to be next to the ball, and making a tackle on basically every single play.
“It made everyone happy and made us realize we’re not that bad of a team. We lost our last game, and everybody wanted to show out today. It just gave us the confidence to know we can win this game and make it to the playoffs.”
Sutter stripped the ball and Nick Mase jumped on the recovery.
“It felt like when they had the ball deep in our territory, we had to stop them, and get the ball back into their side,” Sutter said. “All we had to do was stop them, and that’s what we did, or got the ball back and ran it to the sideline.”
The joy and satisfaction were palpable.
“We added some new plays and new formations to help us as a defense go out and play hard,” Mase said. “It felt really good that we could help them.
“We felt really confident. If we keep this going, with our intensity up and our practices are good, we are going to go far into the playoffs. We could do very well the rest of the season.”
The Junior Varsity of the Orland Park Pioneers had many standout contributors in the shutvictory. They included Marco Orozco, Hudson Doftert, Dylan Butler, Vinny Ficaro, Evan Lavelle, John Sweis, Carter Peluso, Logan Helman, John Werner, Karam Olyyan, Drake Ulaszek, Dylan Gavin, Jacob Hyla, Nicholas Dertz, Steven Mullins,Nicholas Hertzog, Dylan Ahmer, Avery Vermilyea, Adam Naser, Erik Baran and Jayden Spiotto.
The cheerleaders also brought great style, passion and enthusiasm to their routines and dance performance. Their members were Kaelyn Albright, Aubrey Baran, Brittney Blazys, Brooke Blazys, Aviana Briseno, Annabelle Briseno, Oliwia Burda, Hayden Campbell, Giulia Cangelosi, Avery Carroll, Ellyana Connors, Charlotte Day, Annabelle Deloya, Darcy Dorigan, Frankie Ficaro, Emma Golonka, Arabella Hernandez, Ariana Hinton, Leah Janota, Bianca Kapusciarz, Flora Lane, Brinley Laniosz, Malayna Marable, Addison Meyers, Serena Murray, Sofia Murray, Emma Overman, Gia Parisi, Emily Pastiak, Charlotte Raubolt, Maklaya Roman, Emma Ruisz, Luciana Rupp, Alyse Sparacino, Kamilla Ulaszek, Kassandra Vazquez-Gutierrez and Nora Velez.
