By Ed Muniz- Photos by Lauren Gray
** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase for 2 Weeks at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p258700755 **
BOURBONNAIS- The River Valley Youth Football League began its “Second Season” during the October 26-27 weekend.
Their 2024 Round 1 Playoffs were scheduled at four different locations with four sites hosting designated levels.
Among the host sites was Bourbonnais, which featured games at the Junior Varsity level.
The second game of the day had the 6th-seed Orland Park Pioneers taking on the 11th-seed Frankfort Square Wildcats.
Using a forceful running attack, a precise passing game and stellar, aggressive, pursuing defense, the Pioneers scored three times and kept the Wildcats off the scoreboard for the 18-0 playoff win on October 27.
Coach John Duckhorn’s Pioneers controlled much of the play throughout the game and built on their first quarter score with help from their opportunistic defense.
When the Wildcats made mistakes, the Pioneers made the most of them.
The Pioneers opening series did get much traction, testing the Wildcat defense on four plays. Runs by Enzo Angone and Ben Snider saw them fall short of the first down marker which saw them give up the ball on downs.
After a tackle by John Werner, the Pioneers came up with an early break when Dylan Butler pounced on the loose Wildcat fumble that gave the Pioneers a short field to work on in their next offensive possession.
Again, the Pioneers running game hadn’t hit their stride, so on fourth down, Charlie Enstrom lofted a pass to Logan Helman, who made a great grab of the football and proceeded to run untouched on the 45-yard touchdown pass, giving the Pioneers an early 6-0 lead.
“I wasn’t expecting us to call a pass play so early in the game,” said Helman. “I ran the out, saw it was wide open field, I didn’t expect that. There was nobody around me for almost 20 yards, so I caught the ball and beat them to the endzone. I think I’m a good receiver. When I made the catch and turned, I was saying to myself Just don’t stop and don’t look back. I was focused on getting to the endzone.”
With the lead, the Pioneers were really working their defense, limiting nearly everything the Wildcats tried. Tackles by Nicholas Peisker, Angone and Butler made short work of the ensuing Wildcats series, forcing a punt.
A big sack of Enstrom and a penalty also saw the Pioneers having to punt on their next set of downs.
A short punt gave the Wildcats a great opportunity to tie and possibly take the lead early in the second quarter.
Starting at the Pioneers 38-yard line, the Pioneers defense would be tested. The Wildcats drove to the Pioneers 17-yard line but were unable to move beyond that as tackles by Ulaszek, Peisker, Butler, Qias Naser, Werner and a big stop that saw the Wildcats lose 3 yards by Ryan Duckhorn stalled their drive.
Although the Pioneers mounted another drive behind the running of Angone, Snider and Enstrom, they eventually couldn’t complete a pair of passes on third and fourth down and lost the ball on downs as the first half neared conclusion.
Two last tackles by Hudson Doftert and Angone close out the first half.
The Pioneers running game came to life in the third quarter, in particular, the talents of Enzo Angone.
After the Pioneers stopped the Wildcats opening drive of the second half with tackles by Peisker, Ulaszek, Doftert and Snider, Angone took a handoff and weaved yup the middle, picking his way through small gaps and accelerating through them, going 45-yards for the showcase touchdown.
What Angone has down pat is running and making decisions on cuts without slowing down where others are slow to decide where to go. Angone is quick to react, so it looks like his momentum never ceases which leaves defenders trailing him.
Now leading by 12-0, the Pioneers defense didn’t hold back, once again attacking the Wildcats. Being persistent cuss to the Wildcats offense, the play of Duckhorn, Werner and Ulaszek again forced the Wildcats to punt.
Ulaszek was a standout for the Pioneers defense. He was among the leaders in tackles, making or assisting on several throughout the game. his play from his defensive end position brought big dividends for the Pioneers.
“I think I’m better at D-End than Linebacker,” said Ulaszek. “I get more opportunities playing the line than when I was at linebacker. When im linebacker, I have more responsibilities. I think it’s working better for me. What’s hard is learning to get past the guy in front of me or containing and keeping them from getting past me on their runs. I do like chasing down guys for the tackle though.”
The Pioneers added another score to close out the third quarter.
After the Wildcats punt, the ensuing Pioneer try saw Angone take the handoff as time expired in the third quarter, and get through the line, cut left and race 97 yards down the far sideline for his second long touchdown of the game, upping the Pioneers lead to 18-0.
“I felt running more in the middle was doing a little better than the outside runs, but both of them were kind of working good,” said Angone. “If my legs are a little sore or if I’m kind of tired, I prefer going up the middle, If I’m closer to 100%, I like to run outside. I did both today. I thought as a team we did pretty good, I’m happy how we played.”
Angone would go on to finish with 183 yards on 11 carries nearly averaging 17 yards each time he touched the ball.
On the ensuing kickoff, Ben Snider recovered the loose football to open the final stanza of the game.
The Pioneers offense didn’t add another score the rest of the game but defensively, they continued to pile up tackle after tackle with familiar faces grabbing stops. Among those tackles were those by Cade McNulty, Helman, Ulaszek and Peisker.
The Pioneers went to their Victory Formation and took a knee to end the game and advanced to the RVYFL quarterfinals next weekend where they will face the Jr. Warriors of New Lenox at Kilmer field in Homer Glen on Saturday November 2.
Fifth Quarter action also saw some standout performances from the Pioneers. Offensively, Max Streets-Pruitt was as elusive as they come, during several of his runs from the quarterback position. Charlie Miele also added a big run on a reverse. Panos Kyros added a 25-yard run too.
Defensively, the Pioneers saw excellent line play from Nicholas Hertzog and tackles by Maverick Vander Veer, Finn Redmond, Zackary Salah, Nicholas Dertz, Dylan Ahmer, Kyros, Karam Olyyan and Miele
Other Pioneers contribution via their play or support from the sidelines included Marco Orozco, Gavin Loman, Anthony Baniewicz, Vinny Ficaro, Evan Lavelle, Luyke Tonra, John Sweis, Carter Peluso, Nick Mase, Gavin Connors, Dylan Gavin, Jacob Hyla, Noah Maslowiec, Brock Lenzen, Steven Mullins, Avery Vermilyea, Adam Naser, Justin McNamara, Erik Baran, Jayden Spiotto, Brian Curran and John Sutter.
The JV Pioneers Cheerleaders were also keeping the sideline entertain despite missing many of their squad. Many of these girls were missing but were their in spirit with those that attended, they include 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.
** Our Apologies as we were unable to have photos of the Cheerleaders at this game.**
