By Bobby Narang- Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p228113882 **
Orland Park— The Orland Park Pioneers Junior Varsity team was carrying a lot of weight on their shoulders on Sunday afternoon.
Not only was it the season opener for the Pioneers, but the program had not scored a point in the first two youth football games against Homer Glen at Seliga Field on Sunday.
Two games. Two blowout defeats.
Now, it was the Junior Varsity team’s turn to take on Homer Glen.
And the Orland Park JV team definitely passed the test on Sunday at Carl Sandburg High School.
The Pioneers played well on offense, defense and special teams to post an 8-6 victory over the Stallions at Mike Navarro Stadium.
Junior varsity quarterback Luke Krokos was was a star on offense and defense. He tossed an 18-yard touchdown pass to Colton Gutkowski and had a key deflection on the second-to-last play of the game in red zone to help the Pioneers secure the victory.
But Michael O’Connor was the heartbeat of the team, losing two fumbles but bouncing back with two interceptions, including intercepting a pass deep in the red zone to seal the win.
“The last play was important because I couldn’t let me score with six seconds, so I did everything I could to get the ball,” O’Connor said. “It felt really nice to get that interception. I felt bad after my fumbles. If I didn’t fumble, we would’ve been in good scoring position.”
Krokos relied on his strong and accurate right arm to move the ball down the field, and also showed off good running skills to move the chains. His solid play in the secondary was another factor in keeping the visiting team under double digits in points.
“They kept lobbing the ball up to their guys at the end of the game, so I knew I just had to swat it down,” Krokos said. Krokos said the offense made some adjustments that made a difference in the game. “They were blitzing guys everywhere, so we kept running up the field and then realized it wasn’t working,” Krokos said. “We went to the outside and put up a blocker to stop the guys blitzing and we would see the guy, the corner, biting in, we would throw a pass.”
On the TD, Krokos, a right-hander, ran away from the defense, to his left side and just before hitting the sidelines, he lofted a pass across his body – while two defenders were nipping on his heels – and Colton Gutkowski was standing near the pylon. Gutkowski leaped into the air for the 18-yard TD to hand his team an 8-0 lead late in the second quarter.
“I was just running and trying not to get tackled,” Krokos said of his TD pass. “I was thinking of going out of bounds or throwing it out of bounds, but I saw him and just threw it and he caught it.”
Gutkowski, a linebacker, said he cherished his first touchdown of the season. “We just drew up the play the other day and I had a feeling it was going to work,” Gutkowski said. “When I saw him rolling out, I knew I had a chance to get it. It was a corner route and I saw the guy was behind me, so I decided to move up and caught the ball in front of him. It felt amazing. The offense looked good. We did a lot of good things and communicated. The defense was flying everywhere and we made tackles everywhere.”
The JV used a hurry-up offense in the first drive but the seven-play possession resulted in a punt despite Krokos completing three passes. A fumble and a bad snap stopped the next two drives, but the offense came alive on their fourth drive and ended with the Krokos-to-Gutkowski TD connection.
Meanwhile, the defense held tight for the first half and did not allow any points. Gutkowski recovered a fumble to stop an early threat by Homer Glen. Luca Morandi notched a sack for minus 10 yards and O’Connor came up big on the next play with a leaping one-handed interception that caused a stir among the large crowd.
The second half was a back-and-forth battle, as Orland Park had three impressive drives all end without a point. The first drive was O’Connor’s second lost fumble, the second ended with a punt and Krokos tossed an interception on the seventh play on the third trip. Right before pick, Owen Garrity hauled in a 40-yard reception to put the ball at Homer Glen’s 26-yard line.
The game became tense, when Homer Glen scored on an 86-yard TD pass to slice the deficit to 8-6 in the third quarter. The Stallions had their sights on a road win on their final drive, electing to use the pass to get the winning touchdown. On fourth down, the Stallions completed a pass to OP’s 14-yard line.
Krokos helped save the day with a deflection and O’Connor salvaged the game with his pick on the last play.
“Early in the season, there is a lot of sloppy football,” Orland Park JV coach Al Krokos said. “That’s what it is. Our defense made plays to help our offense out. Our offense controlled the clock for a big majority of the game. The other team was fighting too. We were just a little less sloppy than they were. Mistakes are going to happen, and it matters what you are going to do next. One down, 10 more to go. Our skill guys can get creative and we tell them to get creative when the play breaks down.”
The fifth-quarter game was a battle throughout the two-quarter game. The defense had several big plays, helped by Nick Pomonis’ big tackle. The offense gained yards in chunks to give the program some momentum heading into the key varsity four-quarter game.
“It was really good in the fifth-quarter,” Ryan Lukas said. “I liked my rollout play and my pass play and I didn’t see my receiver open and booked it, make my man miss and scored a touchdown.”
The Pioneers also saw contributions from Gunner McCarthy, Keith Piekarz, Thomas Sutter, Cooper Elslager, Joey Zotto, Will Poore, Luke Krokos, Emmett Kane, Jackson Biskup, Ameen Musa, Jase Enstrom, Patrick O’Boye, Talon Tyrakowski, Carter Erwin, Jason Erwin, Noah Cordoba, Christopher Medina, Andrew Richardson, Caden Kolodziej, Anthony LaPapa, Christian Paulson, Scott Gumienny, Laith Hammami, Cody Godlewski, Dominic Gabriele, Dominic Lach, George Petraitis, Collin Valan, Bradley Patterson, Vincent Shervino, Jimmy Elsberg, Connor Kvelland, Michael Ordman, Michael Galivan, Zechariah Torgerson, Jude Morrar and Rayder Slabenak.
The Orland Park Pioneers Junior Varsity cheerleading team spiced up the crowd their energy on Sunday. The team consists of Sydney Scharpf, Lila Gavin, Brielle Lenzen, Marissa Gumuls, Mabel Lukasiewicz, Annie Milosovic, Adaline Johnson, Ainsley Moore, Ava Janota, Emily Okrasinski, Maeve Smith, Alexandra Burda, Kaitlyn Minick, Skylar Shlepakov, Brooklyn Loman, Morgan Collins, Molly McGeever, Ayya Ramadani, Madison Davis, Sophia Molina, Margot Joda, Olivia Hufford, Sana Kishta, Aaliyah Medina, Delaney Piencak, Kyla Kwiatek, Olivia Ally, Allison Guest, Ella Mrowca, Khaliaha Brown, Liliana Holmes and Liliana Darlak.
