By Ed Muniz- Photos by Lauren Gray
** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p243855052 **
ORLAND PARK— The Junior Varsity Pioneers welcomed the Frankfort Falcons to Schussler Park Field in Orland Park for week two of the Wednesday Night Football League schedule.
History has found that games between the two foes tend to be close and challenging. Each program features some of the best youth football talent in the south suburbs.
This game would be no different as it came down to an extra-point try by the Falcons with 33-seconds left. A successful conversion would most likely end the game in a tie with such little time left or a win for the Pioneers on a failed attempt.
A pass-play call for the Falcons saw a man open in the endzone but an opportunistic Michael Ordman managed to step in front of the try and intercept the pass that for all purposes, ended the game and sealed the challenging 13-12 victory for the Pioneers who improved to 2-0 in WNFL play.
“They made adjustments all game,” said Coach AL Krokos of his team. “Very proud of how they battled all the way down to the very last play.”
The Pioneers offense took the first drive of the game and continued it throughout the first quarter, marching from their own 30-yard-line to the Falcons 2-yard-line.
Quarterback Carter Erwin guided his offense and the running attack, using a mixture of runs by himself, Luke Tonra, George Petraitis, NIck Mase, Owen Garrity and Ordman. And also connecting with Garrity via the pass for 25-yard as the big play of the drive.
Thirteen times the Pioneers moved steadily upfield. looking to punch in the games first score from the Falcons 2-yard-line, the fourteenth try was disaster as an exchange was fumble and pounced upon by a Falcon defender, ending the promising Pioneers drive.
What made the fumble worse was it took the Falcons just three plays from their own 2-yard-line to score. After Ordman made a stop for a single yard, the Falocns managed to catch the Pioneers in space and busted for 37 yards. From there, a Falcon receiver snuck out, got behind the defense with no one around him and hauled in the pass that went 61-yard for the touchdown and a 6-0 lead early in quarter two.
Finding themselves trailing, the Pioneers didnt panic or really even seemed concerned, all they did was get back at it and once again use their mixture of runners, looking for the tying score.
Erwin began the comeback with an 8-yard glide, followed by more yards by Petraitis and then 20 more when Erwin took off right, following a beautiful block by Garrity and picked up the big chunk of turf. The Pioneers were rolling again looking to score. Runs by Mase, Erwin and Petraitis moved the Pioneers closer to tying the game.
Call in Vinny Ficaro. The run specialist has one thing on his mind while he awaits the long snap to him. The Gazzlle-like runner is long and lengthy with his strides, he is able to get to the edge quickly, and hit the sidelines ahead of everyone. He did exactly that and sped 24-yards for the tying score. He followed that up with the go-ahead conversion which gave the Pioneers a 7-6 advantage.
WIth just under three minutes left in the opening half, the Pioneers defense stepped up and created a turnover after two tackles by Panos Kyros. Erwin also played stellar defense and picked off the Flacon pass with 22-second on the clock. He then ran for 9-yards to end the half.
The Pioneers defense again struck gold to open the second half. The Falcons tried to go to the air on their first play of the second half and just like the first half ended; Erwin again picked off the errant pass and returned it 36-yards but coughed up the ball on a Falcon hit. Being “Johnny on the Spot”, Owen Garrity maintained possession for the Pioneers after recovering the loose ball.
The Pioneers then went on an 11-play-drive, using the running abilities of Tonra, Petraitis, Mase, Bradley Patterson and Ficaro while also using the connection of Erwin to Garrity twice and finally reaching the endzone on a Ficaro to Patterson pass from 8-yards out to extend their lead to 13-6 nearing the end of the third quarter.
The Pioneers would be challenged in the final quarter of the game. The Falcons trailed by seven and needed a touchdown and conversion to tie or win the game.
Frankfort proceeded to go on a 15-play drive, meticulously grabbing yard after yard with one purpose in mind and nothing the Pioners tried would stop them.
Several Pioneers did have tackles. Mase, Christian Paulson, Kyros, Patterson, Tonra and Noah Cordoba all made stops but the Falcons eventually connected from 9-yards out on a touchdown pass. Choosing to try and tie the game with 33-seconds left. Both sidelines and the crowd watching were silent on the snap.
A perfect pass looked ready to tie the game but Michael Ordman snuffed that out, sealing the 13-12 win for the Pioneers with his interception that ended the Falcons bid.
The Pioneers ran out the remaining time and celebrated the tight battle against an equally-skilled adversary.
Offensively, the Pioneers’ Carter Erwin showed leadership throughout the game. Mastering the ability to call the play, execute it and improvise when needed. His ability to extend plays by rolling out, waiting for a receiver to clear or take off running was key in the win. He also made several stops defensively adding a pair of interception as well.
“Yeah, I was suppose to tuck it or dump pass when I rolled out,” said Erwin. “It’s my favorite thing about playing QB, I like being out of the pocket and rolling out. I’d rather roll out than drop back. I knew they were going to be tough. I know a couple people on their team and I knew number 45 was fast.”
“I like playing quarterback because you get to be the leader of the offense and stuff; the ball is always in your hands. I think I’m better offensively than defensively but really like both. I also thought the team did really good tonight”
Defensively, the Pioneers showed grit and a “Never give Up” attitude especially when they fell behind or were challenged with the game on the on the line. Several Pioneers excelled defensively, among them was Panos Kyros. During play, he seemed to be around the ball constantly or making a stop and disrupting the Falcons offensive efforts.
“Its difficult playing the line defensively,” said Panos. “It’s hard because a lot of the time you have to get through a couple of players because I get double-teamed. I just go squeeze right in and work my way through and go right in quick. I think I need to get lower too. When I play on offense, my size is an advantage but it also is on defense because I’m usually bigger than the guy in front of me. I prefer playing defense because I like to sack the QB. I think as a team we were biting on the QB and over-pursuing, we need to fix that.”
Several other Pioneers gave their all in this game while still others were there in support of those playing, they included Maximus Streets-Pruitt, Hudson Doftert, Zackary Salah, Anderson Matthews, Nicholas Peisker, Luke Krokos, Cole Baldridge, John Sutter, Dylan Enriquez, Jase Enstrom, Carter Peluso, Tyjuan Hagler, Lucca Morandi, Karam Olyyan, Andrew Richardson, Gavin Connors, Caden Kolodziej, Moody Abudan, Scott Gumienny, Noah Maslowiec, Cody Godlewski, Nicholas Dertz, Nick Pomonis, Samuel Horeluk, James Okrasinski, Ameen Musa, Dominic Lach, Collin Valan, Dylan Ahmer, Avery Vermilyea, Michael Galivan, Jude Morrar and Rayder Slabenak.
