By Ed Muniz-Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
**Additional Photos are available for purchase at justallsports.zenfolio.com/2022pioneers.**
Frustration is what you see on players and coaches faces of the Junior Varsity Pioneers.
The Pioneers are a team that have quite a bit of talent. This is a team with veteran players of multiple years but after Sundays’ 12-6 loss to the H-F Kings in the final game of the regular season, the Pioneers are mulled in frustration.
To a man, they don’t understand how they could be in a funk that has stuck to them like a bandage.
They began the season winning 3 of 4 games, scoring 76 points in those four, averaging 19-points a game.
Closing out the regular season, the Pioneers have lost 3 of 4 games, scoring 18 points in them, averaging 4.5-points a game.
This is too talented a team not to be among the top contenders for the league title. Sure, they now head to the RVYFL Playoffs at 4-4, and as the sixth seed, and anything can happen, but their ship must be righted for them to contend.
The beginning of the year, the Pioneers faced a Quarterback dilemma. After week one, they made changes that produced a three-game winning streak.
Then everything turned for this team. Running-back Mason Marable suffers a non-football related injury and turnovers plague their game. The one-sided game against the Jr. Knights was a bad omen.
The following week the Pioneers as a program were punched in the mouth with just the Varsity winning at home
For the JV, their opponents aggressive play sent their quarterback to the hospital and their two best running-backs were sidelined with Injuries in the game. The Pioneers were never in the game and were shutout in their second loss in a row.
In the Pioneers lone victory of the last four games, the Pioneer offense struggled and didn’t score. A fumble recovery returned for a touchdown right before halftime secured the win.
They experimented with the Wildcat formation and had some success with it but going to it exclusively hasn’t shown to win games at any level.
Against the Kings, the Pioneers first half saw Marable running as snaps went directly to him, he managed to throw from that formation and completed a pass to Ayden Toth that gained 13 yards but for the most part, Marable and Vinnie Annel were the offense.
Marable is quite a talent. He is elusive and a difficult task for anyone. His tandem in the back field is Annel. Annel has the gift of vision when he runs. He sees the field well and picks his way through the defense.
He did that at times during this game, but the difficulties of eluding fast, swarming defenders the Kings had was difficult at best.
“It was hard seeing the holes and cut into them, not trying to be fancy,” said the frustrated Annel. “I just think we run too many of the same plays in a row, they can read it and motion to it. We need more variety. We have to keep conditioning and work hard to improve.”
Marable put the Pioneers up 6-0 at the 2:14 left in the first half on his 4-yard run. The lead didn’t last long. The Kings responded quickly and tied the game up at 6-6 slightly over a minute later.
The third quarter opened with the Pioneer defense forcing a punt, stops by Marable, Nathaniel Owei and 15-yard tackle for loss by Kyree Gills led the way.
The Kings also showed a stiff defense that was not giving up much any longer. On four Pioneer tries, they gave the visitors -5-yards, forcing a turnover of downs.
Annel was trying to keep his team in the game while the Kings progressed up field, his three tackles help stall the Kings. A tackle by Nick Shamma ended the Kings march.
The play became chippy as both teams were talking. Riled up by the Pioneers words and perceived overly aggressive tackles, the Kings up their defensive game and stuffed everything the Pioneers tried, forcing the biggest play of the game.
Punting from their own 9-yard-line, on the snap, the Kings overwhelmed the Pioneer offensive line and blocked the punt, picked it up at the 11 and raced into the end-zone which brought their sideline into a frenzy.
Up 12-6 with 7-minutes left and momentum all on the Kings side, the Pioneers went to the air with Jack Bullington at quarterback. His attempts fell incomplete with constant pressure in his face nearly every attempt..
The Pioneers were being swallowed up at the line of scrimmage on every play and never threatening the rest of the game.
When the scoreboard read zeros, the Kings sideline and stands erupted as if they had won the Super Bowl, while the Pioneers headed to their sidelines dejected in their loss.
The Pioneers faired better during Fifth Quarter play. Joshua Montel led the Pioneers offense. His running attack and elusiveness saw him pick up many yards. A 27-yard burst was impressive as he cut and made defenders miss. He followed that long rush with a 2-yard run for a touchdown.
“I think I could be a little bit faster off the field, I won’t say this was my best game but overall, I think I did pretty good,” said Montell. “I do my workouts every day plus I work out with my brother, giving me handoffs. I think our line played pretty good today.
The Pioneer defense also saw some solid efforts. Nicholas Davis had a big tackle for loss, Henry Byrne, Christian Czerwonka and Eli Cantu also made excellent tackles as well as assisting on others.
Several other Pioneers continued to give their all. They include Ryan Beeler, Colin Kluever, Thomas Elliott, Ethan Vinson, Colin McElligott, Ashton Brennan, Caden Votteler, Mason Overmyer, Wyatt Heinze, Sam Basiorka, Matt Bullington, Dominic Gigliotti, Layth Zughayer, Ryan Almasri, Ameen Rayan, Alex Kantzavelos, Terrin Lovitt, Nicholas Baniewicz, Nolan Burns, Jude Doftert, Luke O’Reilly, Mark Grech-Lisula, Santino Marrella, William Reilly, Jacob Oberman, Andrew Wojtanowicz, Dominic Rizza, Joey Driscoll, Michael Straga, John Curran and Brady Straka.
Cheering on the players and providing the halftime performance were Alyssa Abed, Lily Carroll, Issabela Enriquez, Erica Gonsowski, Madeleine Heinz, Layla Jeffries, Madalyn Marable, Hailey McDonald, Liliana Minard, Lucy Moran, Avery Nugent, Maeve O’Connor, Paige Pomonis, Arianna Ramadani, Taylor Ruisz, Jordyn Shamma and Klaudia Willis.
The Pioneers enter the RVYFL Playoffs as Sixth seed and will face the New Lenox Jr. Warriors in the opening round on Saturday October 29 at 10AM at Killmer Field in Homer Glen.
