By Ed Muniz-Photos by Renee Kaspar
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TINLEY PARK— When you sit atop the league standings as an undefeated team, you have an invisible target placed directly on you.
Each contest you participate in, opponents will give you their best shot all in an attempt at knocking you off the top perch.
Good teams will try but succumb especially when challenge on the opponents home field; Great teams will face adversity and fight through it and still come out the victor.
On September 20, the Lightweight Pioneers faced that adversity for the first time all season during the game against the once beaten Tinley Park Bulldogs.
When the final second ticked off the clock, the Pioneers stayed unbeaten after coming from behind in the fourth quarter on visiting turf for the 7-6 victory.
Championship teams at one point of the season will be tested, it’s how they handle that test that makes or breaks a great team. The Pioneers found a way to come out the victors when things were at their most difficult.
Head Coach Dan Kolodziej never had any doubt, believing his Pioneers would come out on top.
“Oh, I’m feeling excitement and overwhelmed; we knew Tinley was going to be tough,” said Coach Dan. “We told the boys this is playoff football atmosphere to every kid going down the line. The defense came in and really shut them down, they couldn’t get anything going. They scored ripping the ball from our runner for their touchdown. Our guys flow to the ball, they fill the holes like we ask, I knew we would get it done.”
“In the end there, we felt Tinley was running out of steam with us getting in their backfield often, while our guys were still ready to go. Overall, offensively, our passing and blocking was on point today. Everyone came through today, just an outstanding job on both sides.”
The Bulldogs came close to scoring on their first possession after the Pioneers went three and out and punted. The Bulldogs put together a 10-play drive that took them into the second quarter and had them sitting at the Pionneers 6-yard-line after a long run got them in scoring position.
But a seldom scored on, Pioneer defense wasn’t going to make it easy for the Bulldogs, allowing 4 yards on four Bulldog tries and forcing a loss of possession on downs.
Ellis Hubbard, Joey Zotto, Jackson Biskup, Jason Erwin, Gunner McCarthy and Adam Krokos all added tackles during the Bulldogs opening drive with Arthur Slabenak along with Hubbard also introducing themselves to the host team with their hard hits.
In every game, Ellis Hubbard has been a defensive force. He was again in this game.
“Theres a lot of people that underestimate me and my speed,” said Ellis. “So, When I come off the ball, a lot of them are not expecting me to fire out and after Jason (Erwin) scored, we gained a lot of momentum and we just started clicking. We all tried our hardest to stop them from completing passes and running the ball; they ran up the middle a lot but we just shut them down all game.”
Slabenak was also a force all game with numerous assists and tackles his play also added to the shut-down efforts from the Pioneers defense.
“Everybody was psyched up after we scored,” said Slabenak. ” We just set the tone and kept getting tackles and shut them down the entire game defensively. Our defense is pretty good. We got better as the game went on. In the first half we were maybe a little slow but after half, we changed our effort, we just snapped after Jason (Erwin) scored. We then turned it up more on defense. We didn’t feel tired at all and saw they were getting that way. For me, I was in the backfield a lot and I blitzed through the line and got through after my dad told me to move closer to their linemen, it worked.”
Although the Pioneers defense stopped the Bulldogs efforts to score, one play later a Pioneer mistake gave the Bulldogs the lead afterall, stripping the football from the Pioneers runner at the two and lunging with the ball into the endzone on the defensive strip and score.
The Bulldogs would fail on the point-after and that would later come to be a huge difference in the game.
The Bulldogs used the defensive score to vault their defensive pressure, limiting the Pioneers to another three and out, forcing a punt, but the punt was muffed, ricocheting off a Tinley Park player and recovered by Pioneers’ Adam Krokos.
A 19-yard completion from Connor Kvelland to Krokos gave hope to the Pioneers next series but three plays later, going to the air again turned into a mistake as a throw was too short and easily intercepted by the Bulldogs.
Erwin and two others, Sean Kikilas and McCarthy, closed out the first half with each having a solo tackle.
The third quarter opened with Hubbard grabbing two quick stuffs and Slabenak also making a tackle to force another Tinley punt.
The opportunity to score presented itself to the Pioneers and they went for it, going on a drive that took up the rest of the third quarter and entering the fourth. Runs by Erwin and Krokos along with a completion from Kvelland to Erwin, took the Pioneers from their own 41-yard-line to the Bulldog 4. From there, Erwin took a handoff and raced to the right edge, plunging into the endzone.
With the game now tied at 6-6, the Pioneers lined up for the all-important go ahead point. Erwin took the snap as two receivers went out. Rolling slightly to his right, he noticed Brooks Foster all along in the right endzone .Erwin lofted a wounded duck, fluttering towards Foster, who stood there and hauled in the pass for the 7-6 lead.
The Pioneer sideline was silent as the play developed and then exploded with cheers and shouts with the completion. The Pioneers passed the adversity test that Championship teams have to go through.
“I just ran my hardest and scored,” said Erwin. “I got mad earlier when I had those two big runs and we had penalties and they got called back especially the one touchdown that didnt count. I just thought I got to keep playing and play through it. On the touchdown run later, I had good blocking, followed it and ran hard to get in the endzone. On the extra-point, we had two guys going on a route and I saw that there was no one in the endzone and Brooks (Foster) was all alone. I ran out a little and got a pass off, it wasnt a great pass but it got there and he caught it to take the lead.”
Brooks Foster celebrated the catch but he was much more contained for a reason while others cheered wildly.
“I didnt feel any pressure when the football was coming to me, it’s something I’ve done before.” said Brooks. “It was just another normal easy play, but it happened to be a big play. I was just waiting there ready to catch the pass and I did. I wasn’t nervous at all. I think we could have come out of the gate better but I’m happy I could help us win the game.”
Taking the lead early in the fourth, it left a lot of time for the Bulldogs to try and score. Twice the Pioneers were having none of it and each time gang tackling and stellar defense shut down the Bulldogs efforts.
Biskup, Thomas Sutter, Laith Hammami, Brady Higgins, Kikilas, Krokos and Jimmy Elsberg all made stops with Krokos batting down a pass as well and Elsberg sacking the Bulldog quarterback to seal the win for the Pioneers..
With the 7-6 victory, the Pioneers now stand at 5-0, still atop the standing at Lightweight while the Bulldogs fell to 3-2.
Fifth Quarter action was highlighted by a touchdown pass for the Pioneers. The Gavin Garrity to Dominic Gabriele connection resulted in a touchdown from 7-yard out which excited the Pioneers crowd.
Several other Pioneers added to the winning efforts they included Jaweed Abuzir, Nate Abbs, Keith Piekarz, Taylan Morandi, Will Poore, Luke Bosack, Ryan Lukas, Zachariah Ballouta, Martin Groark, Brady Higgins, Alex Kopec, CJ Hufford, Christopher Medina Jr., Shane Sternberg, Luke Holoubek, Bennett Kersten, Michael Patterson, Anthony LaPapa, Paxson Leithleiter, Ian Frost, Jonathan Mizera, Ammar Abdelmuti, William Jordan, Jordy Kolodziej, Luke McDoniel, Paul Rylan Davies, Amari Adigun and Dominic Maurella.
Traveling to Tinley Park also saw the Lightweight Pioneer Cheerleaders strut their stuff along the sidelines and during halftime, entertaining the crowd while also supporting the Pioneer players. They include Lucy Bohanek, Kaitlyn Minick, Alexandra Burda, Mabel Lukasiewicz, Elena Schmaling, Adaline Johnson, Zoey France, Emerson Schweikert, Eleanor Koehn, Stella Bristow, Brooklyn Loman, Eila Richter, Aaliyah Medina, Ava Janota, Molly McGeever, Skylar Shlepakov, Makayla Sotelo, Vera Joda, Kara O’Meara, Sophia Molina, Emily Okrasinski, Ainsley Moore, Maevry Harmatys, Marissa Gumuls, Madison Hedger, Morgan Collins, Aleena Badwan, Scarlett Sternberg, Sadie Griffin, Grace Poore, Kennedy Krokos, Olivia Ally, Liliana Holmes, Morgan Burger, Evelyn Byrne, Lillian Fudala, Alaina Holoubek, Anderson Foster, Selena Rios, Gwendolyn Moffatt, Margaret Moffatt, Evelyn Moffatt, Quinn Heinze, Callie Juarez-Radovanovic, Eloise Sarhage, Jenna Michalczewski, Charlotte Dorigan
