By Ed Muniz- Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
**Additional Photos are Available for Purchase for 2 Weeks at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p270265474 **
Orland Park- The River Valley Youth Football League continued its 2024 Playoff season reaching their Semi-Finals in each division on November 10.
The two remaining Orland Park Pioneers at Lightweight and Junior Varsity were among the remaining teams looking to reach the Championship game.
Sandburg High School hosted the Lightweight and Varsity level Semi-Finals.
Playing on their home field, Al Krokos’ Lightweight Orland Park Pioneers would try to use home field advantage to their favor in their matchup against the Tinley Park Bulldogs.
Earlier in the year, the Bulldogs overwhelmed the Pioneers, handing them a loss in the Bulldogs’ one-sided victory.
Still embedded in their minds, the Pioneers to a man were hoping for this rematch, this time on their home field.
They got what they wanted and here lying in front of them was the opportunity to exile the demons of the first meeting simply by winning the opportunity to play in the league championship.
As it turned out, this game came down to one big play as both teams waited for the other to crack. A toss right saw the running back quickly get outside while the opposing defense got clogged inside which gave the sideline a clear path to the endzone.
After playing nearly error free the whole game up until that fourth quarter play, the Pioneers would lose 6-0 to the Bulldogs and be eliminated for the second year in a row in the Semi-Finals.
“I am so proud of how we played,” said Coach Al Krokos. “We played well enough in the game but it’s Playoff football, one play changes the outcome and unfortunately from our side, is what happened. We’ve been on that side of it and had playoff runs because we changed the outcome because of one play.”
“I feel we outplayed them 2/3 of the share of offensive plays to theirs, we had seven first downs to their two, we won the turnover battle. We did everything except for that one play. Unfortunately, that’s what happens.”
Coach Krokos also mentioned how pleased he was about the teams’ effort. He mentioned how much they improved from losing by three scores in the previous meeting, to holding the same team where the only difference was one play. “I couldn’t be prouder of them all. Sometimes you’re just on the wrong side of it.”
Many of the Pioneers gave it all they had during this game. you could see their effort was elevated with one goal in mind.
One standout who quite possibly had his best game of the season was Michael Oconnor. The first year player at this level led the team in effort.
Throughout the game whether on offense or defense, he laid it all on the line in an effort to give his tea the best possible chance to win.
Offensively, he showed the heart of a champion by refusing to stop moving forward, pinballing off Bulldog defenders on every run, turning what should have been short gains into 5-6-yard churns, always looking for the next foot of turf. Oconnor was called on to get the tough yards, coming through several times to extend drives.
Defensively, his commitment to making the stop saw him grab several tackles and assist on several others. Oconnor is a finisher when it comes to tackling. He demonstrated that with his aggressive play.
“I was trying to go in and just win and do whatever I could to help us,” said Oconnor. “They had a lot of linebackers in the gaps, so it was kinda hard to hit the gaps hard, but I tried getting through them. I was trying to power through. I thought this was gonna be a one score game. Our defense did good at not giving up, we also didn’t let them pass.”
Oconnor explained how the scoring play was simply guys getting all bunched and clustered up and tripped up which made it easier for the runner to get outside.
“I’m still proud of my team. Both defense and offense did really good, we did our best.”
Oconnor finished with 67 yards rushing on 20 tries. Most of those yards came after contact.
When a team limits their opponent to just two-first downs, then their defense is doing a very good job. That was the case for Coach Adam Sutter’s Pioneers defense.
The Pioneers were successful in stopping the Bulldogs passing which was their nemesis during their prior encounter. In this game, the Bulldogs struggled to complete a single pass.
A heavy pursuit also played well for the Pioneers defense, getting several players to the ball.
Tackles by Andrew Richardson, Cole Baldridge, Lucca Morandi, Oconnor, Jude Morrar, Christian Paulson and Jason Erwin kept the Bulldogs from having limited success; throw in an Interception by Carter Erwin, this game completely different than their first encounter.
The Pioneers’ defense was doing all they could get the ball back to their offense as quickly as possible.
Offensively, having a season veteran at the Quarterback position is a big plus. Luke Krokos is the right guy to have lading the offense. His knowledge of the plays called and executing them correctly is part of the reason the Pioneers dominated the number of offensive plays called.
The Pioneers ran 42 offensive plays to the Bulldogs 20 in the game.
Unfortunately, sometimes doing all you can and holding an edge in nearly every category simply isn’t enough. The Pioneers inability to get into the endzone would conclude their season after the Bulldogs patience found the crack and exploited it to their advantage that propelled them to the Lightweight Championship game.
In Fifth Quarter play, offensively, Joey Zotto showed he too has a nose for the endzone after running in for a score from 5-yards out.
“They gave the ball to me up the three hole and the linemen blocked good, so I found a hole, so I scored a touchdown,” said Joey. “This was my second touchdown. I cut to the outside, it was kind of an easy play for me. I like scoring them and want to score more. The best part of scoring touchdowns is that it’s just fun. I feel like I’m helping the team when I run the ball but maybe I could block a little better.”
Defensively, Adam Krokos and Connor Kvelland stood out. Krokos snatched a fumble and Kvelland had multiple tackles.
Other Pioneers that gave their all in the Fifth Quarter and Playoff Game include Gunner McCarthy, Keith Piekarz, Thomas Sutter, Will Poore, Bennett Brown, Jackson Biskup, Ryan Lukas, Jase Enstrom, Vito Cangelosi, Noah Cordoba, Christopher Medina, Jr., Brooks Foster, Tyler Wilkie, Caden Kolodziej, Anthony LaPapa, Blake Nance, Scott Gumienny, Laith Hammami, Cody Godlewski, Dominic Gabriele, Nick Pomonis, Samuel Horeluk, James Okrasinski, Dominic Lach, Collin Valan, Bradley Patterson, Jimmy Elsberg, Michael Ordman, Michael Galivan, Owen Garrity, and Rayder Slabenak.
Providing the sideline entertainment and performing at halftime were the Lightweight Pioneers Cheerleaders. They included Alexandra Burda, Morgan Collins, Madison Davis, Nora Dorigan, Emma Evans, Chloe Gaj, Kaylee Gaj, Lila Gavin, Madison Hedger, Quinn Heinze, Ava Janota, Margot Joda, Vera Joda, Adaline Johnson, Ella Kluever, Gemma Laniosz, Brielle Lenzen, Brooklyn Loman, Molly McGeever, Aaliyah Medina, Sophia Molina, Ainsley Moore, Annette Mullaney, Kayleigh Mullins, Emily Okrasinski, Kara O’Meara, Ayya Ramadani, Selena Rios, Sydney Scharpf, Avery Seliga, Maeve Smith, Addison Storrs, Peyton Tomasik, Molly Utz and Alivia Zawada.
