By Pat McGavin-Photos by Kathy Jones
**Additional Photos are available for purchase at justallsports.zenfolio.com/2022pioneers.**
NEW LENOX—Four yards never seemed so far away. The ball stood on that yard line—the goal seemingly a mile away.
Nakhati Thompson took the pitch wide right and tried to get to the pylon.
He was stopped a yard short, and the anguish and pain was heard everywhere. He was not alone.
“When we didn’t score in that situation, I thought we were done for, and they were going to win the game,” running back Ben Snider said.
Thompson went through a paroxysm of nerves and despair.
“During that overtime, I was really stressed, and I couldn’t think about anything except we had to stop them,” Thompson said.
The Lightweights division of the Orland Park Pioneers seemed out of sorts for much of their game against the Frankfort Falcons Black.
They fumbled twice, threw an interception, and turned the ball over on a failed exchange between the quarterback and running back.
“We had a lot of mistakes on offense,” Snider said.
The sign of a good team is one able to transcend mistakes or poor play, and find the toughness and resolve to achieve a more positive end.
Thompson was one of the architects of the resulting defensive stand, registering consecutive tackles that kept the Falcons Black out of the end zone.
Orland Park had another chance.
On the first play of the second overtime, Enzo Angone saw his chance.
“It was supposed to be a power run up the middle, but it wasn’t really there, and the play was more open on the outside corner,” Angone said. “I just went there.”
He found daylight.
Angone scored on a 10-yard run that propelled the Lightweights to the 13-6 double overtime victory in a first round playoff game of the River Valley Youth Football League at Lincoln-Way West on Sunday, October 30.
He was so overjoyed by his touchdown he thought it was sudden death. Game over.
“At the time, I didn’t realize we had to still get the extra point and let the other team get another chance,” he said. “I was really excited.”
Thompson scored on the conversion run.
In the overtime format, the Falcons Black had four downs from the 10-yard line to score their own touchdown. Frankfort seemed undone by the Pioneers’ touchdown. They committed a false start on the first play.
Thompson and Nicholas Peisker collaborated on a two-yard stop. Back to back incomplete passes set up fourth down.
Defensive tackle Ryan Duckhorn broke through and brought down the Falcons’ running back to end the game.
“I just went the way I felt he was going to go,” he said. “I made the play. Their quarterback was very good at scrambling, and tough to tackle. I thought we did a great job of persevering through it. Everybody was into the game, yelling, even the backups, and they kept us in the game.”
The key sequence played out on the Falcons’ first possession of the overtime.
After Thompson was denied, any score ended the game. Thompson, Peisker and Luke Rybak combined to make some athletic stops.
“We pretty much knew the plays they were running since the second quarter,” Thompson said.
Pioneers’ quarterback Charlie Enstrom embodied the never back down, never say die attitude of the team.
He nearly created an end of the game hero narrative after directing the Pioneers down the field. His 15-yard pass to Drake Ulaszek put the ball at the Falcons’ 21-yard line, with seemingly one play left.
One second showed on the clock. The officials ruled otherwise, occasioning the overtime sessions.
Hudson Doftert created the last-second surge with a fourth quarter interception that stymied the Falcons. Doftert relied on some video magic.
“In Madden, there’s this thing called ‘lurk,’ where you control the opponent from the opening snap. That’s what I did. I faked him into thinking the ball was going to him. A lot of people were down that we were losing and then tied, so I got that interception and everybody was happy.”
Time ran out in the regulation.
The important thing was the Pioneers had a chance to live again.
Orland Park manufactured just one first down in the first half. The two fumbles created a backslide they scrambled to recover from. The Falcons used the first fumble recovery to go up 6-0.
“Every play they were trying to strip the ball,” Angone said. “I have to be a lot more secure handling the ball.”
Snider said the team recognized its mistakes. Fortunately, the defense held tight. Despite the error-marred first half, the Pioneers only trailed by one score.
The defense was spectacular in the second half.
John Werner, Logan Helman, Enstrom, Rybak, Angone, Peisker, Thompson and Duckhorn led the defensive charge. They limited the Falcons to just one first down in the second half.
The offense did just enough to find a way out.
In a curious way, a turnover ended up being the best possible solution. A promising drive ended with an interception. The Falcons were stuck deep in their territory. Duckhorn led a charge that forced Frankfort to punt deep from their own end zone.
The ball short hopped to the 18-yard line, giving the Pioneers just the break they were searching.
Three plays later, Snider went inside, nearly got swallowed and burst outside around the left end for the 11-yard touchdown run with 5:43 remaining.
“It was my first touchdown of the season, and it felt good,” Snider said. “It was supposed to go on the inside, but play wasn’t there, so I just went out left and got it.”
What is football but a series of happy accidents?
“I kind of knew we were going to score before the game was over, at least one touchdown,” Enstrom said. “Every time my coach told me the play, whoever got the ball, he said to tell Nahkati, Ben or Enzo run your hardest.”
Like Angone, Snider was the first one to acknowledge he made mistakes.
“I messed up once or twice,” he said.
Thompson said the team learned invaluable lessons going forward.
“We can’t just play the first half,” he said. “We have to play the full game.”
In the Fifth Quarter, Maximus Streets-Pruitt, Justin McNamara, Nicholas Mase and Finn Redmond sparked the offense.
“In general, they came out and put points up,” coach Andy Rybak said. “It was awesome.”
Brock Lenzen and Aidan Rios made plays on the defensive side.
In the Lightweights of Orland Park Pioneers’ dramatic double overtime victory Sunday, many players had a crucial hand in the action. The other players of consequence were Kristian Willis, Anthony Baniewicz, Gavin Loman, Carter Bellik, Dylan Butler, Vinny Ficaro, Evan Lavelle, Luke Tonra, Carter Peluso, Cade Judeh, Karam Olyyan, Luke Makuch, Enzo Angone, Nicholas Herzog, Nicholas Peisker, Moody Abudan, Ryan Marek, Qais Naser, Steven Mullins, Muhammed Kassem, Andrew Quinn, Zachary Salah, Erik Baran, Brian Curran and John Sutter.
The cheerleaders also brought a beautiful energy and grace with their passion and routines. The cheerleaders were Aubrey Baran, Keira Barrera, Brittney Blazys, Brooke Blazys, Annabelle Briseno, Hayden Campbell, Avery Carroll, Isabella Castillo-Meza, Frankie Ficaro, Emma Golonka, Delaney Grenda, Tessa Heinze, Arabella Hernandez, Bianca Kapusciarz, Brinley Laniosz, Malayna Marable, Gabriella Milosovic, Emily Minard, Eleanor Nothnagel, Emma Overman, Makayla Roman, Emma Ruisz and Kamilla Ulaszek.
