By Bobby Narang- Photos By Jenn Anne-Gledhill
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Even on a long and hot afternoon, the Orland Park Pioneers stayed focused and maintained a steely determination.
After a solid start this season, the Pioneers hit a roadblock on Sunday afternoon. The New Lenox Junior Warriors put together several impressive drives and played stout defense to pull out a 27-0 victory over the Orland Park Pioneers in a River Valley Youth Football League game at Mike Navarro Stadium.
Still, the Pioneers didn’t let their first defeat bother them in the postgame. When the entire team found a patch of turf to sit on to the side of the south goalpost, they never let a lengthy postgame meeting with their eight coaches bother them.
Throughout the 20-minute postgame, the Pioneers heard a variety of inspirational talks from their well-respected coaches. One by one, the coaches expressed the importance of learning from the defeat and not letting the tough loss ruin a stellar season.
As the meeting concluded, the Pioneers all rose up and many players smiled after hearing the motivational speeches by their coaches. The Pioneers opened the regular season with six straight victories, and the entire team sparked up when one assistant coaches talked about hopefully getting another chance to play in the Warriors in the playoffs.
“They were a really good team,” Orland Park lineman Nathan Campos said. “I feel like we could’ve blocked better, but we did our best.”
Despite the tough loss, the Pioneers had several positive moments that will help them in the remainder of the regular season. The Warriors scored a touchdown in each of the four quarters, including their first drive of the game.
“It was a tough game,” Orland Park Pioneers coach Al Krokas said. “We have a lot to learn from, a lot to work on to be prepared to take on a team of that caliber that we will see in the playoffs.”
One by one, the Pioneers gave the Warriors credit for playing a complete game, but several players talked about building off the shutout loss. The Warriors dominated the game thanks to their defense, holding the Pioneers to minus-35 yards, while recording five sacks.
“I felt like we could’ve blocked hard,” two-way star lineman Brian Curran said. “We couldn’t hold our blocks. Our defense was standing up too much. If we could’ve penetrated more, it would’ve been a closer game. We have to make improvements in practice. We’re having a great season, but today it didn’t feel like we were in the game. We seemed to be thinking about other stuff.”
Nicholas Peisker had a big play on defense for the Pioneers, recovering a fumble on the last play of the first quarter. Peisker showed great vision, noticing the ball came loose and darting to grab it on the turf. In the third quarter, the do-it-all Peisker boomed a long punt to add to his stellar showing. After the game, Peisker received the championship belt, which was his coaches awarded to him for his standout showing.
Early in the game, Hudson Doftert came up with an amazing pass deflection to earn a big applause from the large crowd. A few plays later, the Pioneers’ defense had a gang-tackle to stop a potential game play. Also, John Sutter had an inspiring touchdown saving tackle in the second quarter at the 3:44 mark.
Karam Olyyan said the team must improve their blocking and defense in the final few weeks of the regular season.
“I learned if we can hold our blocks, we can run through them,” Olyyan said. “We can make it to the Super Bowl and win if we play hard.”
Nicholas Dertz, a left tackle, proudly carried the Big Axe on his shoulders following the postgame team meeting. His coaches credited Dertz for playing hard football throughout the tough game.
“It was kind of a tough game, so I feel like we could’ve done some things better,” Dertz said. “Overall, we tried to play our hardest, but we just weren’t that focused today. I want to play them again, so we can get some revenge.”
Rayder Slabenak agreed with his teammates, stressing the importance of blocking better on offense in order to move the ball.
“We were standing up too much and not holding our blocks,” Slabenak said. “It was a tough game. We have to play better and do everything the coaches ask us to do. I really want to play them again.”
The fifth quarter game was another solid showing by the Pioneers. The entire team battled and played strong during the game to make their parents and relatives proud.
The Pioneers had numerous players all contribute and help the team, including Max Streets-Pruitt, Kristian Willis, Hudson Doftert, Anthony Baniewicz, Blake Schuler, Vinny Ficaro, Luke Krokos, Cole Baldridge, Luke Tonra, Jase Enstrom, Vincent Spizzirri, Carter Erwin, Carter Peluso, John Sutter, Luca Morandi, Karam Olyyan, Noah Cordoba, Nicholas Mase, Zachary Salah, Andrew Richardson, Gavin Connors, Caden Kolodziej, Bennett Brown, Nicholas Peisker, Christian Paulson, Scott Gumienny, Cody Godlewski, Nicholas Dertz, Nick Pomonis, Yousef Yasin, Samuel Horeluk, James Okrasinski, Dominic Lach, Collin Valan, Muhammad Kassel, Dylan Ahmer, Avery Vermilyea, Michael Ordman III, Michael Galivan, Nathan Campos, Jude Morrar, Raider Slabenak, Owen Garrity and Brian Curran.
During the 10-minute halftime, the cheerleaders thrilled the crowd with an energetic and detailed routine that led to a big round of cheers following the routine. The cheerleading team included Gabriela Cabela, Isabella Cartolano, Madison Davis, Eleanor Dorigan, Kaylee Gaj, Paulina Goryl, Madison Hedger, Quinn Heinze, Margot Joda, Vera Joda, Adaline Johnson, Gemma Laniosz, Brielle Lenzen, Brooklyn Loman, Lily Maday, Santina Mannino, Molly McGeever, Emily Okrasinski, Kara O’Meara, Ayya Ramadani, Meryn Rucinski, Sydney Scharpf, Avery Seliga, Peyton Tomasik, Molly Utz and Alivia Zawada.
The Pioneers will head to their first of two bye weeks next weekend. It will provide them the time to regroup and right the ship heading into their final game of the regular season prior to the RVYFL Playoffs.
