Northwest Tide Comes In Over Bears in Dominating 33-19 win

By Bobby Narang- Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill

** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase for 2 Weeks at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p472794495 **

NORTHLAKE – Grant Park Recreation Center was the ideal spot to be to watch some up-and-coming youth football battle high-level competition on Sunday afternoon.

The all-day list of games featured raffles, t-shirts and food trucks. The event also included a special day of football.

In the case of Elgin’s Northwest Tide 9U Division I team, there was no shortage of highlight-filled offensive plays.

On a windy and cold afternoon, the Tide rode the momentum of several long plays to seize control of the game.

The Tide showcased their offensive players skills, scoring touchdowns in waves for a dominating 33-19 victory over the Leyden Bears.

Even the final play of the game didn’t tarnish the Tide’s outstanding performance on offense. Chase Davis, one of the stars of the victory, burst free along the sidelines for a 65-yard touchdown to end the game, but his run was called back due to a penalty.

“We haven’t lost in three years,” Northwest Tide coach Anthony Barracaf said. “This team is a good team and do it to us the same time. Chase Davis is on another level right now. He’s just hard to stop. The boys stepped up and played through adversity. (Leyden) scored on us first. That’s the first time that has happened to us all year. They did their stuff after that. Our biggest thing is to try and raise money to get to regionals in Orlando on Nov. 9. We trying to do a lot of fundraising.”

Davis was a dynamo at running back, relying on his blazing speed, cutback ability and patience to wait until a hole opened to attack. Davis had seven carries but managed to finish with a stunning 151 yards and two touchdowns. His last two carries resulted in TD runs of 41 and 70.

His 41-yard TD turned the momentum away from the host Bears, when Davis tied the game at 13-13 with 0.1 seconds left in the first half to end the one-play drive.

“Simon Briggs had my blocks for me and I hard and used my speed,” Davis said. “We had some great blocks. The second half was a lot better. We ran the ball better and kept getting touchdowns.”

His teammate, Cordero Heaps, was in the center of the offensive action all game long. Heaps had six carries for 166 yards, scoring on runs of 56 and 51 on his final two attempts.

The Davis-Heaps combination was unstoppable, leading to a big victory for the Tide. The Tide stuck to an all-running approach, but didn’t get their offense rolling until late in the second quarter.

“My favorite play was one the line blocked (well) and I saw a hole and ran through it and scored,” Heaps said. “The offense was awesome. We all played great.”

Briggs Simon was a monster on offense and defense. He had several big hits on defense, overpowering the Bears with his size and physicalness. Simon, who played quarterback and middle linebacker, also ran the ball four times for 28 yards. Simon had the tackle of the game when he stopped a Leyden drive on fourth down with a big hit for a one-yard loss in the first half.

“We used our speed, especially Heaps,” Simon said. “We kept our heads up and were confident even though they scored. We were surprised they scored on us. That’s the first time all year. We had some guys put their heads down after they scored, but we picked it up.”

Northwest Tide’s Daniel Carrasco was a jack of all trades, playing running back, cornerback, wide receiver and defensive end. He scored his team’s first touchdown, a 3-yard run with 5:04 left in the second quarter to cut the gap to 7-6.

“My favorite play was I felt was one I set the tone with the first touchdown to get our back in the game,” Carrasco said. “Our offensive line played did great. I felt brave, happy and fast today.”

On the other side, the Leyden Bears had a strong game plan and executed on offense to push the Northwest Tide for most of the game.

Leyden Bears coach Jim Olsen credited the Tide for stringing together several big plays but noted the toughness and resiliency by his players to stay focused and positive. The Bears’ showed tremendous heart on their final drive of the game, putting together a 10-plus play drive that chewed up clock and kept the Tide’s prolific offense off the field. The Bears used a simple approach but managed to get two to five yards per carry to move the chains.

Leyden’s Jim Olsen scored on a two-yard touchdown with 37 seconds remaining to end the 14-play drive.

“It’s always the big plays or broken plays and that’s what happened today,” Olsen said. “It’s the biggest thing in practice, and it’s about staying home and containment and unfortunately, they got stuck a few times going outside.

“We pride ourselves on offense by keep moving the ball and taking five yards at a time. We got on our blocks and kept moving it downfield. That’s how we keep them moving. We will burn a quarter with our offense. We pride ourselves on that. It’s a fast-paced offense, but we also slow a lot of people down by doing that. It’s good. We stopped them twice on defense. We got a fumble recovery. Our defense was tough, but the Tide is a tough group and coached well.”

Offensively, the Bears piled on the yards on the ground. Ivan Brown sparked the offense with 66 yards rushing on 17 attempts. He had three straight rushes of seven yards late in the fourth quarter.

Bears’ Grayson Piscitelli was a standout at linebacker and running back.

“We got our blocks down and our running backs ran good for us,” Piscitelli said. “They had a very fast and good team.”

Ian Zimmerman was a key player for the Bears. He battled strong against a tough Tide team with a lot of speed on defense. His play at center was key to the big and long drives for the Bears.

“We kept pushing them back and everyone was running hard and blocking,” Zimmerman said. “We played fast. It was a tough game, but we played tough.”

Leyden’s James Olsen had a busy and tough day, carrying the ball 22 times for 93 yards. Olsen had a 26-yard run in the first half to pile up 54 yards on the ground in the first two quarters. His tough running in the fourth quarter fueled the offense and kept the Tide off the field.

“We were mostly on every drive pushing hard and getting on our blocks and not giving up and our running backs were pumping their feet,” Olsen said. “They were just good on offense. When they got outside on us, they had a lot of speed.”

The Leyden Bears’ team also included Tristian Armstrong, Harvey Chereskin, Ethan Otero, Fabian Pioquinto, Adrian Ramirez, Jayden Cipriani, Ziul Wallander, Evangelos, Efrosinis, Jayden Yarnell, Carter Patterson, Noah Carrasco, Matteo Huitrado, Cameron Riffert, Clark Gardunio and Michael Caffarello.

The Northwest Tide relied on the entire team, including Hector Beltran, Jurrell Neal, Drakaar Malone, Julian Galvan, King Former, Nasir Purham, Jayden White, Carlos Munoz, Arie Clemons, Liam Alvarado, Nathan Munoz, Adriano Martinez, Anthony Montes, Jackson Pobuta, Giovanni Gomez, Ephesian Taylor, Karreem Tintera, Samuel Walter Hairston, Isaiah Lopez, Luca Libreri, Michael Koziol and Brayden Wilke.