By Patrick McGavin- Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
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CHICAGO— Cade Judeh had enough setbacks and heartbreak to fill a volume.
Pride mattered, and so did the performance and effort. He was ready for a positive note to erase the sting of the last game played by the Orland Park Pioneers Varsity team.
“We lost that game 30-0, and that really stung and put me in a bad mood,” he said. “We had to go back hard at practice, and that’s what we did.”
He fulfilled his promise.
Judeh had an interception and caught two touchdown passes to spark the Pioneers’ 22-6 victory over Mt. Greenwood Colts in River Valley Youth Football League game at Brother Rice High School on Sunday, October 4.
Quarterback Hudson Doftert shook off a late injury to throw the three touchdown passes.
The game showed what a fully healthy Judeh is capable of. He caught passes on offense, and was a force of nature on the defensive side, posting six tackles in addition to the pick. He dealt with complications of a foot injury earlier in the season.
“We worked a lot on those crossing routes in the passing game, and the coaches did a great job with the play calling, and Hudson had time to throw,” he said.
The game was one of the most complete of the season by the Varsity—even with some nagging penalties and turnovers that prevented a larger margin of victory.
The Pioneers also weathered injuries to key players. Receiver Maximus Streets-Pruitt was out after taking a hard hit last week. Another top receiver, Anderson Matthews, was dressed but still not back in action. Two-way standout Noah Maslowiec went out with a foot injury early in the second half.
Most importantly, the team started out on a strong and distinctive note by scoring on the opening drive of the game—just the second time this season. The early inside running of Nicholas Peisker set the tone. He blasted off runs of five, 11 and six yards. He punctuated the early score by taking a swing pass in the left flat and breaking two tackles for the nine-yard touchdown drive.
“That’s how we want to start every game,” Peisker said. “We have to start with that intensity, punch them in the mouth and see how they respond. I think they got down on themselves once we scored, and they really helped us out. That was a big part of the game.”
The defense continued its recent string of strong and inspired play. Even that aforementioned loss against the New Lenox Jr. Warriors was misleading. One of the touchdowns came on special teams, and struggles of the offense put the defense repeatedly in harm’s way.
Working in tandem at linebacker, Peisker and Judeh are the heart and soul of the defense. Their athleticism and ability to chase down runners makes the unit go.
Despite dominating both sides, the Pioneers led just 6-0 at halftime. A lost fumble and a crucial penalty for an illegal forward pass stalled a couple of other promising drives.
“We were not satisfied with the first half of the game,” Peisker said. “We had some mistakes that just made it a one-score game, and we took that fire into the second half.”
Orland Park mirrored the start of the first half with a great opening performance at the beginning of the second half. With Muhammad Kassem and Joseph McCann harassing the Colts’ quarterback, Judeh delivered with an interception that gave the Pioneers’ great field position at the Mt. Greenwood 24-yard line.
“Our D-line did a great job of getting to the quarterback and allowed me to get the interception,” he said. “After that it was a great call by the coach, and Hudson got me the ball in the end zone.”
Two plays later, Judeh broke across the middle and caught the Doftert throw in stride for the 14-yard touchdown catch. Daniel Ramirez was another dual threat for the team. He was aggressive and involved playing outside linebacker. He also had a big 10-yard run on a sweep after the Judeh interception.
“I felt like the defense was really working well together today,” Ramirez said. “The Colts had a play where a guy called out a play, and we’d figured out what they were doing and stopped it almost every time.
“After Cade’s interception, we had all the momentum and we just said let’s get the ball back again and score even more.”
Brian Curran converted 2-out-3 two-point kicks. His boot put the Pioneers up 14-0.
“On the first kick, we were working with a new holder because the starter is injured right now,” he said. “I went in, and I wasn’t very confident. I think that showed when I missed the first one. On the first kickoff I also whiffed on it, but I just threw all of that out of the window. The next kicks I had were great.”
Curran’s booming kickoffs sent consecutive kicks into the end zone that forced the Colts to start at their own 20-yard line. Judeh’s interception was the first beneficiary. The second long kick forced a loss of downs that set up the third touchdown.
Kassem again bore down on the Colts’ quarterback and forced two incompletions that set up the turnover on downs. He finished with three sacks and five tackles.
“The guy that was blocking me was bigger, and that intimidated me a little bit,” he said. “Once I figured him out, I thought it was pretty easy for me. Any time I got to the quarterback or hit him, I felt like I earned it.”
Having the ball at the Colts’ 28-yard line, the Pioneers needed just five plays to reach paydirt—this despite a penalty that had first and goal at the 20-yard line. Doftert again found time, and threw a perfect ball to the streaking Judeh over the middle.
“Nick played great today,” Judeh said. “He made all of those tackles on defense, and then he did a great job of blocking for me, and that helped me score those touchdowns.”
About the only blemish was a defensive breakdown that allowed the Colts to rip off an 84-yard touchdown run that denied the shutout. Kassem made a great closing statement with a game-ending sack.
In a volatile season, the day proved a deeply satisfying one.
“I thought we knew we could beat them, and at times I think we took that a little bit for granted,” Peisker said. “They made a little bit of a comeback, but we held on there.”
Lily Hahn was also one of the cheerleaders who brought great energy to the game.
“I really like the stunting and the jumps,” she said. “I’m a flyer. It’s been very fun this year because most of my stunting team has been new. There’s been a lot of trial and error, but it’s been really fun. I’ve been thrown in the air. I know the other girls are going to support me. We always try to help each other out, and learn new skills.”
In Fifth Quarter action, Mohammad Ashkar made some big stops on defense.
Carter Peluso celebrated his birthday in grand style. The Colts had to play a lot of their starters due to lack of numbers.
“The energy was really high when we came in here, and everybody was doing really well all around,” he said. “When I saw some of the regular players, I just thought, Wait, what?
“I said I’m going to show the coaches that the Fifth Quarter can handle their starters, and that will give our starters all the motivation.”
The Orland Park Varsity had many standout contributors in the victory. They included Rayan Ghabayen, Louai Suleiman, Zackary Salah, Vinny Ficaro, Jude Daghlawi, Panos Kyros, John Sutter, Luke Tonra, Nolan Byrne, Dylan Enriquez, Aleksandar Tosev, Marquise McMorris, Jacob Hyla, Leonardo Luciano, Thomas Lynch, Karam Olyyan, Nick Mase, Aws Khalil, Edward Follis, Gavin Connors, Ryan Kenny, Daniel Malacina, Faris Hussein, Abdelkarem Shuaibi, Julian Mika, Rodney Vincent, James Okrasinski, Nicholas Hertzog, Dylan Ahmer, Avery Vermilyea and Issam Abulaban.
The Varsity cheerleaders also brought pageantry and beauty to their routines. They were Gia Parisi, Brinley Laniosz, Charlotte Day, Leah Janota, Addison Meyers, Oliwia Burda, Violet Fino, Giulia Cangelosi, Natalie Brown, Aviana Briseno, Annabelle Briseno, Frankie Ficaro, Aubrey Baran, Natalie Kehoe, Ellyana Connors, Aviana Martinez, Keira Barrera, Annabelle Deloya, Brittney Blazys, Brooke Blazys, Kaelyn Albright, Luciana Rupp, Nora Velez, Giuliana Bertucci, Lily Hahn, Perla Boulus, Gabriela Alonso, Sonia Carlan, Hailey Camargo and Marguerite Ryan.
