By Patrick Z McGavin- Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
**Additional Photos are available at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p986269742 **
ORLAND PARK— Time waits for nobody, especially gifted young football players who are expected to make the leap every year and show new standards of skill, size and accomplishment.
Enzo Angone has been a standout at every level with the Orland Park Pioneers’ football program. Now the moment of truth has arrived as he prepares for the biggest challenge of his young career.
The running back has churned and cycled through every level, starting at Super Lightweights to Lightweights and Junior Varsity.
“It’s fun to see the levels of football from when you first start, when you’re smaller, until you grow up with the game,” Angone said. “The game gets a lot more complicated, and everybody is stronger.
“So everything has to happen at a higher level.”
On a humid and scorching late July night, the four teams of the Pioneers program—Super Lightweights, Lightweights, JV and Varsity—were practicing simultaneously on the state of the art facility at Michael Schofield Field at Schussler Park.
This is the second year the Pioneers have full use of the facility, which features two adjacent regulation-size fields, a scoreboard, stands, and an equipment shed.
The Pioneers will play their home games at Sandburg High School, located just over a mile away on LaGrange Road.
The players are just one part of the equation. The cheerleading squads that bring so much to the games with their enthusiasm and the precision and beauty of their routines are also a hallmark.
Jill Lenzen is the varsity cheer coach, with Kristina Kluever directing the Junior Varsity, and Rhea Sternberg running the Lightweights.
Melissa Holdsworth is directing the Super Lightweights program. Taylor Rossi is organizing the second-year of the flag program.
Angone was taking part in preseason training with the rest of the Varsity players. The players began just wearing helmets, with shorts and T-shirts and cleats.
They put on shoulder pads about halfway through the practice.
The passing of time marks the eternal and essential part of the game signifying growth, maturity and making personal strides.
As he prepares for the start of River Valley Youth League Football action Sunday, August 17, Angone is ready to leave his mark as a player of purpose and distinction.
“Winning as a team is the most important thing for me, and I’m really excited and ready to play with all of the new kids we have joining us,” Agone said.
The journey of second-year Varsity coach Andy Rybak mirrors that of his young players. He has ostensibly traveled with them, coaching the kids at the lower levels and moving up.
Rybak has served as a head coach of all four levels.
“There really is a lot to be excited about,” Rybak said. “A lot of these kids have been playing together for seven or eight years. They are familiar with Pioneer culture, the way the tone is set.
“They know we’re in a very competitive league and they’ve bought into what we’re trying to do.”
Running back, receiver and linebacker Ryan Duckhorn underscores the close family ties. He is the youngest of four brothers to play for the Pioneers.
His father John Duckhorn was the head coach of the Junior Varsity program last year, and is now the defensive coordinator of the Varsity program.
Like Angone, the younger Duckhorn is ready for the challenge of the highest test.
“It’s an honor to be on this team,” Ryan Duckhorn said. “It has been an amazing time. This is my fourth year playing, and it got harder by the level.
“I have family on this team, and I have built friendships. Since being on lightweights my first year, it has definitely gotten harder. The kids got better, but I’ve also gotten a lot better.”
Growth and maturity are never linear. That upends the normal trajectory and expectations. Nothing ever stays the same, and the players learn how to adjust on the fly.
“At the Varsity level, the speed of the game is so much different,” Rybak said. “It’s a faster game, and it’s going to be more complex. With this group of coaches we have, they’re doing a great job.
“The players are also older and they’re more independent. A lot of the improvement comes from what happens off the field.”
The jamming together of the old with the new creates its own sense of exhilaration and high expectations.
“I’m very excited by the returning players, and a lot of the players that I know from last year’s JV who are coming up,” Rybak said.
“I know what they’re capable of. We have some new guys who are in their first year with the Pioneers. I’m very excited to see these guys, and see what kind of contributions they’re going to make.”
Continuity, culture and family are the defining words for the Pioneers’ program. As the Duckworth example proves, the four teams have been sustained by families where players literally pass the baton from one generation to the next.
Al Krokos serves important dual functions, the coach of the JV and the president of the program.
“We have eight or nine kids who have been with us since the pandemic spring season of 2021 that would have been the fall of 2020 had the normal season been played,” he said.
“Those guys are going into their sixth year of football, and this group of coaches have been with them that whole time. We have a lot of experience, from our coaching staff to the players. Expectations are there. I think we could have a special team this year.”
Standout linebacker Nicholas Peisker is the heart of the team. The hard-hitting and physical talent is entering his second year at the level..
“It helps a lot that I played with JV last year because I was with bigger guys, getting a lot of experience there,” he said. “I got a lot tougher and stronger mentally.
“The level of physicality jumps every level you go up. People really want to hit you, so you have to be ready for that. We’re all working together very hard as a team, and we can’t leave anybody behind.”
Roles change and the new kids on the block a year ago are now the savvy veterans who have seen and experienced the game.
He knows what to tell the younger players on JV for the first time.
“Just keep your head in there, that’s what I tell them,” Peisker said. “It’s going to be tough at times, but never give up and always keep going. Be strong and finish.”
The Pioneers’ program has always given gifted young coaches a chance to show what they are capable of. Dan Kolodziej takes over the Lightweights program.
The younger the player, the more important teaching and development take precedence over results.
“Everybody is hustling,” Kolodziej said. “We have a lot of returning players. We have a good group coming up.
“The kids are giving 100 percent already. I see the smiles on their faces. The kids on Super Lights fell short last year, just like we did on Lightweights, so we have that mindset of unfinished business at both levels.”
A new season, with corresponding dreams and hope of a year to remember.
“Our motto is bigger, faster and stronger every day,” Kolodziej said. “We want to be the ones celebrating at the end of the game every day.”
The program begins with Pat Richardson, the third-year coach of the Super Lightweights.
Even the youngest players learn the game the right way, with an emphasis on learning and development.
“When they’re six, seven or eight years old, you have to make sure it’s fun first,” Richardson said. “That’s always my goal, and I’m passionate about that.
“I tell the parents every year, no matter what, our main goal is when we lose or win our last game, and we ask them who wants to come back, everybody’s hands up. If we do that again this year, it’s a successful season, whether we win 17 games or lose that many.”
