By Ed Muniz- Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
**Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p950358165 and https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p981190784 **
ORLAND PARK— The First Annual Orland Park Pioneers Flag Bowl took place on October 17 at Schussler Park.
Leading the 2026 Orland Park Pioneers Flag Season is Flag Coordinator Marty Groark. Under his leadership, the Flag program has more than doubled, giving boys and girls an opportunity to participate and learn the game without the physicallity of tackle football.
In his fourth year of leadership, Marty has seen an increase of boys and girls wanting to play not only at the original 5 to 7 age group but also at the 8 to 10 level which began last year.
This year, for the first time, the Flag Program had to end registration early due to the number of sign-ups. The jump from having 40-44 kids participating at the 5 to 7 age level to this years’ 105 players in both age groups now offered was the reason to halt registrations. Groark’s concern came down to whether there would be enough help to accommodate additional teams.
However, if the demand is once again high next registration, the current number of teams may increase from four teams to five or six at each age group.
“My goal as Flag Coordinator is to give kids a fun and friendly activity while also learning the rules of football,” said Marty. “We consider the Flag Football League a great starting point for those new to the sport whom are looking to someday start palying tackle”
Marty also added about one particular thing he felt was very important to him.
“I always find great importance in is that the kids have fun, the coaches have fun and then the parents have fun and are able to share photos, videos and memories with family and friends, so giving a great experiece to the players has a ripple effect through the community. Its all about the community for me.”
“My son plays tackle football the last three years, so I have no flag player but once I heard “Any community worth living in, is worth volunteering for” and so I live by that motto when organizing/coordinating the flag football league.”
At the Inaugural 2026 Flag Bowl, Marty was beyond busy. There were multiple games going on at the same time. Schussler Park was the site of the event with two games gong on simultaniously, each required a clock which he ran himself. He was the sound guy, making announcements to inform the fans while also providing teams and coaches with information and awards.
Marty was all you could ask of a Flag Coordinator.
Initially, there were two games beginning at 8 am. The four teams of the 5-7 age division. These priliminary or semi-final games would determine who would play for the Flag Bowl Championship.
Kevin Hlado’s Red Pioneers would face off against Kevin Burns’ Blue Pioneers while Joe Zotto.s Green Pioneers would take on the Yellow Pioneers headed by Dan Walsh
The Red versus blue game was a game of back and forth control, especially in the second half where only one score was produced. The final outcome saw the Burns’ Blue Pioneers up end the Red, 21-14, advancing to the Championship game while the Red would play a consolation third place game
Each team saw great efforts from their rosters. For the Red, Jaxson Hlado, Christopher De Jesus, Jett Jones, Patrick Lustig, Harrison MacNichol, Chalrlie Smith, Max Pullins, Vito Calderone, Thomas Hall, Paddy O’Connell, Ethan Allen, Felix Germino and Addam Deloya each did all they could to help their team in this game.
The victorious Blue Pioneers did just enough and used a second half score along with good defense to secure the win behind the play of Issa Abdallah, Malik Doleh, Andy Georgescu, Collin Burns, Samuel Enright, Liam Johnson, Sami Abuelrish, Fawaz Ayed, Nabil Jadallah, Mikey Craig, Jimmy Heiting, Jack Burns, Jase Enright and Jackson Peterson.
The Yellow versus Green game was the oposite of the other game. A total of 77-points were scored in this game with the victory going to the Dan Walsh’ Yellow Pioneers, outlasting the Green , 42-35 and advancing to take on the Blue for the 5-7 Divison Championship.
Giving their all in the high scoring and entertaining game for the Green were Luke Bertucci, John Ostergren, Benny Repa, Freddy Valdivia, Evan Nolan, Danny Micks, Bentley Krezel, Brooks Liesch, Henry Zotto, Aiden Duchovitz, Jon Hyland, Robert Louis Bregin, Ian Sundberg and Henry Mackanin.
The winning Yellow used the lead they took early on into half and maintained it, matching every Green score in the second half, assuring them of the 42-35 win behind the play of Christos Kotsiovos, Peter Vitogiannis, Theodore Medina, Thomas Lally, Bobby McKnight, Parker Sipple, Henry Walsh, Samuel Barabasz, Jayden Tadros, Anthony Chojnacki, Harrison DeLacey, James Houston, Gabriel Sorsby and Lucas Yung.
The 8-10 divison took to the field after the the younger division Championship and consolation games were set.
As before, Jack Nolan’s Green would play Mike Barabasz Yellow Pioneers while Omar Zegar and his Red Pioneers would challenge the Blue Pioneers led by Ramie Hamdan.
The Green Pioneers used a 21-point first half to jump ahaed and never look back. The Yellow did make a game of it and closed to 21-28 but time expired giving the Green Pioneers a shot at the 2026 Flag Bowl 8-10 title.
They saw big contribution throughout their team in this win which included Bennett Mackanin, Luke Nolan, Michael Locke, Michael Perez, Carter Tadros, Oscar Mika, Jack Peters, Luca Sheposh, Daniel Calandriello, Kairos Walters, Eli and Silas Wood.
The Yellow Pioneers although falling behind early, never quit and continued to play hard throughout showing the “never give up” attitude of good teams. Adding to their efforts were Theodore Barabasz, Christian Pullins, Zachariah Jaber, Kenny Micks, Carter Butzow, Jaxon Wasik, Lucy Sheahan, Luca Arzola, Micheal Perez, Alex Nease and Eliseo Barbarotta
The Blue versus Red game saw both teams scoring via the run and the pass but it was Coach Zegar’s Red Pioneers that out-dueled the Blue and advance to the Championship game with the 42-28 win.
Contributing to the victory for the Red were Bassam Daher, Khaled Ezeldin, Malik Zegar, Noah Hammad, Cooper Case, Henry Gray, Oliver and Sambar Stepien, Ryan Abousweilem, Isa Musa, Arden Sundberg and Jacob Schulte.
The Blue got within one score in their eventual loss but not for lack of effort. They gave their all on every snap and showed to be a worthy opponent. They included Cameron Makuch, Khaled Ayyad, LilyAnne Ramadan, Liam Morton, Noah Hamdan, Malik Ayyad, Jad Samad, Mitchell Pizzurro, Cameron Smith, Luke Liston, Carson Richards and Ronan Murphy.
Also attending the game were the Flag Pioneer Cheeerleaders who were entertaining the sidelines and cheering on the boys during their games. They included Natalie Schulte, Olivia Machart, Savannah Petrucci, Isabelle Peterson, Tenley Morack, Alexa Del Valle, Brooke Busking, Kara Vuolo, Arianna Martinez, Angel Robinson, Reagan Repa and Lainey Becht
