By Ed Muniz- Photos by Renee Kaspar
** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p277134596 **
CHANNAHON— The River Valley Youth Football League kick started their 2025 season this past Saturday and Sunday with a games at numerous locations throughout the Chicagoland South and Southwest suburbs.
Among those organization putting away the practice pads and geared up for a weekend of competition were the Orland Park Pioneers.
The Pioneers year in and year out are one of the RVYFL most successful programs and a fixture in the league playoffs.
Under the leadership of AL Krokos, the Pioneers have continued their winning ways by being a disciplined, fundementally sound and visionary program.
Another reason the Pioneers succeed is their voulunteer base. It’s well known that successful youth organization are the product of the amount of volunteer assistance one gets and for the Pioneers, parents step up to help out wherever needed, not just the football base but also the cheerleading portion of the Pioneers organization.
The Pioneers look to improve each season while keeping the Safety and Health of each boy and girl participant as priority one.
The Pioneers first official 2025 games would take place at St. Anne Parish in Channahon on August 17. The trip west would see all the of the Pioneer teams return home with victories.
Super Lightweight, Lightweight and Varsity got their season started the best way possible while the Pioneers’ Junior Varsity had a bye.
Dan Kolodziej’s Lightweight Squad opened the days action, facing another visitor to Channahon, the Homer Stallions
The duo combo of Jason Erwin and Michael O’Connor led the offense and the dominant, get to the ball defense was simply too much for the Stallions in the Pioneers 24-7 victory.
“Great way to open up the season,” said first year head coach Dan Kolodziej. “They showed it from first day one of practice and today came all around on the field.”
“We have a great team with good leadership on the field with the boys feeding off of one and other and showed it today. Our blocking was great and especially our defense. Our running backs were able to follow and run off the blocking and our defense was really stellar by stuffing a lot of plays in the backfield, they couldnt get things off.”
Even though this was a very dominant performance by his Lightweight Pioneers, Coach Dan, Like every other coach before him still found things that need to improve.
“We just need to improve a few little things, chipping of the linebacker, some downfield blocking, little things but overall though, what we practiced, it came out onto the field. Good game played.”
“We were also very excited to see what our fifth quarter kids could do especially in front of a big crowd, season opener, come out like that, so impressed with their play.”
The game opened with the Pioneers on offense. Their first cracks at it didn’t goes so well and were forced to punt.
On the defensive side, the Pioneers were swarming to the ball giving up just enough for St. Anne to continue their drive. Tackles by Jason Erwin, Thomas Sutter, Adam Krokos, Sean Kikilas, Mike Oconnor and Gunner McCarthy were slowing the Stallions but it was an overthrow that was intercepted by Krokos who returned it 19-yards that ended the drive and sparked the offense’s second try.
Try two resulted in the Pioneers offense grabbing the lead just two plays later. Oconnor took a hand off from Erwin and blasted 25-yards for the touchdown and the 6-0 lead early in the second quarter.
As it turned out— the second quarter would be quite productive for the Pioneers and seal the game.
With the lead, the Pioneers’ defense took over quickly on Homer’s next posession. Three stops, all for losses saw the Pioneers drive the Stallions back 17-yards, led by Thomas Sutter and his two tackles for negative 10-yards.
Forcing a punt, the fans now saw all the skill-set of Jason Erwin as he weaved through Homer and became ultra-elusive on the punt return, going 36-yards for the touchdown
Upping the Pioneer lead to 12-0, about the only thing the Pioneers did wrong all day was executing and failing the point-after scores.
Gunner McCarthy got the ball right back to his Pioneers offense, recovering a fumble on Homer’s next play.
It didn’t take but one play for the Pioneers sideline to celebrate again. Erwin took the snap, came one way, broke a few tackles then headed back the opposite way, found a gap, broke more tackles and juked past the last Homer defender on the 33-yard impressive run to elevevate the Pioneers lead to 18-0.
“I was juking on my runs all day and its all natural,” said Erwin. “I thought our team blocked well and I dont think we need to improve anything. I did like our play calling today. When I get to run the ball and score touchdwns, I like that a lot. If I see a guy running at me, I just think about getting through him. I’m a shifty runner. I guess I could block better still.”
Closing out the first half, the Pioneers defense was making it a difficult day for the Stallions. Tackles by Laith Hammami, Ellis Hubbard, Adam Krokos and Joey Zotto kept the Stallions off the scoreboard.
After tackles by Sutter, Kikilas and Oconnor forced another Homer punt to open the second half, Oconnor broke free on a 41-yard burst but was tackled just shy of the goal-line. He followed that with a 2-yard plowing into the endzone for the Pioneers fourth touchdown of the day, putting the game into a running clock with the 24-0 lead.
“In the first five plays, we weren’t really ready, but after that, we got really fired up,” said O’connor. “We then did good blocking, good running and picked it up just all around. On my one run, I was surprised I got caught from behind. I got past the one kid and saw open field, I thought I was gone. I think we need to be ready to play on the very first play because we weren’t today.”
With the substantial lead, the Pioneers began mixing in the second unit team with an occasional starter playing in support. Game experience goes a long way and the Pioneer staff recognize it helps their players gaining that.
The game continued to see the Pioneers defense work well with contributing tackles by Taylan Morandi and Zachariah Ballouta forcing a turnover on downs. Others that added to the tackle talley included Jackson Biskup, Bennet Kersten and Dominic Maurella.
The Stallions did manage to finally get on the score board and did something the Pioneers weren’t able to do, add the point-after to bring the game score at 24-7, which turned out to be the final score of the Pioneers win.
The solo game that featured a Fifth Quarter, the Pioneers also showed a bevy of talent. Offensively, the Pioneers scored twice with two highlight performance.
Both Nate Abbs and Bennett Kersten scored touchdowns, one on the ground and the other via the pass reception.
A great pass from Gavin Garrity to Kersten opened the scoring. The 37-yard connection saw Kersten haul in the pass in stride and race to the endzone for the 6-0 lead. Kersten provide the details.
“So, I chipped the man in front me, I turned upfield, caught the pass right in the bread-basket and took off,” said Bennett. “I thought the guy behind me might catch me because I normally zig-zag but he didnt. The pass that Gavin (Garrity) threw me was perfect. It was a really great pass to me and I scored a touchdown.”
For Nate Abbs, his score showed off his speed and ability to quickly get to the sideline and speed forward, out running everyone. His 52-yard run was the longest of the day for any Lightweight Pioneer.
“It went good. I got the ball and I just ran to the side and ran forward for the touchdown,” said Nate. “I thought maybe someone would catch me but they didnt. I was glad my parents were here to see me score, it was a long touchdown.”
Defensively, the Pioneers set the tone for what would be seen on that side of the ball all day. They gave little and took control early and often with limiting successes for Homer.
Leading the way was Amari Adigun. His line play caused havoc for the Stallions, grabbing several tackles and not alowing anyone past him. His dominant play was easy to recognize.
“I was staying low because the low man always wins,” said Amari. “I think I follow the ball well because I can see where it goes and I can make the tackle. I want to keep making tackles and get in the backfield. I think I can get better at that.”
There was several other players throughout the day that played well during the Fifth Quarter and the Regular scheduled game, they included Jaweed Abuzir, Keith Piekarz, , Will Poore, Luke Bosack, Ryan Lukas, Martin Groark, Brady Higgins, Alex Kopec, CJ Hufford, Christopher Medina Jr., Shane Sternberg, Luke Holoubek, Brooks Foster, Michael Patterson, Gavin Garrity, Arthur Slabenak, Anthony LaPapa, Paxson Leithleiter, Ian Frost, Jonathan Mizera, Dominic Gabriele, Ammar Abdelmuti, William Jordan, Jordy Kolodziej, Jimmy Elsberg, Connor Kvelland, Luke McDoniel and Paul Rylan Davies.
The Lightweight Cheerleaders also showcased their talents throughout the game. The Halftime performance and sideline entertainment was as expected and top notch. The split squad coverd the entire sidelines well in sweltering heat and humidity. They include Lucy Bohanek, Kaitlyn Minick, Alexandra Burda, Mabel Lukasiewicz, Elena Schmaling, Adaline Johnson, Zoey France, Emerson Schweikert, Eleanor Koehn, Stella Bristow, Brooklyn Loman, Eila Richter, Aaliyah Medina, Ava Janota, Molly McGeever, Skylar Shlepakov, Makayla Sotelo, Vera Joda, Kara O’Meara, Sophia Molina, Emily Okrasinski, Ainsley Moore, Maevry Harmatys, Marissa Gumuls, Madison Hedger, Morgan Collins, Aleena Badwan, Scarlett Sternberg, Sadie Griffin, Grace Poore, Kennedy Krokos, Olivia Ally, Liliana Holmes, Morgan Burger, Evelyn Byrne, Lillian Fudala, Alaina Holoubek, Anderson Foster, Selena Rios, Gwendolyn Moffatt, Margaret Moffatt, Evelyn Moffatt, Quinn Heinze, Callie Juarez-Radovanovic, Eloise Sarhage, Jenna Michalczewski and Charlotte Dorigan
