By Miles Toogo- Photos by Lauren Gray
** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p328064420 **
NEW LENOX— When the JV Pioneers traveled to Lincoln-Way West High school on Spetember 27, a famiiar foe awaited them.
The New Lenox Jr. Warriors and the Pioneers have a long history. One where the other may think they have the upper hand only to find out not so.
Wins are a premium for each. Their history is filled with game victories that last only till the next game. One may win the league game or championship but then lose the WNFL title to the other in the same year, then next time a title is on the line between them, it gets flipped.
They are consistantly defeating each other regularly. Especially with these two groups of players throughout the years, advancing through their levels of play.
Home field advantage doesn’t seem to exist. All each team can expect is a hard fought game where the outcome isn’t assured regardless of records.
The 2026 regular season edition turned out to be no different.
In these kind of egames, one moment, one key moment determines the outcome. The Pioners defense produced that when a blocked punt later became a 1-yard touchdown plunge that gave the Pioneers a 6-0 lead and eventual victory.
“Going into the game, we told the kids “Playoff Atmosphere”. Nothing that happened in that first half by either team changed that,” said Coach Al Krokos. “Sometimes you get into those games and it’s who blinks first. We kinda did the half blink by letting them get into the redzone; we’ve been talking about the defensive identity and they came up, stood strong and tall and stopped them from getting into the endzone.”
“We saw some things we knew was going to work with them going into the second half, it was just trying to capatilize, take the right time to strike on them and it worked out, we put it in the endzone eventually. Our play calling is based on the whole personnel, who’s back there. Us running and establish it is what’s opening the play-action for us with Carter (Erwin) who is built for that. No matter who is at quarterback, our running has help with that. This win was the rematch of the WNFL game where they beat us 8-0 last year with all the same kids out there. It’s always a one score game.”
The opening half saw lots of defense from each team. it also saw mistakes by each offense. While neither was perfect, the offensive effort was still there.
The Pioneers had first crack at moving the ball, they proceeded to go 3-and-out.
The Pioneers countered with Coltin Gutkowski. He made the first two stops with the second causing a fumble that was recovered by Jude Morrar.
Starting at midfield, the Pioneers had a good chance to jump ahead with the turnover but a bad snap that sailed over Erwins head lost 14-yards which eventually led to another Pioneers punt after the Jr. Warriors aggressively made stops on the next two tries.
The Pioneers struggled to advance the ball initially, producing negative yards on their first two offensive series while being hounded by an aggressive Jr. Warriors defense.
Defensively, the Pioneers held their own thanks to the efforts of Michael Galivan, Andrew Richardson and Michael O’Connor. Each making stops to force another punt.
Although Erwin connected on a 12-yard pass with Owen Garrity, another bad snap on fourth down forced Erwin to throw under heavy pursuit that fell incomplete and gave the football back to the host.
The best scoring threat followed, now into the second quarter.
The Jr. Warriors began at their own 48-yardline. They worked their way into Pioneers territory using a pair of completed passes and an array of runs to move to the Pioneers 2-yardline. An apparent touchdown on the next play was called back due to a penalty which pushed them back to the Pioneers 6, from there, a pass attempt saw Gutkowski snag the football in the endzone and run out to the Pioneers 12.
The defensive stop shook the Jr. Warriors after twice nearly taking the lead if not for their own undoing. Along the Jr. Warriors drive, although giving up turf, the Pioneers saw tackles from Noah Cordoba, O’Connor, Lucca Morandi, Galivan and Richardson while also others swarming to assist on the stops. The Pioneers were doing all they could to keep the Jr. Warriors from scoring until Gutkowski’s interception.
Erwin followed with a knee as both teams went to the break scoreless.
The Pioneers defense continued its assault on the Jr. Warriors offense to open the second half. The break seem to refresh them as several players got to the ball quickly. Bradley Patterson, O’Connor and Galivan each added to the Pioneers tackle tally. But it was Cody Godlewski who came up big during the Jr. Warriors drive. An earlier tackle was uppped by his effort on the Jr. Warriors punt. He managed to get a paw up and block the kick which was recovered by Cordoba, giving the Pioneers a prime opportunity early in the second half.
The big play catapulted the Pioneers onto a 10-play drive that used up the remainder of the third quarter and into the fourth.
Several clutch moments by the Pioneers allowed thier drive to continue. A clutch pass-play on third and long saw Erwin find George Petraitis on an 18-yard pass completion to maintain possession. Another was being able to overcome another bad snap that sailed over Erwins head that lost another 14-yards. Erwin was able to gain all that back on the ensuing running play.
Another third and long saw Erwin connect with Owen Garrirty up the middle with a touch pass that went for another 18-yards to once again maintain possession.
Entering the fourth quarter, the Pioneers sat at the Jr. Warriors 4-yardline, a penalty pushed the Pioneers closer. A dive by O’Connor got nothing, a keeper by Erwin got them one yard closer, a third down pass attempt was nearly picked off and finally on fourth and goal from the one, O’Connor would not be denied, diving in off his right tackle for the games first score and a 6-0 lead.
With 7-minutes remaining in the game, it was up to the defense to continue to keep the Jr. Warriors offense at bey.
They did just that. They bent a little but eventually the tackling of Godlewski, Gutkowski, Patraitis, O’Connor, Garrity and a sack by Cordoba saw the Jr. Warriors lose the ball on downs
The hit of the game came after the Pioneers couldn’t move the ball on their next series.
The Jr. Warriors deperately needed the ball back and flooded every Pioneers try, forcing a punt. It was on that punt the O’Connor produced the tackle of the game. The Jr. Warrior runner fielded the punt, started to his right and was viciously introduced to Michale O’Connor and his “SPLAT” tackle, very similar to a bug hitting your windshield. The Pioneers sideline erupted with the hit as did the Pioneers on the field.
The Jr. Warriors last three pass efforts fell far short as the games final second expired, giving the Pioneers a 6-0 victory.
The celebration of the players pouring onto the field and fans cheering loudly along with coaches congratulating each other showed just how much this game meant to the Pioneers.
Quarteback Carter Erwin directed the offense. He is a running-back by talent but has filled in for the injured Luke Krokos and has done an admirable job. His legs and elusiveness and key completions are a key reason the Pioneers leave New Lenox the Victors.
“Tough game today,” said Carter. “A couple shotguns didn’t go our way but thats fine but we battled back from that. First few drives we couldn’t really do much but they couldn’t either. Our defense stepped up today. We came into the game sayig we are going to shut these guys down. This was a very big game for us. We had to win one of the next three games, had we lost this game, it might of hurt our playoff berth and that’s a really good Warriors team over there.”
“Fighting today, We fought really well. Our defensive game planning was really good. Our offense, we powered through them. That last drive, a couple good plays, I mean they had a couple mental mistakes, flags that really hurt them. We started off a little slow but now I think as a team we are going to go and peak at the right time. Coach was saying we can win out. I mean winning this one now sets up for a really good playoff chance. Such a big win for us.”
The stars of this game can be easily argued to have been the Pioneers defensive unit. When needed most, the Pioneers were clutch. They played to win with one goal and one mid-set to shutdown and do whatever it took to take this game. Among the defensive efforts that stood out were Colton Gutkowski and Noah Cordoba, who both were stellar in their performances. Each contributed to the team defensive effort.
“I think we do well in stopping the quarterback, making tackles and keeping us in the game on defense,”said Cordoba. “For me, I just try to get in the backfield to make some plays. When I do, I get excited and it hypes me up, makes me play better because I want to do it again and again. I also think it helps the team, everybody gets excited because of something I did and then everyone is ready to go for the next play. After their last pass was stopped, i was thinking that we just beat a really good team and now we can move forward. I do think as a team maybe we can get better at our pass coverage, but still, we did pretty good today on both sides.”
Gutkowski admits he wasn’t perfect but was still pleased with his teams efforts.
“For me, I thought I played all right,” said Colton. “I played decent but I did miss some responsibilities but I made up for it with the pick. When the situations get tough, I try to step up my game some. I’ll work on picking up my responsidbilities more and staying in my zone. It’s important I do that for the team. I think I didn’t do that as well today. As a team, we played hard all game, it was a hard fought battle. Defensively, we definately picked it up and played really well. Playing defense is where I really do well, I get more out of it.”
With the victory, the path to the playoffs is almost a sure thing. Carrying momentum after a difficult victory will only make this resilient Pioneers unit a more difficult opponent as they close out the schedule. Time will tell of their successes or failures yet to come. Still lots of work to get done but the Pioneers took a huge step towards success with this win.
There were many Pioneers that helped in the road victory, they include Gunner McCarthy, Keith Piekarz, Thomas Sutter, Cooper Elslager, Joey Zotto, Will Poore, Luke Krokos, Emmett Kane, Jackson Biskup, Ameen Musa,Ryan Lukas, Jase Enstrom, Patrick O’Boye, Talon Tyrakowski, Jason Erwin, Christopher Medina, Caden Kolodziej, Anthoy LaPapa, Christian Paulson, Scott Gumienny, Laith Hammami, Dominic Gabriele, Nick Pomonis, Dominic Lach, Collin Valan, Vincent Shervino, Jimmy Elsberg, Connor Kvelland, Michael Ordman, Zechariah Torgerson, Jude Morrar, Rayder Slabenak and Adam Krokos.
The JV Pioneers Cheerleaders also worked hard along the sidelines keeping fans entertained while also performing at halftime. For Madison Davis, being part of the Pioneers is all about having fun.
“I like talking and having fun with all my friends on this squad,” said Madison. “There’s a lot of friends here but occasionally we bicker. I like all of being a cheerleader but my favorite thing is doing stunts. I think I am good at that. I’m the back on the fire up I support the back and make sure no one falls. I am kinda strong. I enjoy the coaches a lot too. I do have a best friend on the team too, Kaitlyn (Minick) and I are great friends. We both have fun.”
Other Cheerleaders enjoying the squad include Sydney Scharpf, Lila Gavin, Brielle Lenzen, Marissa Gumuls, Mabel Lukasiewicz, Annie Milosovic, Adaline Johnson, Ainsley Moore, Ava Janota, Emily Okrasinski, Maeve Smith, Alexandra Burda, Kaitlyn Minick, Skylar Shlepakov, Brooklyn Loman, Morgan Collins, Molly McGeever, Ayya Ramadani, Sophia Molina, Margot Joda, Olivia Hufford, Sana Kishta, Aaliyah Medina, Delaney Piencak, Kyla Kwiatek, Olivia Ally, Allison Guest, Ella Mrowca, Khaliaha Brown, Liliana Holmes and Liliana Darlak.
