Senior Wolverines Capture Title in Flag Bowl

By Ed Muniz- Photos by Morgan Gonzales

** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p369262759 **

The “Flag Bowl” championships were down to their last game of the day. Concluding the Mokena Flag Season would be the Unbeaten Wolverines taking on the Illini for the who enchilada.

In their Semi-final games, each team took different paths.

The Wolverines dominated their Hoosier opponents, winning handily by four scores but for the Illini, they were in a tough matchup with the Crimson Tide.

The Illini had to go into a double overtime to get to this championship.

Surviving and moving on is the formula for any tournament. Get through the opponent at hand and regroup for the next.

The Illini accomplished that and were in the Championship with hopes of unseating the unscathed Wolverines. A tall task for sure!

An unexpected tie after one half was a surprise to many after the offensive display the Wolverines had shown in their Semi-Final win.

Unfortunately for the Illini, good fortune eluded them in the second half as 35-second-half points propelled the Wolverines to their 49-21 Senior Division Flag Championship and a perfect Undefeated season with their tenth win of the year.

“I feel the first halves of both games today, we struggled a little bit, teams played with us, but we wore them out in the second half,” said Wolverine Head Coach Mike Sorensen. “I would say our defense was the main reason. Our thing this year was getting Pick Six, we had one every gave this year, we had two of them in each game today.”

“Sometimes we lose focus mainly because they’ve been winning a lot so it’s hard to sometimes keep them focused. I think sometimes you must have a team playing with you toe-to-toe and then you pick it up. It happened twice today.”

The Wolverines came out and jumped on the scoreboard right away, two pass completions by Quarterback Ardon Kim to receivers’ Evan Gawelczyk and Brendan McDonald went 30 and 10 yards respectively for the touchdown and a quick 7-0 lead.

The Illini couldn’t do much in their first offensive opportunity. After three downs, they gave up the ball on downs.

At this level, you have three plays to advance 10 yards. If you don’t, it’s a turnover on downs until you reach the 10-yard line, at that point you’re allowed four downs to try to score.

Ardon used another pass-play to advance the score to 14-0. His pass completion to his brother’ Rylan Kim reached the endzone.

Things looked grim for the Illini. As expected, the Wolverines were up early and in total control.

Instead of laying down to the favored, the Illini fought back. Switching quarterback back and forth in their next series of downs paid off.

Michael Malone and Griffin Cunningham each took snaps and both competed passes that moved the Illini downfield. Receptions by Charles Sleight and three to Evan Minarovic, including the 1-yard completion in the endzone, saw the Illini cut the lead to 14-7.

Scoring that touchdown inspired the Illini defense, three downs later, with stops and defending the pass by Cunningham and Alec Ruzich, the ball was back with their offense.

Two pass plays got the Illini close to tying the game. Cunningham first connected with Sleight for 9-yards then Malone found Cunningham for 16-yards. After an incomplete pass, Malone completed a pass to Bryce Becker, he made a nice cut inside and then ran into the endzone for the tying score.

The 14-14 score held up the remainder of the first half. The Illini were ecstatic while the Wolverines didn’t appear the least bit worried headed tied at halftime.

You sense that the Wolverines were about to turn up their entire game.

After three tries by the Illini which forced a turnover on downs, the Wolverines were about to make a statement on the next two plays.

Forst Ardon Kim made a nice pass to Kelechi Enyia, he eluded several attempts at his flags and galloped into the endzone on the 40-yard strike for the lead.

Quarter back Ardon Kim showed no panic playing quarterback. His calmness and ability to scan the field for the open man pays off more often than not.

“I usually focus on one side, if no one is open I look to the other side I scan the field,” said Ardon. “Reading the defense is the hardest thing to do as a quarterback. I usually try to find the strongest receivers. My defense is my weakness, I guess I need to be better at man-to-man defense.”

One play later, the Wolverines did what they’ve done all season, return an interception for a Pick Six. Rylan Kim stepped Infront of the Cunningham pass and returned it for the second touchdown in a matter of seconds.

“It’s too easy reading the quarterback, playing defense. I do get open a lot and I can read the quarterback pretty good.”

“I thought we were pretty good on defense, everyone played well and we nearly shut them down.”

Rylan stated he is looking to get the ball every play.

Rylan concludes his football career as he wants to concentrate on basketball all year long.

His coach stated he was the best player in the league for the last three years. Rylan emphatically agreed with his coach. “He’s Right.” said a modest Kim.

The Wolverines now led 28-14, doubling up the Illini just like that to begin the second half.

The Illini were trying to get back in the game and rattled off five straight plays moving closer to scoring, but like before, an error would turn around to kill the drive and increase the Wolverine lead.

After driving to the 16-yardline, the Illini pass attempt was again picked off. Enyia snagged the intended pass and returned it for another Pick Six, increasing the Wolverines lead to 35-14.

“Catching the ball today was my best aspect of my game,” said Enyia.” I could have read the defense better though. I play using natural ability and react once I see where the play is headed. I have to get better at reading routes, sometimes I get burnt over the top playing defense. I thought all year we did great as a team.”

Down three scores, the Illini didn’t fold. They went back to what works for them and managed to score again after a 6-play-drive ended with a Cunningham toss to Joshua Kroll for the 17-yard touchdown and closing to 35-21.

Ardon Kim and his Wolverine teammates just kept playing, doing what is routine to them.

A 30-yard pass was received by Jonah Sloane then followed up by a 10-yard pass for a touchdown by Rylan Kim.

After an interception by Sloane just one play after the score, the Wolverines again found the endzone. This time Ardon’s pass was hauled in by Sloane as he cut across the field, he hit the sidelines and scored from 40-yards out for the final tally of the game.

The game concluded immediately after the touchdown, giving the Senior Flag Title to the Wolverines with their impressive 49-21 win.

Other players contributing to their teams for the Illini were Elijah Moreno, Austin Palacios and Noah Schutt.

 The Wolverines also had contributions from Shawn Erikson, Sejin Bai, Zak Zayed and Brady Sorensen.