By Ed Muniz- Photos by Lauren Gray
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ORLAND PARK- The Wednesday Night Football League concluded its season with its Championship games at all four levels on October 16.
After Semi-Finals the week earlier, only eight teams were left vying for a league Championship.
Among those teams was Coach Pat Richardson’s Super Lightweight Pioneers.
For several seasons, the Pioneers have been a staple at this level in WNFL Championships and here they were again looking to add to their tally of Golden Football trophies, but they’d have to do it against a formidable Tinley Park Bulldogs team.
A close, evenly matched game saw one point separate the two combatants at halftime, but big plays and key mistakes saw the Bulldogs overcome a second half deficit and pull away while silencing the home crowd of Schussler Park with the 19-7 Championship win.
“They fought, that’s all we can say, our boys fought,” said Coach Richardson. “We played a really good team and never backed down from them. They got a couple good plays off and we didn’t make a few stops and that was the difference, that’s all it is.”
“I think it could have been a little bit of nerves, but they have very good players too. They were quick, big and strong and again, all the credit to Tinley (Park) because they played a great game but our guys gave it everything they had and I can’t be more proud of them.”
A quick three and out started the game for the Pioneers but they quickly got the ball back to their offense with a fumble recovery by Amari Adigun on the Bulldogs very first try.
With a short field, the Pioneers used three straight runs by Zachariah Ballouta and a Bulldog penalty to move the ball closer to the Tinley Park endzone. Two runs later, saw Peyton Barbee reach paydirt on a scamper around the left edge and streak 23 yards for the opening score.
Quarterback Thomas Richardson connected with his receiver for the added point-after for a 7-0 lead.
The Bulldogs responded soon after. A pair of tackles by Zach Ballouta and Luke McDoniel briefly stalled Tinley Park but from their own 29-yard line, a perfect reverse call had every Pioneer bite on the original path which opened up the opposite side for a free 71-yard sprint to the endzone.
The Bulldogs failed on the conversion try and trailed the Pioneers 7-6 headed into quarter two.
The Pioneers did very little on their next series offensively and were forced to punt after three tries.
Back on defense, the Pioneers limited the Bulldogs as well. A pair of tackles by Sean Johnson and tackles by McDoniel and a sack by Lawson Capps also forced the Bulldogs to quickly punt.
The first half ended after the Pioneers again punted back to the Bulldogs, struggling to get past the quick pursuit of the Bulldogs defense while also having the Pioneers defense apply tackles by Jonathan Mizera, McDoniel and Johnson.
The Pioneers took a 7-6 lead into half.
These WNFL games are quick as the clock stops stops only on time outs and injuries. So holding on to leads can make the difference between winning and losing because of the clock constantly ticking away.
The Pioneers came up with a big break early in quarter three when Johnson recovered another Bulldogs fumble.
Unfortunately for the Pioneers, the Bulldogs defense stepped up its game and gave next to nothing to the Pioneers offense, forcing another Orland Park punt.
The Pioneers were finding getting to the edge a difficult task. All season they managed to get outside and produce big runs. In this game, the Pioneers were caught prior to getting outside by a quick Tinley Park defense nearly on every try to the edges.
After the Pioneers punt, the Bulldogs would take the lead on a 48-yard touchdown run that saw several miss tackles. With the added point-after, the Bulldogs led 13-7.
Prior to the touchdown, the Pioneers did grab tackles by Johnson, Zach Ballouta and Wyatt Kipper.
A key fumble on the very next Pioneers try would come back to hurt them. A lost fumble turned into more points for the Bulldogs with a drive that moved into the final quarter.
Jordy Kolodziej, Zacj Ballouta and Martin Groark did all they could to stop the Bulldogs with their tackles, but it wasn’t enough. The Bulldogs added another score five plays into the fourth quarter.
After driving to the Pioneers 1-yard line, a plunge into the endzone increased the Tinley Park advantage to 19-7.
The Pioneers were trying to get back in the game when Thomas Richardson found Kolodziej for 14 yards via the pass and Barbee grabbed 16 yards on a run but that came to a halt when the Pioneers coughed up the football and was recovered by the visitors.
The Pioneers last offensive series showed no matter the time left or the score, they were going to continue giving their all. An 8-yard run by Zach Ballouta and a 30-yard run by Barbee showed that. But a fumble on their last try would end the game and give the Bulldogs a 19-7 Championship win.
An emotional Thomas Richardson added, “It was hard getting all the passes and runs off. They were getting outside before our guys did so we couldn’t run the ball that way, it’s just the way it went today. They were just a little too fast for us, they broke a lot of tackles too. We did our best, but we need to wrap up more. It hurts to lose this game because you did all the hard work to get here and in the game and you lose.”
Providing the only Pioneers score and leading the team in yards was soft-spoken Peyton Barbee. He gave his usual effort but at times was beaten to the punch and only saw a spattering of his capabilities due to the heavy pursuit of the Bulldogs defense.
“I couldn’t get to the outside mostly because I need to improve on my speed,” said Barbee. “I think flipping the ball to me took too long. I think I could take the handoff better. I need to work harder. The best part of our team is we all work hard. I like playing with these guys and I will next year too.
Other Pioneers adding to the efforts in the game or on the sideline included JJ Abuzir, Nate Abbs, Taylor Morandi, Moody and Zakariya Jaber, Luke Bosack, Sean Kikilas, Xyan Bell, Suhaib Ballouta, Brady Higgins, Alex Kopec, CJ Hufford, Shane Sternberg, Luke Holoubek, Bennett Kersten, Vinny LaPapa, Michael and Dominic Maurella, Michael Patterson, Gavin Garrity, Michael Ramos,Lorcan Redmond, Arthur Slabenak, Henry Wade, Paxson Leithleiter, Ian Frost, Quinn McCarthy, Ammar Abdelmuti, William Jordan, Michael Sweis and Paul Rylan Davies
