By Bobby Narang- Photos by Renee Kaspar
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TINLEY PARK— The Orland Park Super Lightweights faced an imposing task on Sunday morning.
As the first of four games against the host Frankfort Square Wildcats, the Pioneers were playing in enemy territory – and a grass field.
More importantly, the Pioneers were dealing with a big Homecoming crowd which was clamoring for an impressive victory to start the power-packed day of youth football for the Wildcats. All along the side of the football field were make-shift tents, filled with Frankfort Square fans. Several tents were full of food and drinks, while many others had couches and a television set to show the pregame of the Chicago Bears season opener against the Carolina Panthers.
It was a festive football atmosphere.
The Pioneers opened the game on a high note with a touchdown, but Frankfort Square reeled off 14 unanswered points to post a 14-6 victory at Walker Intermediate School in Tinley Park.
Orland Park coach Paul Bertucci said the team took a major stride by scoring their first touchdown of the season.
“We have to do a better job of finishing,” Bertucci said. “We had a nice touchdown in the fifth quarter by Kenan Ballouta and Liam (Ballouta) had a massive run and played well on defense all day in the (second) game. Liam holds down our defense. He’s the leader of the defense and is always all over the field.
“Our lines did well. We had a couple of passes put in today. The kids took a step in the right direction. The first drive was awesome. We came right out of the gates and stopped them on offense and had some big plays on offense.”
The Pioneers (0-4) made the home team sweat out the first quarter, scoring a touchdown for a 6-0 lead. Quarterback Liam McNulty did the bulk of the work on the drive, racing 56 yards on the second play from scrimmage to the 3-yard line. McNulty busted through the middle of the defense, darting away from numerous defenders to set up the first TD of the game.
“I found a gap and kept running the ball and got caught from a kid but I just managed to score,” McNulty said. “It was fun to score. The line blocked great and did their assignments.”
Two plays later, McNulty scored on a 1-yard QB sneak up the middle. The Pioneers defense managed to hold the home team to a quick possession but couldn’t capitalize on great field position following Suhaib Ballouta’s ong punt return to Frankfort Square’s 34-yard line.
Perhaps sensing a change in momentum, the Wildcats engineered a five-play, 62-yard scoring drive to take the lead at 7-6. Ballouta had two TD-saving tackles on the possession. In fact, Ballouta was all over the field in the four-quarter battle.
“I just tried to help us stop them from running,” Ballouta said. “The defense has to keep hustling. We didn’t stop playing hard all game. We had some good blocks on our touchdown.”
Vinny LaPapa had a 20-yard run on Orland Park’s third drive before the Wildcats settled down on defense and forced a punt right before halftime.
Michael Maurella stopped a late charge by Frankfort Square with a big tackle for a loss seconds before halftime. After the Wildcats scored a touchdown on their first possession of the second half to expand their lead to 14-6, the Pioneers struggled moving the ball on their next two times with the ball.
The Wildcats nearly added to their lead in the fourth quarter with a well-executed drive. McNulty had one of the best tackles of the game, shedding a blocker to get a five-yard loss on third down deep inside his own team’s territory. The Pioneers forced an incompletion on fourth down save the offense one final attempt to tie the game in the final minutes.
However, the Wildcats’ defense rose to the occasion and forced a fourth down and long, leading to short drive for the visitors following an unsuccessful fourth down run that ended the game. Tyler Duchovitz was a standout on defense, helping keep the game close by blowing up Frankfort Square’s offensive line with his strong penetration.
“I kept shedding my guy and shook him off me and the defense was good,” Duchovitz said. “The offense played great, but we just have to fix a few more things on offense.”
In the fifth quarter game, Ben Poore had a highlight-reel run and Kenan Ballouta notched a 27-yard touchdown and added a key tackle.
The Super Lightweights had an entire team contribution in the humid morning game: Elias Joda, Matthew O’Shea, Stanley Bielawski, Lakye Peniche, Jax Thomas, Max Kalker, Karter Pipkin, Logan Biskup, Ryker Tyrakowski, John Ordman, Anthony Comiskey, Kirk Valach, Lachlan Glassner, Liam Serafin, Mahmoud Hinnawi, Dominic Dronzek, Hudson Glassner, Benjmain Ally, Nicholas Smurzynski, Oliver Skwara, Jamal Jebreal, Abdallah Hasan, Shane McDermott, Zakariya Jaber and Jibreel Morrar.
The Super Lightweight Pioneers Cheerleaders were also in attendance creating a fun atmosphere along the sidelines and entertaining the fans at halftime. Thye included Maeve Zelenzek, Morgan Griffin, Emma Grambozov, Olivia Raggio, Addison Theres, Lanie Hermann, Molly LaPapa, Teagan Paluch, Gianna Cruz, Alannah Rossi, Nella Leithleiter, Lydia Babarskis, Kelsey O’Sullivan, Everly Wagner, Madelyn Heidemann, Maura Flanagan, Kaelyn Flanagan, Mila Nikolic, Mia Morandi, Desiree Wilkie, Emery Christensen, Emma Podoreski, Sarah Petraitis, Gabriela Rysiewicz and Maice Hinnawi.
