By Ed Muniz-Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
**Additional Photos are available for purchase at justallsports.zenfolio.com/2022pioneers.**
The Wednesday Night Football League concluded its Championship games on October 19.
Since its inception in 2016, the WNFL has been a huge success.
Begun by John Stefanos, the then President of the Orland Park Pioneers, also the person who came up with the idea, the participation and growth has exceeded expectations.
Stefanos along with Dan Hagan of Homer and Don Largen of the Jr Warriors formed the WNFL which gave football players the chance to gain experience in game situations and develop at a pace against others of similar development that they might not ever have during regular scheduled River Valley Youth Football League games.
Initially, only the Lightweight and Junior Varsity levels had championships due to the number of teams participating.
Now in its seventh season, Championship games are decided in all four levels, with numerous teams at each level.
On tap were two games at two different locations.
The Super Lightweights and the Lightweights would play at Lincoln-Way West HS while the JV and Varsity levels would head to Lincoln-Way Central.
The Super Lightweights had the Orland Park Pioneers vying for their second consecutive Championship in that division facing the Frankfort Falcons. Lightweight had the New Lenox Jr. Warriors matched up against the New Lenox Jr. Knights.
JV saw the New Lenox Jr. Knights also taking on the New Lenox Jr. Warriors while the Varsity followed with the Frankfort Square Wildcats taking on the Frankfort Falcons.
Two Game at 6:30 and two at 7:30 at each location.
On a brisk cold evening, the Super Lightweight Championship was up for grabs. The Pioneers and Falcons had not played each other previously during the season, so this would be a game of the unknown.
The Pioneers were veterans of this Championship after winning the 2021 title, so repeating as Champions was within sight, which would be lauded as quite an accomplishment.
Using a controlled running attack with a sprinkling of passing attempts, along with a dominant defense, the Pioneers were too much for the Falcons and once again hoisted the Golden Football Championship Trophy, winning 19-0, earning Back-To-Back Championships!
“What really, really helped was putting these kids in the right spots early on so they could work on it all season, and this is the result,” said Head Coach Al Krokos. “I think the coaching staff we have is where its starts for our kids, a lot of these kids are new; they just like to be out there.”
What also helped was player experience. The Pioneers featured nine players who were in their third year of playing. Having that was instrumental for new commers to feed off of.
This is a team that gets along well, they play and practice together as a cohesive unit so coaching turns out to be easier as the learning of the game and teachings by Krokos and coaching staff are absorb.
“Today, I said it all along, Defense, Defense, Defense! We played it well, they stayed in the gaps and stayed in their lanes. Offensively, picking up blocks, downfield blocking, double teaming when we needed them to and our running-backs hitting the holes probably better than they have all season, that was huge for us.”
The Pioneers scored on their opening possession. Using a running attack of Michael Ordman, Adam Krokos, Austin Flynn and Quarterback Jason Erwin, the Pioneers went on a 13-play drive using all but 11-seconds of the first quarter during their initial drive.
Erwin was key. It seemed every time the Pioneers needed yards to maintain their drive, he would come up with them, especially on fourth-down.
He called his own number and romped around right-end going 12 yards for the touchdown. Ordman added the point-after, giving the Pioneers a 7-0 lead after one quarter.
All season, this Pioneer unit has specialized in shutting down opponent offenses.
On the Falcons first possession, the Pioneer defense led by Jason Erwin, Jude Morrar, Ordman, Ellis Hubbard and Flynn limited the Falcons to just five plays, forcing a turnover-on-downs.
Their second possession, the Pioneers ran off six-plays but stalled at the Falcon 29 and they too gave up the ball on downs.
Again, Erwin and Flynn stopped the Falcons as the second quarter ended at halftime with the Pioneers maintaining a 7-0 lead.
Opening the second half, the Falcons quickly shot themselves in their foot, fumbling the ball on a run which was recovered by Hubbard for the Pioneers.
Twice as it turned out, the Pioneers benefited from the Falcons miscues in the second half.
The Initial fumble led to the Pioneers increasing their lead just five-plays later when Jason Erwin found a wide-open Adam Krokos on the 13-yard touchdown pass and a 13-0 advantage.
By now, the momentum was all on the Pioneers side and the defense was playing stellar.
On the very next play by the Falcons, a run headed left was interrupted abruptly by Thomas Sutter who met the Falcons runner and jarred the football loose which was recovered by Jason Erwin.
The Pioneers proceed to attack the Falcon defense via their running attack. Ordman, Adam Krokos, Jason Erwin, Blake Schuler and Flynn all pushed towards the end-zone picking up 3-5 yards on every run.
Eventually, the Pioneers found themselves at the Falcon 1-yard-line and busted in for the touchdown when Adam Krokos scored his second touchdown of the game from a yard out with about nine-minutes to play.
“I was thinking that maybe I would drop it, but nope, I caught it and got a touchdown,” said Adam. The corner blitzed on that play and that’s why I was wide open. My second touchdown I got the handoff and just ran hard for the touchdown, it was kinda easy.”
The 19-0 Pioneer lead was insurmountable at that point and the Falcons played that way. They struggled to get plays off frustrating their coaches. As the game wore on, the Pioneers became more dominant while the Falcons simply couldn’t match the Pioneers efforts.
Again, the Pioneers shut down the Falcons on four plays as the clock ticked away. On three consecutive plays, the Pioneer defense limited the Falcons to negative yards. Noah Cordoba, Morrar and Yousef Yasin each made tackles in the Falcon backfield with Jason Erwin closing the Falcons last opportunity.
A Five-yard run by Gavin Garrity would finish the Championship game and give the Super Lightweight Pioneers their second consecutive WNFL Championship.
The Pioneers truly used defense as their calling-card and leading from the line was Jude Morrar, who stood out in this game. His constant pressure and ability to disrupt plays and make tackles for losses, displayed his prowess.
“They weren’t really blocking too good so all I did was pushed as hard as I could and ran as fast as I could to hit them and make a tackle,” said Morrar. “I really like defense because that’s where you really get to tackle, on offense you only get to block, and I like tackling guys. I practice every day to get better.”
Offensively, Quarterback Jason Erwin was spectacular. His ability to get plays off, know the plays and lead the offense, plus being clutch in big situation, truly showed his leadership in this game.
“It was hard when they were rushing when I’m trying to get the plays off, but it was easy running the ball but being quarterback is hard too cuz you sometimes fumble the ball,” said Jason.
“A lot of people block for me when I make those long runs, it looks easy cuz it is, but it’s sometimes hard too if you don’t get the blocking, but I do a lot. I think our team was really good.”
Pioneer President Jenny Czerwonka added.
“It feels awesome to win another WNFL Championship, this is a really great team. They’re young and they’re the future of our program. They have really good chemistry; they practice hard and have great coaching.”
Other Pioneers contributing on the field and cheering their teammates on include Jack Dubois, Taylan and Lucca Morandi, Zane Judeh, Luke Krokos, Cole Baldridge, Zach Ballouta, Jase Enstrom, Vinnie Spizzirri, Wyatt Kipper, Cayden Caldwell, Carter Erwin, Michael O’Connor, Chris Medina Jr., Shane Sternberg, Andrew Richardson, Jordan Ulaszek, Arthur and Rayder Slabenak, Anthony LaPapa, Christian Paulson, Scott Gumeinny, Frank Wilkinson, Laith Hammami, Cody Godlewski, Nick Pomonis, James Okrasubski, Nolan Burke, Aaron McCarthy, Thomas Richardson, Nathan Campos, Owen Garrity and Max Bauer.
