By Pat McGavin- Photos by Lauren Gray
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FLOSSMOOR— Satisfaction delayed is not the same thing as being denied.
Every member of the Orland Park Pioneers Super Lightweights reveled in the joy and beauty of doing something new.
“We had more practice time coming into this game, and we worked on the running plays,” running back Ryker Tyrakowski said. “We scored those two touchdowns, and that turned out to be the game.”
Nicholas Smurzynski and Karter Pipkin broke off big touchdown runs for the galvanizing 12-6 comeback victory over HF United in Wednesday Night Football League action at Homewood-Flossmoor High School on October 7.
The victory was the first at any level this season for the Super Lightweights, who were coming off their best game of the season Sunday in a 19-7 loss against Mt. Greenwood Colts.
With no chance of making the WNFL playoffs, the Pioneers had one final opportunity to secure their magical first victory.
Pipkin created the game-winning 38-yard touchdown run and also made a huge tackle on fourth down that denied the final scoring threat by HF United.
“I saw the runner, and I knew I had to get him to the ground,” Pipkin said. “I told my mind this was our last game, and I had to make this tackle.”
The first half was scoreless. The stirrings of a developing offense were plainly on view. After a slow start, the Pioneers started to find their groove late in the first half.
Quarterback Ben Poore did a great job of orchestrating the attack. Tyrakowski and Pipkin both ripped off big runs. The only thing that hampered the team was the dwindling time clock. Tyrakowski gave a signal of things to come with a 22-yard run on the final play of the first half.
“The linemen did a great job of blocking, and we had great snaps throughout the whole game,” Tyrakowski said.
Furthermore, the defense was active and engaged. Oliver Skwara was excellent on the edge, creating pressure and repeatedly getting into the HF backfield.
Jibreel Morrar, who was excellent Sunday in the Fifth Quarter, continued to impress with open-field tackling. He made a couple of daring plays running to the sideline to stop the athletic HF running backs.
What made the victory all the more enriching was how the Pioneers overcame adversity and setbacks along the way.
“They’re called comebacks for a reason,” Tyrakowski said. “They scored, and then we had to find a way to get back into the game.”
Victory appeared far less certain after an HF running back, reversing field and breaking tackles, scored on a 58-yard run on the third play of the second half. The Pioneers denied any further damage by stopping the conversion point.
Then the Super Lightweights went to work, with the catalyst being Pipkin, who broke free around the left edge for a 25-yard gain.
“I’d say my running style is pretty good,” Pipkin said. “I like to cut up and sometimes I like to get on the outside. I also like to go up the middle when it’s open.”
Fittingly, Smurzynski cleared the final mountaintop. He wears No. 39, and that is also the number of yards he dashed around the right edge for the game-tying touchdown with 17 minutes remaining.
“I was supposed to run all the way to the right side,” he said. “I’m fast, and I like to get outside whenever I can. “I just try to find out where the hole is.”
A penalty forced a long conversion that stopped. Even so, the momentum decisively switched, and a new game was here. If the game is the ultimate expression of family, Jack Bertucci found himself in the right place at the perfect time.
He was not an innocent bystander. He made things happen.
The son of coach Paul Bertucci, Jack broke through the HF line and alertly jumped on a loose ball for the crucial turnover.
“I made him fumble, and then I got the ball and we back out on offense,” Jack Bertucci said. “They had the one long run, but we played great tonight. We kept on getting tackles, and we were able to get into the backfield.”
Pipkin needed just one play to get the Pioneers on the right side of the scoreboard. He found a seam in the line and broke around the right edge untouched.
He ran 38 yards for the game-winning touchdown.
“We were really hyped after getting the fumble recovery,” he said. “We know how to get ready, and I just made a touchdown.”
Tight end Dominic Dronzek celebrated the outstanding play of the interior line that created the openings for the different backs. He also gained 10 yards on an end round.
“They blocked, and they led our team to a win,” he said.
Now the focus shifted to the defense to put together one final statement, and they delivered.
Dronzek, who also plays middle linebacker, was active at the point of attack and provided the necessary support for Skwara and Morrar.
“So I just ran as hard as I could and made the tackles,” Skwara said. “The defense was fired up after the offense had those two scores. We really pushed it.”
Morrar made a great diving tackle that denied a potentially huge run by HF United. That set the stage for Pipkin’s dramatic tackle that forced the change of possession on downs.
HF used its allotment of time outs to try and create one final opportunity on offense.
Poore coaxed an encroachment penalty against HF with a hard count. Smurzynski put the game on ice with two huge runs, beginning with an 18-yard burst.
On fourth and long, he broke around the right edge for a 12-yard game, igniting a jubilant sideline.
“They were trying to tackle me, and I missed the tackles and I just kept running as hard as I could,” he said.
The Super Lightweights had many standout contributors, on and off the field. The first-team players also dressed to show support. They were Elias Joda, Matthew O’Shea, Stanley Bielawski, Lakye Peniche, Jax Thomas, Max Kalker, Logan Biskup, John Ordman, Anthony Comiskey, Kirk Valach, Suhaib Ballouta, Lachlan Glassner, Liam McNulty, Liam Serafin, Mahmoud Hinnawi, Hudson Glassner, Benjmain Ally, Vinny LaPapa, Kenan Ballouta, Jamal Jebreal, Abdallah Hasan, Shane McDermott, Zakariya Jaber, Jibreel Morrar, Tyler Duchovitz and Michael Maurella.
