By Bobby Narang- Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
** Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p171201194 **
ORLAND PARK— All signs pointed to a memorable season opener for the Orland Park Pioneers Super Lightweights football team on Sunday afternoon.
Unlike the previous week, which included a heavy mixture of rains and clouds, the first game of the 2026 season for the youth football program of the Orland Park Pioneers was an ideal day for football. With a sunny forecast for the four-game slate at Carl Sandburg High School, the SLW Pioneers opened the season with optimism for a strong run toward the playoffs.
Yet, the Homer Glen Stallions proved to be the better team in the opener, scoring an early touchdown to post a 27-0 victory over the Orland Park Pioneers.
Orland Park SLW coach Paul Bertucci said the opener was a good start for the season, motivating his teams to dial in for the rest of the season, including in practice this week.
“I think we had a lot of things that stood out, but we just have to clean up a few things,” Bertucci said. “We have to tighten up a few things. Scooby Ballouta played well, so did Liam McNulty on both sides of the ball, as did Tyler Duchovitz. I really liked the way he tackled. We just have to do better.”
“I think we are set up good for the rest of the season. This is good to get out of the way and we will play better and be ready. Our linebackers stepped up, like Ben Poore and Mahmoud Hinnawi all came into play and did a good job. We saw a lot of good plays and a lot of good players out there. We just have to clean up our tackling and a few little things and we will be ready for next week.”
The Pioneers failed to score a touchdown, but they displayed heart, character and a strong will throughout the long game. Ballouta was one of the standouts all game for the Pioneers, running the ball strong and racking up double-digits in tackles. He was all over the field, keeping his team in the game with precision tackle. On offense, Ballouta had a 20-yard run early in the game on a drive that ended with a punt.
Down 7-0, Vinny LaPapa saved a touchdown with a tackle to stop a long gain late in the first half. On the same drive, Duchovitz added a key stop at the 11-yard line.
Defensively, Ballouta had a stellar tackle on Homer Glen’s third possession of the game, which was highlighted by a stop at OP’s 1-yard line.
“I just tried to explode on defense and wrap them up,” Ballouta said. “I just tried to blast through the defense. I liked our goal-line stand. I was happy to get that stop.”
Trailing 20-0 at halftime, the Pioneers leaned on Ballouta to carry the defense. He joined forced with LaPapa for a key stop early in the third quarter. Ballouta added another TD saving tackle along the sidelines in the third quarter. McNulty tallied back-to-back tackles later in the drive to keep the visiting team from finding the end zone.
Late in the fourth quarter, Michael Maurella added to his highlight reel with a tackle for a five-yard loss with 2:23 left.
On the offensive side, the Pioneers struggled gaining yards against Homer Glen’s stout defense. The Pioneers had a solid run by Maurella in the second half on their first drive, but they couldn’t piece together positive plays to keep the chains moving all game.
The fifth-quarter game, though, did showcase some of the depth of the program. Poore recovered a fumble in the game and also played quarterback. Karter Pipkin was a standout in the game, adding two 10-plus yard runs, while John Ordman had a big run of 15 yards.
Orland Park offensive lineman/defensive lineman Tyler Duchovitz was an unsung star in the game, helping the team stay in the game with his strong play on defense and adding several key blocks on offense.
“I played really good at end today and felt it was a good day,” Duchovitz said. “I liked playing and even though we didn’t win today, we tried our hardest. I was happy to get those two tackles in a row.”
Other Pioneers giving their all and contributing to the efforts include Jack Bertucci, Elias Joda, Matthew O’Shea, Stan Bielawski, Layke Peniche, Jax Thomas, Logan Biskup, Ryker Tyrakowski, John Ordman, Anthony Comiskey, Kirk Valach, Lachlan Glassner, Liam Serafin, Dominic Dronzek, Hudson Glassner, Ben Ally, Nicholas Smurzynski, Oliver Skwara, Kenan Ballouta, Jamal Jebreal, Abdallah Hasan, Shane McDermott, Zak Jaber and Jibreel Morrar.
The SLW Orland Park Pioneer cheerleading team helped keep the fans in a positive mood in the opener. The team consists of Olivia Raggio, Morgan Griffin, 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, Maeve Zelensek, Mila Nikolic, Mia Morandi, Desiree Wilkie, Emery Christensen, Emma Podoreski, Emma Grambozov, Sarah Petraitis, Gabriela Rysiewicz and Maice Hinnawi.
