By Ed Muniz-Photos by Lauren Gray
**Additional Photos are Available for Purchase at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p1013442193 **
ORLAND PARK— Wednesday Night Football League was on full display on September 23rd at Schussler Park. The evening of football would feature two games hosted by the Orland Park Pioneers as the Manhattan Patriots and Illinois junior Celtics paid a visit.
The opening game featured the Pioneers taking on the Manhattan Patriots in the Super lightweight division while the nightcap would see the varsity Pioneers take on the Jr. Celtics in a scrimmage game.
At super lightweight, the host Pioneers were looking for their first win of the season. Manhattan provided the perfect opportunity as the Pioneers matched up well with them. The Patriots are a new program in the River Valley Youth Football League.
After two 25-minute halves of play and a late game touchdown, the super lightweight Pioneers continued their winless season after falling 6-0 to the Patriots.
“We played a good game,” said Coach Paul Bertucci. “We had a fumble that went the wrong way. We had some good runs, we just stopped our momentum a little bit, fumbling a couple of time, but overall I thought the kids played well. Every week we are getting better, things are just not going our way, we are one play away from winning this game, so I think we are getting better. Dominic Dronzek stepped up, he had the pick and did really well today. I also thought Ben Poore did well at quarterback and so did our line, they blocked well tonight. We played well today.”
The opening half featured a lot of defensive play as both offenses couldn’t establish much. Each team presented the opposing offense with swarming defenders getting to the ball quick and making stops.
For the Pioneers offense getting snaps off seemed to be the most difficult task. The exchange between the center and quarterback saw several fumbles or mishandled snaps ending plays before they even began. When they did get snapped off, Manhattan’s defense limited the Pioneers to short yardage throughout the first half.
For the most part The Pioneers first half play was around midfield. The offense couldn’t get around the edge or penetrate through the middle of the Patriot defense.
The difficulties of the offense, was in total contrast to the play of the Pioneers defense. Several players showed exceptional abilities to get to the ball and make tackles. Poore, Karter Pipkin, Jack Berucci and Droznec were the Pioneers heading the defense.
The Pioneers defense created turnovers as well. with John Ordman coming up with a fumble and Dronzek picking off a Patriot pass for the interception. The team was also causing the Patriots to mishandle the football other times.
Offensively, the Pioneers tried to establish a running game but were met nearly always at the point of attack and stopped at the line of scrimmage or after a short gain. Unfortunately, the difficulties with the exchange of snaps limited the offensive plays. Still the Pioneers kept trying, going to Pipkin, Kenan Ballouta, Stanley Bielawski and Ryker Tyrakowski on runs.
The first half went into the break a scoreless tie is neither team could establish much offense next to defensive play by each.
The second half saw the Pioneers open with the ball with the first 21 minutes mirroring of the first half as defensive play by both teams was key in keeping the game scoreless.
However, the Patriots managed to pull off a long run on a quarterback keeper around the right end, threatening to score. Once again the Pioneers came up big defensively. A hard tackle by Ryker Tyrakowski knocked the football loose form the Patriot runningback and was recovered by Bertucci to end the Patriots drive.
It wasn’t long before the Patriots had another opportunity after the Pioneers fumble two plays later which was recovered by the visitors.
Beginning at the Pioneers 29, The Patriots once again were running the ball and picking up yardage. Dronzek was doing all he could to prevent a score with several tackles. Also contributing grabbing solos themselves where Pipkin and Bielawski. Unfortunately for the Pioneers, the Patriots drove to 2-yardline and managed to dive into the endzone one play later for the first score of the game with just over four minutes remaining.
Although runs by Ballouta and Tyrakowski produced big chunks of yards for the Pioneers, time was not on their side as getting plays off uses up the clock at this level. One last attempt came up empty on fourth down, forcing the Pioneers to turnover the football on downs. The referees ran out the last remaining secondswhich gave Manhattan a 6-0 road win.
Dominic Dronzek was the most active Pioneers in this game. He plays both ways as an offensive lineman and a defensive standout. His contributions in this game was a reason the Pioneers had an excellent chance of earning a win. His game tally saw an interception and several tackles and assists. The Patriots found it difficult to run his way as he was too dominant and a sure stop.
“I did really well with my tackles and my interception,” said Dronzek. “I really like defense way more than offense because it’s just funner to tackle. I like making contact with other guys out there. The team needs to work harder, we are at 95%, we need 5% more to get that win. We are almost there. I think we are getting better every game. I think I need to work harder with my snaps too.”
Offnsively, the most productive Pioneer was Ryker Tyrakowski. Fleet afoot, Ryker can be elusive because of his natural running abilities also because his quckness and ability to cut. However, he did have a problem holding on to the ball, fumbling a couple of times.
“I fumbled because they kept ripping the ball out a couple of times,” said Ryker. ” I ran the ball a lot and I did pretty good but it was hard when guys kept trying to rip the ball away. I can get better running harder, run faster. We try to run a lot outside because we say the middle is a dangerous spot. I think that’s where I lost the ball so I try to stay outside. We couldnt get the snaps off so we couldnt run as good as we can. I just need to hold onto the ball and work on my speed so does the team.”
Other Pioneers giving their all or supporting those playing included Elias Joda, Matt O’Shea, Lakye Peniche, Jax Thomas, Max Kalker, Logan Biskup, Anthony Comiskey, Kirk Valach, Scooby Ballouta, Lachlan Glassner, Liam McNulty, Liam Serafin, Mahmoud Minnawi, HUdson Glassner, Benjamn Ally, Nicholas Smurzynski, Vinny LaPapa, Oliver Skwara, Jamal Jedreal, Abdallah Hasan, Shane McDermott, Zakariya Jaber, ibreel Morrar, Tyler Duchovitz and Michael Maurella.
