By Bobby Narang- Photos by Laura Stubbs
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ORLAND PARK – With kickoff scheduled for noon on Sunday, the Orland Park Pioneers of the Super Lightweights experienced a taste of the NFL life.
National Football League games, known as the NFL, normally start the first slate of games at noon on Sunday.
Since the Pioneers’ Lightweights had a scheduling quirk that had them play the first game on Sunday at 10 a.m., the youngest group of football players played the second game.
It was bad news for the Pioneers. A week after playing a grueling four-overtime game and losing to H-F United on a steaming morning, the Pioneers experienced a different batch of weather that affected their performance – the driving rain.
For several minutes of Sunday’s game, the rain was coming down hard, hindering the game with both teams struggling to push the ball up the field because of the wet football.
The New Lenox Jr. Knights scored a touchdown in three of the four quarters, rode a stingy defense and capitalized on turnovers for a 19-0 victory over the Orland Park Pioneers at Sandburg High School on Sunday, September 22.
After the game, Orland Park Pioneers coach Pat Richardson pushed his players, all sitting in the covered shed underneath the bowels of the main grandstand, to work harder to eliminate mistakes and be a better version of themselves.
The entire coaching staff stressed to the young team to commit fully with their effort and to pay attention throughout the four quarters.
“It was tough conditions today,” Richardson said. “We couldn’t get the snap off which led to a lot of turnovers. We have to coach them better. We’re missing a lot of physicality, but we have to get it out of them. Today was tough, for all of them. It was a grind. We will get them there. They are good kids. We play Wednesday and Saturday again. We keep telling them that in football you are either the hammer or the nail. It’s not very fun being the nail. Until they decide, we will keep coaching them. That decision is up to them. We will do a better job of coaching them.”
Sean Kikilas ran the ball twice for the offense but made his biggest contribution at defensive end to keep his team in the game. The defense played extremely tough and together holding the team within a few scores despite being tired, wet and frustrated because they were on the field a lot of possession time because of the high number of turnovers on offense.
“I was hoping my team would pick it up and score a touchdown to get into the game, but the other team wanted to win a little bit more than us,” Kikilas said. “It was hard to play in the rain because there was water in my shoes. I learned a lot today because it was a tough game the rain, just not to never give up and play hard the whole game even if it was tough.”
Luke Bosack was a solid player at running back and linebacker for the Pioneers. The offense finished with just under 50 yards of total offense, but Bosack delivered some key plays on defense. He made a jarring hit on the first play of the third quarter that impressed the crowd. He inspired his teammates with his toughness and ability to fight the elements on defense.
“We did pretty good playing in the rain, blasting our butts off,” Bosack said. “I feel like we could’ve found a tiny bit more, like our coach told us as little boys the only two things we could control are attitude and effort. Hopefully, it won’t rain next game. We need to get out of this three-game losing slump. We have to get back on track.”
Gavin Garrity completed two passes for 19 yards and battled a tough defensive by the visiting team for 11 yards rushing. Garrity showed his heart and determination by not letting the fumbles, the rain and even the visiting team’s impressive defense stop him from trying to get his team into the end zone. His motivation was evident by his encouragement to his team and not letting any mistakes bring him down, even when he nominated a teammate for a post-game award. He also took a few big hits from the New Lenox defense, but kept on getting up to pilot the offense.
Garrity also made his mark on defense, bringing down a runner for a three-yard loss with 6:31 remaining in the third quarter.
It wasn’t all bad news for the Super Lightweights. In the fifth quarter game, Sean Johnson looked like Saquon Barkley with his speed and power running. He broke loose for a long touchdown run in the game, racing along the sidelines in the light rain while the Lightweights’ football team watched from the end zone in excitement. Johnson added another lengthy run to highlight his outstanding fifth-quarter effort.
“I tried to break through the tackles and run full speed and not to look behind me,” Johnson said. “It felt really good to get that touchdown.”
His fifth-quarter teammate, Henry Wade, did a great job at quarterback and on defense by helping his team.
“I felt really good today,” Wade said. “(Johnson) did a nice job running the ball for us. I was also happy to make a lot of tackles and help our team.”
The 43-player Lightweights’ roster also includes Peyton Barbee, JJ Abuzir, Nate Abbs, Taylan Morandi, Moody Jaber, Luke Bosack, Quinn McCarthy, Sean Kikilas, Zachariah Ballouta, Wyatt Kipper, Suhaib Ballouta, Xyan Bell, Lawson Capps, Martin Groark, Brady Higgins, Zakariya Jaber, Alex Kopec, CJ Hufford, Shane Sternberg, Luke Holoubek, Sean Johnson, Bennett Kersten, Vinny LaPapa, Michael Maurella, Michael Patterson, Gavin Garrity, Michael Ramos, Lorcan Redmond, Arthur Slabenak, Henry Wade, Paxton Leithleiter, Ian Frost, Jonathan Mizera, Ammar Abdelmuti, William Jordan, Michael Sweis, Jordy Kolodziej, Thomas Richardson, Luke McDoniel, Paul Rylan Davies, Dominic Maurella and Amari Adigun.
The Orland Park Pioneers’ Super Lightweights cheerleaders also earned a trip to state, celebrating their achievement with a gifted showing on Sunday. The team consists of Sofie Annerino, Nora Astor, Aleena Badwan, Lea Barbee, Lucy Bohanek, Stella Bristow, Gianna Bryk, Evelyn Byrne, Charlotte Dorigan, Zoey France, Normandy Golden, Sadie Griffin, Stella Guerrero, Alaina Holoubek, Callie Juarez-Radovanovic, Eleanor Koehn, Kennedy Krokos, Siena Lang, Mia Mizera, Savannah Molina, Hazel Nicholas, Grace Poore, Falyn Simon and Isla Zelensek
