By Patrick Z McGavin- Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
** Additional Photos are Available at https://justallsports.zenfolio.com/p104548807 **
FLOSSMOOR— The good, bad and the beautiful all beautifully fused together, yielding elation and disappointment.
The Varsity of the Orland Park Pioneers watched how far they have come, and yet saw their dreams fade away.
Quarterback Hudson Doftert rolled left and threw a 32-yard pass down the left edge that receiver Cade Judeh won in a contest for the apparent touchdown. Judeh was called for offensive pass interference.
“I think maybe there was a little push off, but honestly not enough to be called a penalty,” Judeh said.
The Pioneers’ Super Bowl quest ended with the 16-0 quarterfinal loss to the New Lenox Jr. Warriors in River Valley Youth Football League playoffs at Homewood-Flossmoor on Sunday, November 1.
The Pioneers watched two touchdowns nullified by penalties in the fourth quarter.
“The play was clean, and I think if we scored that touchdown, we would have won the game,” Judeh said.
Moral victories are not what the Pioneers looked to achieve. After suffering a 30-0 regular-season loss against the Jr. Warriors, the team showed remarkable growth, composure and development.
The Jr. Warriors scored on a 13-yard quarterback scramble late in the second quarter. For practical reasons, it was a one-score game until the closing minutes.
The Pioneers had more first downs on the opening drive than they managed the entire previous game.
“We’re so much better as a team than we were during the first game,” Doftert said. “We put in the work to get better and we all just played really well together and worked as a team.”
The Pioneers grabbed the attention of the Jr. Warriors loud and clear on the opening possession after a 26-yard pass from Doftert to Anderson Matthews put them in the red zone.
New Lenox promptly called time out just to settle down and gather its forces. Tackle Nicholas Hertzog anchored an inspired offensive line.
“We had a completely different plan for this game,” Judeh said. “The coaches did a great job scouting and watching a lot of film.”
The only downside to the hot start was Doftert underthrowing Judeh on third down and having his pass intercepted in the end zone.
The Varsity was up to the challenge defensively in slowing down the skilled and talented playmakers of the Jr. Warriors.
Joseph McCann powered a charge from the defensive interior, and linebackers Nicholas Peisker, Daniel Ramirez and Judeh did a terrific job of shutting down running lanes.
The team forced a three-and-out on the first possession by the Jr. Warriors.
”We were all flying to the ball,” said Doftert, who also plays defensive back. We were playing with a lot of energy, and looking really good out there.”
It provided a stark lesson in how far the team has come.
“It’s really disappointing to not go farther, but what I’m going to take away is how much we’ve improved,” McCann said. “We prepared really well, and we were ready for their offense and figuring out their plays and having people on the outside to stop their backs.”
Defensive tackle Leonardo Luciano utilized his size to disrupt the inside running game of the Jr. Warriors.
“We had something like 20 new players on the team, and some of them literally never touched a football before,” Luciano said. “The guys who play on Wednesday Night, and the Fifth Quarter players, they did a great job of getting us ready to play this game.”
The other significant difference was health. The Pioneers were at nearly full strength for the first time this season. After missing seven weeks with a leg injury, Matthews showed out with brilliant play on both sides of the ball.
The only significant absence was two-way starter Noah Maslowiec. It suggested what might have been.
”I think this game really showed what we could do when we had a full strength team,” Matthews said. “Our leaders like Nick Peisker, Danny Ramirez, and Hudson, really got us hyped up at the start of the game.”
The Jr. Warriors scored with 2:13 to play in the second quarter for the 8-0 halftime lead.
The Pioneers were right there, displaying toughness, skill and some excellent playmaking of their own.
The team mounted another strong drive at the end of the third quarter, highlighted by a 26-yard Judeh circus-catch on the left edge.
Matthews forced a defensive pass interference call to once again threaten.
On the opening play of the fourth quarter, pandemonium broke out on the Pioneers’ sideline after the apparent touchdown pass.
“They beat us 30-0 that last game, but it was just 8-0 at halftime, and we knew they were a beatable team,” Judeh said. ”Some things didn’t go our way, and we couldn’t get the job done.”
The Varsity suffered a devastating loss on fourth down. Peisker took a pitch on the right flat, and looked to throw an option pass. He took a monster hit and was knocked out of the game.
The defense continued to show out, creating pressure off the edge and filling the gaps. McCann and Ramirez forced another punt.
Already pinned deep on their side, the Pioneers suffered backbreaking negative plays that resulted in a punt.
New Lenox worked the short field for its second touchdown with 2:10 remaining that effectively put the game away.
The Pioneers refused to go down, and played aggressively and tenaciously until the very end. Emblematic of that effort, Dylan Ahmer hit Matthews on a double-pass for another apparent touchdown.
The same official involved with the offensive pass interference call, despite being 45 yards from the play, called an infraction.
The score was nullified after the officials ruled the Pioneers threw two forward passes.
The performance had moments of brilliance and resilience. Fighting against the odds, the Pioneers showed what they were made of.
“It didn’t matter if they had Tom Brady out there, we came in with the mentality that we were the better team and we were going to win this game,” Judeh said. `
The postgame was emotional but not mournful or sad. The players had a lot to be proud of.
“No matter what, we worked hard, we never let our teammates down and we always kept our heads up,” Matthews said.
This was just the beginning, even if their careers with the Pioneers came to an official close.
“I’m going to remember all of my teammates and what a great time we had playing together,” Doftert said.
In the Fifth Quarter, the player known as Rocket scored two long touchdown runs.
“I feel like the Fifth Quarter really set the tempo for the entire game,” Rodney Vincent said. “If it goes well, we’re already in the mindset that you know we can win this game.”
The Varsity of the Orland Park Pioneers had many standout contributors. They were Maximus Streets-Pruitt, Rayan Ghabayen, Louai Suleiman, Zackary Salah, Vinny Ficaro, Mohammad Ashkar, Jude Daghlawi, Panos Kyros, John Sutter, Luke Tonra, Nolan Byrne, Dylan Enriquez, Aleksandar Tosev, Marquise McMorris, Jacob Hyla, Carter Peluso, Thomas Lynch, Karam Olyyan, Nick Mase, Muhammad Kassem, Aws Khalil, Edward Follis, Gavin Connors, Ryan Kenny, Daniel Malacina, Faris Hussein, Abdelkarem Shuaibi, Julian Mika, James Okrasinski, Nicholas Hertzog, Avery Vermilyea, Brian Curran and Issam Abulaba.
The cheerleaders were also an essential part of the game and brought style and passion to their routines. They were Gia Parisi, Brinley Laniosz, Charlotte Day, Leah Janota, Addison Meyers, Oliwia Burda, Violet Fino, Giulia Cangelosi, Natalie Brown, Aviana Briseno, Annabelle Briseno, Frankie Ficaro, Aubrey Baran, Natalie Kehoe, Ellyana Connors, Aviana Martinez, Keira Barrera, Annabelle Deloya, Brittney Blazys, Brooke Blazys, Kaelyn Albright, Luciana Rupp, Nora Velez, Giuliana Bertucci, Lily Hahn, Perla Boulus, Gabriela Alonso, Sonia Carlan, Hailey Camargo and Marguerite Ryan.
