By Ed Muniz-Photos by Renee Kaspar
**Additional Photos are available for purchase at justallsports.zenfolio.com/2022pioneers.**
Brother Rice High School was the site of a clash between two highly skilled Varsity football teams.
Visiting the Mt Greenwood Colts were the Orland Park Pioneers. Each team came in unbeaten.
The Pioneers are a team of cohesiveness. This is a team who have been together for several years. They know each other’s tendencies and what each will do in certain situations.
This group has been to three straight championship games and last season won the title at the Junior Varsity level.
Simply put, this is a team that wins a lot with talented players.
Mt. Greenwood is a big team! They are a powerhouse that don’t mind running you over. They are aggressive and will pound the ball at you until they reach the endzone. Defensively, you’ll feel each tackle.
The Colts play to win and give their all each play.
This game saw the finesse, speed and experience of the Pioneers overcome the smash-mouth style of the Colt’s that gave the Pioneers a 30-12 win.
“It does come down to what our line is doing for us, for our runners, for our quarterback, for the kids that get the ball,” said Pioneers Head Coach Todd Shelton.
“Our line is executing, and I see them getting better and better through the year. Every week we want to get better, that’s our goal, our motto.”
Shelton likes where the team is headed but still felt improvement was needed.
“I still feel we need to be more fluid and need to be quicker coming off the ball, things are working just enough, but I want us to be better from tackle to tackle. That team we faced was huge, good team.”
Colt’s Head Coach Joe Tagler thought his team played well but didn’t help themselves.
“I think our kids got down on themselves after we trailed by eight. We have a lot of skilled players, a lot of athletes, we’re big but we had a lot of mistakes. We gave up a few big plays and we didn’t contain on the outside for sure.”
“I think our defense played well, after that big first play, the rest of the first half we played better. Our backfield, our linebackers all played well. I know we are going to see these guys in the playoffs so it’s about making adjustments and learning from our mistakes.”
The Pioneers took an 8-0 lead right away. On their very first play. A toss to Quinn Durkin went around left end, with his speed he got to the edge and accelerated quickly past the Colt’s defense, scoring the 69-yard touchdown. Jack “Super Toe” Clifton converted the kick.
The Colts were quite surprised falling behind so quickly, but countered with a controlled, in-your-face drive.
Using their huge tandem backfield of Liam Kirchhardt and Jonathan Gray, they picked up chunks of yard on each run. Colt’s quarterback Able Rodriguez used his weapons to pound the ball and move upfield.
Throw in the speed of running-back Braden Tagler, the Pioneers were needing multiple defenders to make a stop.
It was impressive watching the Colt’s power their way down field while the Pioneers were trying to figure out what to do for a stop.
Briggs Corona has good size playing defensive line, but it took more than him to bring down the Colt’s power backs.
Eventually the Colt’s drove to the Pioneer 10-yard-line needing a yard to maintain their drive. On fourth down they went to their well again only this time Corona was ready and made the stop just inches from the first down.
The big stop now gave the Pioneers the confidence defensively and used it to their advantage as the game progressed.
The next play from their 9-yard-line saw Durkin get to his sideline and zoom past the Colts defense. He created more and more space on his 91-yard run.
Unfortunately, the touchdown was called back due to a holding penalty behind the play.
Heading to the second quarter, the Pioneers moved up-field quickly with a Sean Ruisz to Jake Tomczak pass-play that went 36-yards being the catalyst.
Two plays later, when it looked like the Pioneers would add to their lead, the Pioneers threw an interception which ended the drive.
For the Colt’s, it was an opportunity to get back in the game but a personal foul after the interception moved them all the way back to their own 13-yard-line.
Toddy Shelton led the Pioneer defense on the ensuing Colt’s drive which lasted just three plays before punting.
Toddy Shelton has been unheralded so far. His play has warranted notice as he is making numerous tackles at the line.
“I think I’m excelling more on my speed this year and getting stronger at practice,” said Toddy. “
Asked about his notable improvement, he added,
“I just don’t give up on the play, I shed the block and find the running-back. Definitely my speed this year and height has been things that have help us and me.”
The Colt’s defense was now limiting the Pioneers offensive success. They too forced a punt as the first half was expiring. Shelton added another tackle to conclude the first two quarters with the Pioneers still ahead 8-0.
Opening the second half, the Colt’s used their backfield to move the ball again. In the process, they used much of the third quarter on one drive, but a failed screen pass on fourth down near midfield saw the same results, no points.
Two plays following the turnover on downs, Durkin again took a handoff and headed up the middle, made a quick move and was gone, scoring from 48-yards out. Clifton again added the conversion-kick and upped the Pioneer lead to 16-0.
Entering the fourth quarter, the Pioneers defense was now clicking. Jordan Masino and Brody Wantroba were adding to the defensive mix, contributing with solo stops while Tomczak was defending any Colt’s pass attempt.
Forcing the Colt’s punt, the Pioneers made yards without touching the ball. The punt actually lost yards, giving the Pioneers another short field.
A 10-yard reverse by Tomczak and a Ruis to Barret Sigel 13-yard completion set up Durkin’s third touchdown. From the Colt’s 4-yard-line, he again ran around right end for the touchdown.
“We watched film on this team and saw they don’t cover the outside well, so we hit them with the outside because they couldn’t defend it,” said Durkin.
“We lined up outside to see what they had. Sometimes we get it going, sometimes we don’t; they were big tough kids, they’re a good team. They were strong kids, but we worked as a team, it’s what we do.”
Up 22-0, the Pioneers had a comfortable lead with 6 minutes left in the game. For the Colt’s, they didn’t quit, they continued to pound the ball with runs by Tagler, Gray and Kirchhardt picking up yards, eventually adding a touchdown via the run with 1:29 left.
The Pioneer quickly scored again with 58 seconds left when Ruisz found Wantroba alone, hitting him in stride from 26-yards out, upping the lead to 30-6 after Clifton’s kick.
The Colt’s again found the end zone after a long completion and a 37-yard touchdown run by Jonathan Gray. It was the third touchdown in the last 1:29 by both teams.
The Pioneers held on to win 30-12 but it was a tougher game then they expected.
Fifth Quarter game saw the Pioneers score three touchdowns to the Colt’s solo.
The arm of Pioneer Quarterback Taylor McDoniel saw him complete numerous passes. He ran the offense precisely and had great blocking from his linemen to complete throws. McDoniel completed 7 of 7 passes with a pair of touchdown to Matthew Durkin and Will Beeler.
“Everyone supported me well today, great game planning, great play calling,” said McDoniel.
“I just think I’m working well with everyone, and I have a good feel for it. We just had a pretty good game, and everyone did what they’re supposed to.”
Running-back Jad Jaber is steadily improving each time out, he is an elusive, shifty runner that’s difficult to get a hold of. He opened the score with a 40-yard touchdown run, using strong stiff-arms that jarred Colt’s defender.
Among the receivers making big catches were Jaber and Carson Conrad, but Matthew Durkin was McDoniel’s favorite target, completing four passes to him. Zayne Salah also added to the ground game.
Defensively, numerous Pioneers made tackles and big plays. Rami Agha, Beeler, Egan Kelly, Henry Selof, Shafik Yasin, Jax Arocho, Mohammad Ghadban, David Klimaszka and Nolan Rodriguez. Nolan Torgerson recovered a fumble.
Other Pioneers showing the abilities were Devin Stefanos, Logan Kondziolka, Ethan Krueger, Cash Phillips, Chase Czerwonka, Othman Mizyed, Kendall McDowell, Adam Hoak, Luke Kruszynski, Adam Danko, Ibrahim Jaffal, Cade Koehler, Blake Wagner, Rocco McCarthy, Jake Buechele, Stephen Caxton-idowu and Keegan Kirk.
Providing cheers throughout the varsity game were Pioneer Varsity squad of Ava Brennan, Madeleine Carrier, Mia Franzese, Emery Gasa, Sophia Gasior, Ella Groark, Chloe Havens, Tayla Lovitt, Lily Masino, Audrey Mitchell, Rain Murphy, Fiona Sejud, Bella Senese, Kiera Ulaszek, Summer Vahl, Giselle Velasco, Kylee Votteler, Julian Werner and Anna Woloszyk.
