By Bobby Narang- Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
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TINLEY PARK— Early in his youth football career, Enzo Angone established himself as a player with a bright future.
With a tough-as-nails attitude, along with athleticism, speed and a team mentality, Angone has been a key player throughout the years for the Orland Park Pioneers program.
On Sunday, in a varsity match against the host Franklin Square Wildcats, Angone showed off his immense skills and potential with a dazzling touchdown run on the second-to-last-play of the varsity game.
Angone put his name in program lore with one of the best plays of the season in just the second week of the River Youth Football League season.
With the score knotted at 22-all, the Pioneers tossed three short passes to Angone near the sidelines to make sure to gain some positive yards and keep the clock from running out, while slowly moving the chains.
On the third play, Angone took a short pass from quarterback Charlie Enstrom with just under 11 seconds left, but instead of taking two or three steps out of bounds – right in front of the Pioneers’ sidelines like he did on the previous two plays – Angone cut back toward the field, then took a step to his right, eluding a few tacklers and raced down the sidelines for a thrilling 48-yard touchdowns with two seconds left to propel the Pioneers to a 30-22 victory.
After he scored the game winning touchdown that avoided overtime, Angone jogged to the sidelines, sat down on the grass while his teammates circled him in awe and excitement.
The Pioneers (2-0) celebrated in the stunning ending, relieved they didn’t blow a game they led for the majority of the first half.
Angone admitted he wasn’t sure what his motive was on the game winning TD.
“I was just wondering why they weren’t doing anything with that play, but I was fine with it,” Angone said. “I did the same thing, but I’m glad it kept working and we won. I really wasn’t thinking of going out of bounds. I didn’t know what was going on, but I ended up just keep going.
“I got some nice blocks and was able to get space on the sidelines and kept going. Once I started, I was excited we were winning, but I looked at the clock and realized there were two seconds left, I was really tired.”
Orland Park Pioneers coach Andy Rybak was full of emotions after the game I the postgame huddle, even happily leading the team in singing “Happy Birthday” to left guard/linebacker Aidan Rios.
But Rybak saved the bulk of his praise for Angone, even admitting he was mad at Angone for not running out of bounds to allow the offense one last final play.
“He’s special like that,” Rybak said of Angone. “His field vision is second to none in this league. I’ve seen it from the very beginning. It’s always been the same Enzo. He sees things from the beginning of the play that other kids don’t see, plus he has the movement to make those plays. You have to go to your playmakers when you need to.”
Ben Snider said he was shocked to see Angone bust free and sprint along the sidelines for the touchdown.
“The last three plays all went to Enzo and the defense did nothing about it, but that last one I thought he was going to go out of bounds, then I saw him break a tackle and then he was free,” Snider said. “I was so excited.”
So was Rios, especially since it was his birthday and postgame cupcakes were part of the celebration on the field.
“The end of the game was crazy,” Rios said. “I don’t even know what happened, just pure happiness. It was amazing.”
Even with frosting all over his mouth, David Burget was full of happiness and didn’t have a car in the world, even with his teammates laughing at the mess on his face.
“It was scary because it was a close game all the way around, but our team work pulled us together,” Burget said. “Obviously, Enzo pulled off the win for us. He showed pure grit. He just wanted it on that play.”
Defensive end/offensive tackle Luke Ryback said it was an once-in-lifetime ending, noting how the team nearly collapsed after a strong start.
“We went scoreless for like two quarters and they went back and forth,” Ryback said. “Enzo saved us. I was getting so mad at him because he didn’t go out of bounds but he then came back and scored the touchdown. I was like he was not even thinking and just doing what he does best. I was so ecstatic and didn’t know how that happened.”
Lost in the shuffle of the comeback was the tough-as-nails play by Enstrom. He sparked the offense on back-to-back TD drives to open the game, including a 12-yard scoring run by Snider and his six-yard touchdown pass to Angone for a 14-0 lead.
The Pioneers built the lead to 22-8 on Angone’s 65-yard touchdown run on their third drive of the game with 7:54 left until halftime.
But that’s when the home team started clawing back, taking advantage of two interceptions thrown by Enstrom that led to a 22-22 tie with 2:41 left in regulation.
“Starting out scoring that quick was amazing to start off like that and to keep going, but we shut down toward halftime and they started coming back,” Snider said.
The Pioneers started the winning drive on their own 20-yard line but went backward due to a penalty to the 10-yard line. With the clock ticking, the Pioneers were in no hurry until the fifth play of the drive, hitting Angone for the first of three passes that culminated with his winning catch and run on the seventh play.
Coach Rybak said Enstrom was a warrior in the win.
“Tribute to everybody,” Rybak said. “Charlie was throwing some good balls down the stretch. He had an interception that he was very upset and everyone saw it, but he’s a tough kid and to bounce back like that under pressure with the game on the line, he made some great throws. He was phenomenal and both sides of the line did a great job. They couldn’t move our defensive line.
“And Ryan Duckhorn had a couple big tackles on defense and Rios made plays flying all over the field and Jake Marzullo was great. We have to work on some things. We gave up some big plays, but they had some great athletes. We will get better.”
In the fifth-quarter game, the Pioneers received stellar efforts from several players. Gavin Loman had a long touchdown run, while Sean Buer also had a big run to set up another touchdown and David Burgert added a three-yard scoring run.
The entire varsity team celebrated in the win, playing a part in the stunning comeback. Others giving their all included Syncere Preshon, Riley Atzman, Brock Lenzen, Gavin Loman, Dylan Butler, Cade McNulty, Sean Buer, Charlie Enstrom, Liam West, Evan Lavelle, Justin McNamara, Luke Rybak, Ben Snider, Finn Redmond, David Burgert, Jake Marzullo, Logan Helman, John Werner, Gage Cucci, Drake Ulaszek, Adam Naser, Enzo Angone, Maverick Vander Veer, Benjamin Schwarz, Ryan Duckhorn, Malcolm McGonegal, Michael Sraga, Mohammad Abedalrahman, Gianluca Arceo, Brandon Castillo, Aidan Rios, Ahmed Ali, Diego Aguilar, Steven Mullins, Michael Stefancic, Nicholas Hertzog, Camden Czarnecki, Yousif Dahdal, Julian Trevino, Ryan Pempek, Erik Baran, Brian Curran and Qais Naser.
The varsity cheerleading team helped keep the momentum on the side of the visiting team with their routes. The team consists of Oliwia Burda, Aviana Briseno, Aubrey Baran, Brooklyn Richardson, Hailey McDonald, Keira Barrera, Ava Mendoza, Kaelyn Albright, Jordyn Shamma, Brittney Blazys, Brooke Blazys, Gia Parisi, Avery Nugent, Arianna Ramadani, Layla Jeffries, Giulia Cangelosi, Madalyn Marable, Flora Lane, Sofia Castillo, Julia Stekala, Violet Fino, Riley Meekma, Serena Murray and Sofia Murray.
