By Bobby Narang- Photos by Raj Chavda
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HAMMOND- All signs early in Sunday’s game pointed toward a strong outing by the Orland Park Pioneers’ varsity football team.
Playing at Hammond Central High School in Indiana, the Pioneers had momentum on their side.
First off, the Pioneers played with heart and passion in their regular season defeat to the Frankfort Falcons in their River Valley Youth Football League regular season finale.
As a team, the Pioneers came into the Sunday’s playoffs with energy and excitement over a fresh start.
And they opened up strong against the New Lenox Junior Knights.
The Pioneers opened the game with an excellent long punt return to New Lenox’s 20-yard line by Thomas Elliott to set up a primo opportunity for an early score to gain control of the playoff game.
But the Pioneers couldn’t get a score, as Elliott rushed for a 3-yard gain on third down and Ryan Almasri came up short on a fourth-down run to end the drive at New Lenox’s 12-yard line.
That’s the exact moment Sunday’s game went downhill for the Pioneers, as the Knights scored on an 87-yard touchdown run and made the extra-point attempt kick to seize an 8-0 lead with 5:09 left in the opening quarter.
The Knights, led by quarterback Kyle Gilbert and a stingy and aggressive defensive, put together several big plays to pull out a 40-14 victory over the Pioneers to advance to the next round of the playoffs.
For the Pioneers, it was a tough way to close out a long run for several of the eighth-graders players who had played multiple years with the Pioneers. Orland Park Pioneers varsity coach Andy Rybak gathered his players in the northern corner of the stadium for his final yet an emotional chat with his players.
Rybak and his assistant coaches all gave inspirational speeches telling the players about their positives and to keep in touch with each coach, especially if they needed help. Rybak told his players he plans on keeping tabs on them throughout high school and thanked them for their dedication and commitment throughout the years.
Even in defeat, the Pioneers showed class by lining up to support the home team in the next game and cheering them and slapping hands with several players from team from a different region.
Elliott was one of the standouts in his final game for the Pioneers, scoring on a nifty 21-yard touchdown pass with 2:01 left in the game. Elliott took a short pass, cut inside and glided to the end zone via a great pass by Ashton Brennan. Elliott was all over the field on both sides of the ball, passing, catching, running and tackling. He ended with 10 carries for 21 yards, attempted nine passes and completed four for 40 yards and played strong on special teams to cap a stellar career.
The star multi-dimensional player scored his team’s first touchdown via a 7-yard TD run late in the second quarter.
“I think on defense we played great but made some mistakes that we should’ve fixed,” Elliott said. “It wasn’t like they were driving down the field on us. I’ve been playing with this team for nine years. It’s been so fun, seeing everyone around me learning and growing and making a great relationship with the players and coaches.
Elliott said he was happy to end his career with a late score.
“I went out on the flat and just told Ashton to throw it to me,” Elliott said. “The kid from the other team was right in front of me and I just in front of me and saw the open field and just took it.”
Guard and linebacker William Reilly played strong in defeat, helping the defense and offense with his aggressiveness.
“The offensive line let little too much pressure in, and we could’ve done better,” Reilly said. “On defense, we didn’t too bad, but just made a few mistakes. I’ve played with the Pioneers seven or eight years, so I’m glad I got to play with them and had a lot of fun playing with these guys in my last year. It was a fun year.”
Nicholas Davis agreed with his teammates about that it was a joyous season. Davis did his part to try and add more fun on Sunday by catching two passes for 15 yards and running twice for 14 yards.
“My teammates all helped me with blocking and we played together until the end,” Davis said. “I just think the other team had us outmanned and were more physical. They had a good defensive line and good corners. It will be weird not playing football every day with this team.”
Jude Doftert capped a strong season with a great performance against the Knights, catching three passes for 52 yards to lead the offense to go along with solid play on defense.
A big and physical target, Doftert hauled in receptions of 32, 12 and 8 yards. His consistent and solid route running was a positive and helped move the chains.
“I was just getting open and my quarterback was throwing to me and I made sure to catch it,” Doftert said. “We started passing more in the second half and we started getting opens since our runs freed up things.”
Brennan flashed his strong arm off several times in the game, but he rarely had much time to throw due to the Knights’ big and strong defensive line. Brennan
“Our running wasn’t working, so we started to change it up and throw in the second half and that really helped the offense,” Brennan said. “We had some speeches at halftime that really helped us to play better in the second half.”
As one of the veterans on the team, Brennan said he cherished his eight years with the Pioneers thanking the coaching staff for pushing him to become a better all-around player and he also said his made a lot of friends.
“It’s been fun playing with all these players,” Brennan said. “I grew up with a lot of them and really enjoyed playing football with them.”
On the defensive side, the Pioneers did make several noteworthy plays, including a great tackle for a two-yard loss by Brady Straka. Nathaniel Owei had a big sack that led to a 20-yard loss early in the game. Colin McElligott broke through the line and recorded a safety midway through the second quarter.
The Pioneers are thankful for the contributions of the entire team, which included Ryan Beeler, Colin McElligott, Connor Ward, Colin Kluever, David Kopec, Thomas Elliott, Santino Marrella, Josiah Johnson, Kyle Krokos, Ashton Brennan, Caden Votteler, Mason Overmyer, Wyatt Heinze, Luke Rybak, Henry Byrne, Keegan Fogarty, Layth Zughayer, Nicholas Davis, Ryan Almasri, Harley Camargo, Noah O’Kennard, Terrin Lovitt, Nicholas Baniewicz, Michael Sraga, Luke O’Reilly, Mark Grech-Lisula, Jude Doftert, Nathaniel Owei, William Reilly, Brandon Castillo, Aidan Rios, Jacob Morakinyo, Cameron Taylor, Abdallah Abuhamda, William Gardner, Ezennaya Nwachukwu, John Macros, Nolan Burns, Cristian Arevalo, Daniel Evers, Jack Bordelon, Joey Driscoll, Brady Straka, Rhett Capps
The Pioneer Varsity Cheerleaders as always, were there to entertain along the sidelines and perfrom at Halftime showcasing their talents. Not the whole squad was available but those that were may have included Alyssa Abed, Lily Carroll, Erica Gonsowski, Layla Jeffries, Hope Majdecki, Madalyn Marable, Ana Sophia Martin, Hailey McDonald, Ava Mendoza, Avery Nugent, Maeve O’Connor, Ava Pastiak, Paige Pomonis, Arianna Ramadani, Leah Ramos, Jordyn Shamma, Jozelyn Tamayo and Klaudia Willis.
