By Bobby Narang- Photos by Renee Kaspar
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ORLAND PARK — Offense. Defense. Special teams.
Since the game of football was invented, football coaches on all levels have been seeking the perfect trifecta in every game. On Sunday afternoon, at Mike Navarro Stadium on the campus of Sandburg High School, the Orland Park Pioneers Varsity team put together all three phases of the game into perfect harmony.
The Pioneers had big plays in all three facets of the game, aided by Enzo Angone doing his part, to post a 16-6 victory over the Tinley Park Bulldogs on a sun-splashed afternoon. Angone, one of the stars and leaders on the team, sparked the victory with a 23-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, a 42-yard punt return for a TD and a solid play on defense to earn praise from his coaches and teammates.
“It was a fun game,” Angone said. “I had great blocking and the offensive line did everything to help me. They made it easy for me at running back. I’m just happy I could help the team by doing stuff to help us win.”
The Pioneers improved their records to 3-1 in Sunday games and 3-1 on Wednesday. The team had a spirited postgame talk, with each player receiving a hot dog for their solid effort on the field to keep the program moving in the right direction.
“It was really a perfect day,” Orland Park Pioneers varsity coach Andy Rybak said. “There was a lot of work and planning that went into this game. The coaches put together a really strong gameplan and they had certainly a lot of good players on the other team. They slipped a touchdown past us late, but we will use those situations to be better. It was tough in this heat to play, but they fought for four quarters and gave it everything they had.”
The Pioneers dominated on special teams, putting together a four-quarter effort that will be remembered. Angone recovered an onside kick, helped extend another drive with a reception on a fake punt in the second half and Ryan Duckhorn saved the biggest highlight for the final minutes, booming a 53-yard punt that pinned the visiting team at their own 1-yard line with 2:41 left in regulation.
“We got everything, even an onside-kick recovery, a punt return, hit both extra-points which is always a big deal, the fake punt conversion and the late big punt by Duckhorn to seal the game,” Rybak said. “It was awesome. The thing is we practice 20 minutes a day. That group will go off on the side and work on special teams for every practice and the fifth-quarter guys are working hard. We are seeing all of that work pay off.”
“Enzo was all over the field. He’s our playmaker. Enzo is very dependable and very durable. He takes all of those hits and stays in the game, whether we’re feeding him the ball or he’s a decoy, we know defensives are keying on him and able to open up other spaces on the field. He’s so valuable. Also, at the same time, David Burgert came in and had the ball a lot. Diego Aguilar, he plays on Wednesday’s and fifth-quarter and Ahmed Ali comes off and he steps in. He’s a very aggressive player and makes a difference when he’s out there. It’s good to have depth.”
After the two younger Orland Park football teams suffered losses, both via shutouts, the Orland Park varsity team took matters into their owns hands for the 2 p.m. game. On Tinley Park’s first drive, Aidan Rios set the tone with a key tackle to end a drive on fourth down.
The game turned into a back-and-forth slugfest for the next several minutes until Angone scored on a thrilling 23-yard TD run on the fifth play of the drive in the second quarter. He broke loose and made a stellar cut to outrun the defense. A few minutes later, with 56.1 left in the game, it was Enzo Angone time again.
He received a punt, broke to the right and after almost falling down, he regained his composure and darted on the right side for a 42-yard return for a touchdown for a 14-0 lead. A few seconds later, Angone was back in the thick of the action when he recovered an onside kick.
“On the punt return, I just remember the coaches telling us before the game that their special teams defense was something we could do good on, so I just tried to make the best out of it,” Angone said. “My teammates blocked really well on that play for me.”
In the third quarter, the Pioneers had a long drive stall to ruin a chance at extending their lead. The visiting team struck first in the second half, slicing the margin to 14-6 on third and goal with 4:46 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Pioneers were forced into a three-and-out, setting up Duckhorn’s career-long punt. He booted a long punt that took a few favorable bounces and settled on the 1-yard line. Two plays later, Orland Park’s Jake Marzullo ended the game with a safety for a 16-6 lead, tackling the Bulldogs’ quarterback right on the goal-line with 2:29 left.
“That was my best punt and felt really good,” Duckhorn said. “It was good to help the team win. The offense wasn’t going that good, but we have some amazing running backs and our defense worked really hard, so did the offense.”
Ben Snider helped move the chains and kept several drives going with his play at running back and in the Wildcat.
“We started off running up the middle, but they caught up on that and we had to change it up a little bit,” Snider said. “I liked the Wildcat. They didn’t see that coming at all.”
The Pioneers, though, had one last highlight on Angone’s 24-yard return on the kickoff. The offense secured the victory by running out the clock.
Quarterback Charlie Enstrom said it was a game to remember, but the team should keep fighting and building toward a strong finish.
“We kept fighting and came out firing and once we got up on the board, we were all pumped up and hyped and kept it going all game,” Enstrom said. “We had a lot of nice plays. The onside kick we recovered, Enzo’s touchdown run and our defense played great. It’s great to win this game, feels good because each game we are getting more pumped up and excited and have a winning record.”
Defensive end/tackle Luke Rybak said the entire team contributed to the 10-point victory over a quality opponent.
“The defense played very good and they had trouble moving the ball,” Rybak said. “We watched a lot of film and they couldn’t move the ball against us all game. It was a great game.”
Defensive tackle/left tackle Michael Sraga said he enjoyed watching the entire team step up to get a memorable home victory.
“It was a good job by everyone and we moved the ball on offense,” Sraga said. “This win feels good, especially seeing Enzo run the ball.”
The fifth-quarter game helped kick off the strong start in the main game. Gavin Loman stopped a big play from happening with a key tackle on a reserve. Benjamin Schwarz helped move the chains on offense, while Ryan Pempek impressed the crowd with a long run. Gianluca Arceo was a key contributor, mainly on offense for the Pioneers.
The Orland Park Pioneers varsity team had contributions from everyone throughout the tough week, including Syncere Preshon, Riley Atzman, Brock Lenzen, Gavin Loman, Dylan Butler, Cade McNulty, Sean Buer, Liam West, Evan Lavelle, Justin McNamara, Finn Redmond, Logan Helman, John Werner, Gage Cucci, Drake Ulaszek, Adam Naser, Maverick Vander Veer, Benjamin Schwarz, Malcolm McGonegal, Mohammad Abedalrahman, Gianluca Arceo, Brandon Castillo, Steven Mullins, Michael Stefancic, Nicholas Hertzog, Camden Czarnecki, Yousif Dahdal, Julian Trevino, Ryan Pempek, Erik Baran, Brian Curran and Qais Naser.
The varsity cheerleaders managed to uplift the crowd in the third game, playing a big part in bringing positive vibes following back-to-back shutout defeats. The varsity cheerleading 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.
