Westmont Wildcats Jr. Pee Wee Football Team Wins Chicagoland YFL Blue Division Championship

On Sunday, October 6, 2013 the (4 – 1, 4 – 0 in the Blue division) Westmont Wildcats Jr. Pee Wee football team played at the Chicago Chargers brand new football field on their Homecoming day. As if that wasn’t motivation enough, with a victory the Westmont Wildcats would assure themselves of an undefeated record in the Chicagoland YFL Blue division but one of three divisional number #1 seeds for the playoffs and a chance to go to Florida for the YFL National Championships.

 Entering this game Westmont had successfully defeated every team in the Blue division except for the Chicago Chargers.  A loss would knock Westmont out of first place and a victory would be historic for the Westmont Wildcat program as they have not had a divisional champion in many years.  Westmont received the opening kickoff and it was clear the Wildcat offense was on a mission as they methodically drove down the field.  The eighth play of this drive would be the most explosive, as quarterback Mason Pardy (7 carries for 51 yards, 7.29 yards per carry) went for a 19 yard gain to give the Wildcats a first and goal from the 1 yard line.  On the very next play powerhouse fullback Chaz Hunter (7 carries for 23 yards, 1 touchdown) smashed the Charger defense for a 1 yard touchdown. This run was led by crushing blocks offensive guard Nicolas Gerbasi, center Riley Dorsey, offensive guard Rahshon Murff (1.5 tackles) and offensive tackle Zach Gacek. Murff received the Tank award as the team’s best blocker for the game.  Great blocks by running back Eddie Mills (3 carries for 21 yards, 7.0 ypc), tight end Cameron VanHoegarden, and offensive tackle Gabe Lischalk, allowed running back Joshua Lumpkin (3.5 tackles, 1 deflected pass) to plow over the goal line for the extra point giving Westmont a 7 – 0 lead with only 1 minute left in the first quarter.

The Charger offense wanted to answer this score as they were playing in front of a packed Columbus Park for the opening of their new turf football field on their Homecoming weekend.  Unfortunately for the Chicago Chargers offense, the Westmont defense was fired up and on their third play super star nose guard Gacek (1.5 tackles, 1 fumble caused) smashed through the Chicago offensive line and ripped the ball out of the Charger running back’s arms. This fumble was quickly recovered by defensive end Hunter to give the Wildcat offense the ball again deep in the Chargers’ end of the field. After the game, Gacek would receive the Hitman award as the team’s best defensive player.  The Wildcat offense made the most out of this opportunity as Lumpkin (9 carries for 30 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 extra point) would make an amazing 14 yard touchdown run.  After a missed extra point the Wildcats were winning 13 – 0.  At this point it looked like the Wildcats were off to another blowout victory; however, that is exactly the time that one small mistake can totally change a game. On the kickoff Westmont mistakenly kicked the ball deep and the Charger running back quickly picked it up and ran it all the way for a touchdown.  The Charger extra point was quickly prevented by super star Elvin Simpson (4 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 fumble recovery), linebacker Jonta Glanville, defensive tackle Trevor Hillard (.5 tackle) and defensive end Gerbasi (2 tackles for a loss of 10 yards).  However, the damage was done as the Chargers only trailed Westmont 6 – 13.

When the Wildcat offense took the field in the second quarter, quarterback Cory Kinnunen (4 carries for 8 yards) made a fine 5 yard run led back the blocking of running backs Amari Gilford, and Corey Sartin with offensive tackle Jaylin Simms, center Tyler Hillard, tight end Camden Hubeny, offensive guard Seth Coyle, offensive tackle Ian Coyle and tight end Zane Thibodeaux.  Unfortunately this would be the lone highlight of this drive as the following 3 plays all stalled out.  However, it would take up the remaining time in the second quarter.  To start third quarter, the Wildcats onsides kicked and Daniel Janas quickly jumped on the ball giving Westmont possession to start the 3rd quarter.  Unfortunately the Charger defense would not allow Westmont to take advantage of this mistake as they stopped the Wildcat offense on 4 plays.  The Chicago offense got their 1st first down of the game and looked like they might put together a drive before Simpson would recover a fumble on a backwards lateral to give the Wildcat offense the ball back around the 50 yard line. Later, Simpson would receive the Coach’s Award for his performance in the game.  The Wildcat offense looked unstoppable as they drove the ball all the way down to the Charger 15 yard line when they fumbled giving the Chargers possession of the ball late into the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats were holding on to a very slim 7 point lead when Gerbasi blew through the Charger line and dove to make the tackle on the Charger running back for a 9 yard loss.  The Chargers would later break a long run that would just miss getting them a first down.  The Westmont offense took over the ball on the Charger 22 yard line and quickly banged out a first and goal from the Charger 8 yard line.  With less than a minute on the game clock and with Chicago out of timeouts the Wildcats showed class and took a knee to run out the clock preserving a well found 13 – 6 victory.   Westmont’s win completes their Blue Division schedule with a perfect 4 – 0 record assuring the Wildcats one of the number one seeds for the Chicagoland YFL playoffs.

Head Coach David Marco said after the game “Our defense is the first one to shutout the Charger offense this season. I am so proud of our players and their families. They are dedicated and play the game with tremendous passion. They are a credit to the sport. We need to focus on constantly improving as our goal is to earn a trip to the National Championships in Florida and bring that trophy home to Westmont.”  The Westmont Wildcats Jr. Pee Wees next home game is October 20, 2013 against the Park Ridge Falcons at 9:00am at Westmont High School Stadium.