MILL HALL – Facing a tough schedule the first half of the season, Mount Carmel got off to a rough start to its 2025 season. The Red Tornados started out 1-4, with their four losses coming to teams that are now a combined 24-8 through the first eight weeks of the season.
The second half of the regular season has been a bit more manageable for the Red Tornados, and the tougher competition in the first half has hopefully helped Mount Carmel improve as it looks to make some noise in the upcoming playoffs.
A week after gashing Danville on the ground to the tune of over 400 rushing yards, the Red Tornados put up an additional 332 rushing yards at Central Mountain, and that was more than good enough to leave Clinton County with a 35-13 win over the Wildcats. The win is the third straight for Mount Carmel and evens its record at 4-4.
“It was a tough start to the season but our guys have progressed and gotten better every week,” said Mount Carmel coach John Darrah. “Our goal was to get into the playoffs so we’re looking forward to hopefully getting some rematches with some of these teams we played earlier in the year.”
For its part, Central Mountain looked nothing like a team that entered the game 0-7 and had scored a grand total of just 17 points in those seven games.
On the Wildcats’ first two possessions, they managed to record first downs and advance the ball into Mount Carmel territory both times. They did so again on another drive late in the first half.
“We’ve had a tough schedule and our guys are better than their record. We’ve got guys that can compete,” said Central Mountain coach Travis Thompson. “Mount Carmel had a few big plays and packed it in with the running game, so a great game plan and great running attack, but our guys are competitive. We’re still young and growing. When you face a schedule like we do, it’s tough to put a lot up on the board.
Central Mountain finished with 17 total first downs in the game, just five fewer than Mount Carmel. On its first two possessions, it advanced to the Mount Carmel 38 and 43, respectively, before turning it over on downs and punting. Later in the half, the Wildcats took over at their own 30 and advanced all the way down to the Mount Carmel 29 before also turning it over on downs.
“Their defense was tough, but we had some good things going,” said Thompson. “A couple of times it was some inopportune penalties, a few dropped balls here or there and that happens but it comes down to needing more repetition and practice and having some guys grow a little bit, but we’re getting there. I’m always proud of these guys, they put in the work each week and play to win and are here to compete. It’s tough when you’re 0-8 now, but they keep coming to practice and working hard and grinding for wins and eventually it’s going to come for them.”
Mount Carmel scored on five of its first six possessions and almost made it six of seven just before halftime before losing a fumble just shy of the goal line in the waning seconds of the first half.
That was about the only thing that didn’t go the Red Tornados’ way in the first half. The three-headed rushing attack of Jaylen Delaney, Cooper Karycki and Michael Kimsal combined for 258 rushing yards in the first half and a touchdown each. Gavin Marshalek also tossed a pair of touchdown passes and for the evening, completed 4-of-9 passes for 114 yards.
“We played pretty well in the first half, I thought our defense did some things pretty well and I was happy with how our secondary played,” said Darrah. “We were pretty good offensively, definitely could be a little cleaner than we were but overall, good job.
“We’ve picked it up in the running game and have a lot of different guys that can do some damage, so I thought we stayed on schedule pretty well with the running game and as the game went on, I thought we did a better job of moving the ball so that was good to see.”
The Red Tornados opened the scoring just :36 into the game as Kimsal took a direct snap and went up the middle for a 16-yard touchdown on Mount Carmel’s second play from scrimmage. Delaney took a handoff 45 yards on the first.
After punting on their second drive, Mount Carmel came back and made it 14-0 on their next possession, needing just three plays to go 88 yards. A misdirection play featured Marshalek rolling out to his right after taking the snap along with most of the offense – all but Aiden Brokenshire to the left, who hauled in Marshalek’s pass and took it 76 yards down the left sideline for the score.
A short punt of just 16 yards following a three-and-out by Central Mountain gave Mount Carmel the ball at the Wildcat 48 to begin their next drive, and the Red Tornados took eight plays this time – the most of any of their scoring drives on the evening – before Marshalek hit Max Karycki in the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown with :01 left in the first quarter.
Another three-and-out and short punt of only 26 yards gave Mount Carmel the ball at their own 40, and this time it would need only four plays to find the end zone, with Cooper Karycki taking a toss for nine yards two plays after breaking for a 19-yard gain.
Mount Carmel made it 35-0 with 5:36 remaining in the half on a four-yard touchdown run by Delaney. Its defense then stopped the Wildcats at the Mount Carmel 29 on downs to keep the mercy rule margin after Central Mountain had gotten two first downs on its ensuing drive.
For the first half, the Red Tornados limited the Wildcats to 106 yards, forcing three three-and-outs and stopping Central Mountain on downs in Mount Carmel territory twice.
Mount Carmel’s second stringers gave up two touchdowns to the Wildcats in the second half, as Central Mountain played many of its starters well into the second half with the running clock.
Hayes Donley scored on a 32-yard touchdown run with under a minute to go in the third quarter, and Dalton McDermott capped a 121-yard rushing performance with a three-yard touchdown run with 5:27 remaining in the fourth quarter. Kyle Everett also finished the game with 125 passing yards on 7-of-18 passing, while senior receiver Mario Serafini had a nice game with five catches for 96 yards, including a nifty near one-handed grab in the second half.
“We kept a lot of our guys in because a lot of our starters are ninth and 10th graders and it‘s important to grow as a team and execute against good competition,” said Thompson.
Mount Carmel 35, Central Mountain 13
Mount Carmel (4-4) 21 14 0 0 – 35
Central Mountain (0-8) 0 0 6 7 – 13
First quarter
11:24 – (MC) Michael Kimsal 16-yard run (Miller kick), 2-61, :36
4:10 – (MC) Aidan Brokenshire 76-yard pass from Gavin Marshalek (Miller kick), 3-88, :59
:01 – (MC) Max Karycki 14-yard pass from Gavin Marshalek (Miller kick), 8-48, 2:51
Second quarter
9:44 – (MC) Cooper Karycki 9-yard run (Miller kick), 4-60, 1:31
5:36 – (MC) Jaylen Delaney 4-yard run (Miller kick), 5-59, 2:18
Third quarter
:34 – (CM) Hayes Donley 32-yard run (run failed), 6-81, 2:30
Fourth quarter
5:27 – (CM) Dalton McDermott 3-yard run (Carson kick), 11-77, 5:00
Statistics
MC CM
First downs 22 17
Rushes-net yards 42-332 38-223
Passing yardage 114 125
Passing 4-11-2-1 7-21-0-0
Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 3-25 5-42
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Mount Carmel: Cooper Karycki (10-90-1), Jaylen Delaney (8-109-1), Michael Kimsal (5-59-1), Gavin Marshalek (3-10), Austin Ventilli (2-25), Lucas Carpenter (2-22), James Spears (2-12), Logan Shuder (2-3), Akekzander Lukoskie (2-(-9)), Jason Klokis (1-4), Lance Glenney (1-3), Thomas Berezovske (1-3), Max Karycki (1-1), Ezekiel Noel (1-0), Jaylen Lilly (1-0); Central Mountain: Dalton McDermott (20-121-1), Kyle Everett (15-68), Hayes Donley (1-32-1), Kole Corman (1-4), Team (1-(-2))
PASSING: Mount Carmel: Gavin Marshalek (4-9-114-2-0), Akekzander Lukoskie (0-1-0-0-0), James Spears (0-1-0-0-1) ; Central Mountain: Kyle Everett (7-18-125-0-0), Alex Johnson (0-2-0-0-0), Dalton McDermott (0-1-0-0-0)
RECEIVING: Mount Carmel: Aidan Brokenshire (1-76-1), Jason Klokis (1-16), Max Karycki (1-14-1), Jaylen Delaney (1-8); Central Mountain: Mario Serafini (5-96), Dalton McDermott (1-23), Jacob Rembold (1-6)