MONTOURSVILLE-Last week, it was Jaylen Delaney making huge plays in a win over Southern Columbia. This week, it was Mount Carmel’s defense who made things happens against Montoursville. The Red Tornadoes got a huge fourth down stop and forced two turnovers to quickly break open a competitive game in the second quarter, as Mount Carmel took care of things in businesslike fashion with a 35-14 victory.
“I thought our defense did a really good job,” Mount Carmel coach John Darrah said. “We created a couple of turnovers, got some short fields. Overall, I thought the defense stepped up tonight.”
Mount Carmel (7-0) showed no signs of any emotional letdown from the big win against Southern. With the game tied at 7-7 early in the second quarter, a Lance Glenney interception began to turn the tide. Glenney set up the Red Tornadoes with a short field, and they would capitalize. Cooper Karycki crossed the goal line from seven yards out to cap off a 39-yard drive, giving his team a lead it would never relinquish. Karycki finished with a game-high 158 yards on 19 carries, which also included a 72-yard house call on his first touch of the night.
“Our line played good,” Karycki said. “Montoursville was a very, very physical team. I think our line grinded it out. It was a very tough game, but we’re glad we came out with the win.”
Montoursville (4-3) was trailing 14-7 with six minutes left before the halftime. The Warriors decided to roll the dice and go for it on a 4th-and-2 at their own 28-yard line. Quarterback Elijah Eck was stopped a yard short of the line to gain, enabling the flood gates to open. After one touchdown was called back on a penalty, Delaney had no problem finding Aidan Brokenshire on a 14-yard scoring strike. Delaney completed 6-of-9 attempts for 26 yards and two scores. Although his stats were a little bit skewed thanks to a pass that went for a loss of 28 yards in the third quarter, Delaney continues to make strides with the passing game.
“That’s definitely something we’ve been working on a lot,” Darrah said. “So it was nice to see us have two passing touchdowns. That was good. Obviously, when Brokie went out there, we lost a weapon in the passing game, so that made it a little bit more difficult. I would have liked to see us get in the end zone a couple more times in the second half, but we can’t have the penalties. Penalties killed the drives.”
A bad snap on Montoursville’s next possession led to Josh Blessing recovering a fumble, once again giving Mount Carmel prime field position. As they did before, the Red Tornadoes cashed in the turnover for points. Brokenshire was ejected on the drive, so with the next-man-up mentality, it was Kenny Miller that delivered. Miller made his first catch of the year a productive one when he got open and hauled in a 23-yard TD pass from Delaney, extending the lead to 28-7 at the 1:18 mark of the second quarter.
“Kenny is a really good athlete,” Darrah said. “If the ball’s near Kenny, he’s going to catch the ball. Obviously, being a backup tight end, he may not be as familiar with the more in-depth plays and things like that. Kenny can block and Kenny can catch and run. He can do all those kind of things.”
On its first drive of the second half, Mount Carmel continued to hammer away at the Montoursville defense. The Red Tornadoes would march 72 yards in seven plays. Karycki had a 16-yard scamper to set up first-and-goal, then Mikey Higgins fought his way into the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown. In addition to Karycki’s big night, three other Mount Carmel rushers contributed. Higgins totaled 78 yards on 14 carries, and Jason Klokis chipped in with 49 yards on nine attempts. Although he didn’t break any long runs like he did against Southern, Delaney did plenty to help the offense with his legs, adding 94 yards on the ground. He has a very good chance to go over the 1,000-yard mark next week against Central Columbia.
“We can just keep subbing in and out, keeping people fresh,” Karycki said. “It’s very good to have a couple backs, because they’ll be playing at a different speed when they’re fresh. It’s just a good thing to have.”
At one point, Mount Carmel scored on four consecutive drives. Things would kind of bog down as the second half wore on. The Red Tornadoes were unable to finish off a couple of possessions in Montoursville territory. Two drives stalled inside the 30 on fourth down, but Mount Carmel was still able to tally 379 rushing yards and totally control the clock, despite being guilty of 10 penalties for 87 yards.
Mount Carmel 7 21 7 0-35
Montoursville 7 0 7 0-14
Individual Scoring
First Quarter
MC-Cooper Karycki 72 run (Josh Miller kick) 6:29
M-Brayden Burkett 9 pass from Elijah Eck (Brent Crawford kick) 3:04
Second Quarter
MC-Karycki 7 run (Miller kick) 7:00
MC-Aidan Brokenshire 14 pass from Jaylen Delaney (pass failed) 3:05
MC-Kenny Miller 23 pass from Delaney (Karycki run) 1:18
Third Quarter
MC-Mikey Higgins 2 run (Miller kick) 9:19
M-Bryson Fillman 43 pass from Eck (Crawford kick) :50
Team Statistics
……………………. …..MC……………M
1st downs……………24………………13
rush-yds……………62-379……..25-51
comp-att-int………6-9-0………….12-25-1
pass yds………………26…………….226
fum-lost…………….1-1……………..2-1
pen-yds……………10-87…………..9-71
Individual Statistics
Rushing-Mount Carmel: Cooper Karycki 19-158, 2 TDs; Jaylen Delaney 20-94; Mikey Higgins 14-78, TD; Jason Klokis 9-49. Montoursville: Elijah Eck 13-32; Kaden Kleinman 9-28; Colton Conklin 1-2; Brayden Burkett 1-(-4); Team 1-(-7).
Passing-Mount Carmel: Delaney 6-9-0, 26 yds., 2 TDs. Montoursville: Eck 12-24-1, 226 yds., 2 TDs; Team 0-1-0.
Receiving-Mount Carmel: Aidan Brokenshire 2-26, TD; Kenny Miller 1-23, TD; Max Karycki 2-5; C. Karycki 1-(-28). Montoursville: Cole Snyder 5-83; Burkett 4-82, TD; Bryson Fillman 2-47, TD; Kleinman 1-14.