MOUNT CARMEL – The only thing standing between Mount Carmel and a perfect 9-0 to take into next week’s Coal Bucket rivalry game with Shamokin was an 0-8 Central Mountain team that last won a game almost exactly three years ago in October 2023.
No problem, right? Not really, as Mount Carmel scored on its first six possessions and put the game into the mercy rule early in the second half. But despite losing 49-21 to the Red Tornados, Central Mountain looked nothing like a winless team.
The Wildcats consistently moved the ball on Mount Carmel, picking up 17 first downs in the game and 360 yards of offense, including 176 through the air and 184 on the ground. They also held a decided advantage in time of possession and ran 61 plays to just 36 for Mount Carmel.
But Central Mountain simply had no answer for Mount Carmel’s offense as the Red Tornados racked up 450 yards.
“I thought our guys played tough and we’re exactly where we want to be at this point in the year and we’re ready for a big one next week,” said Mount Carmel coach John Darrah.
“We’ve played some really tough competition all year and we’ve competed,” said Central Mountain coach Travis Thompson. “Mount Carmel’s offense is their bread and butter and that’s where they punish your team. We thought we could move the ball offensively and we were able to execute but they’re a tough team all around. There’s a lot of good takeaways and positive things for us, but that’s a great team we faced tonight and they lived up to the billing.”
Alex Johnson completed 20-of-33 passes for 176 yards and a touchdown, while Kyle Everett ran 21 times for 82 yards and a score. With that duo lining up in the backfield on nearly every snap, they kept the Red Tornado defense off balanced at times, and Central Mountain also did not commit a turnover on the evening.
“Alex is able to throw the ball well and we’ve known that and we’ve really liked how Kyle has been running the ball lately and we knew if we were going to be able to move the ball on Mount Carmel, you have to have a tough runner and he was one of the toughest ones we’ve had all year so we figured we’d switch it up, put Alex at quarterback, which they hadn’t seen and have Kyle just run hard,” said Thompson.
But for all of the positives that Central Mountain could potentially take away from having moved the ball on one of the state’s top Class 3A teams, they were unable to slow down Mount Carmel’s offense. The Red Tornados averaged 12.5 yards per play. Mount Carmel’s longest scoring drive took six plays, and the Red Tornados had two scoring drives of just two plays, and two other scoring drives of only four plays. Mount Carmel had seven plays of 20 yards or more on the night.
“The way they run that offense, it’s difficult to prepare for it during the week,” said Thompson. “Trying to reach your JV offense how to run a scout offense with all of their moving parts is almost impossible so we did our best this week with preparation but it’s a brutal offense to go against, so hats off to them. We knew if we gave them some space in the seam that they would break one.”
Jaylen Delaney and Cooper Karycki both went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season as they each posted 100-yard games. Delaney ran for 102 yards on just three carries and also threw for 67, completing all five of his pass attempts with two touchdowns, and also had a 66-yard punt return in the first quarter to set up Mount Carmel’s first score.
Karycki ran nine times for 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns and also caught one of Delaney’s two touchdown passes.
“It was great to see them both go over 1,000 on the same night,” said Darrah. “I’m really proud of how hard they’ve worked and it’s great to see them
Central Mountain punted after its opening drive of the game and Delaney returned it 66 yards all the way to the Wildcat 4-yard line. Two plays later, Jason Klokis took a direct snap and punched it in from a yard out for the first points of the game.
Another Wildcat punt on their second drive gave Mount Carmel the ball at its own 36. From there, the Red Tornados needed just five plays to go 64 yards, capped by Cooper Karycki’s 20-yard touchdown run.
Mount Carmel was then pinned inside their own 20, starting their next drive on their own 18. Delaney got loose for an 80-yard run on the first play from scrimmage before being tackled just shy of the goal line at the Central Mountain 2-yard line. On the next play, he tossed a shovel pass to Max Karycki for the touchdown to make it 21-0 with :43 left in the first quarter.
From there, Central Mountain put together a 13-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 16-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Mason Masorti on a fourth-and-7 play to cut the lead to 21-7. That drive took 6:16 off the clock and featured a pair of fourth down conversions.
But Mount Carmel answered right back with a brief four-play, 69-yard drive that took just 1:27 to go back up by three scores on a three-yard touchdown run by Michael Higgins with 5:00 to go in the first half. A 61-yard run by Cooper Karycki flipped the field as it got the Red Tornados from their own 31, where they started the possession, all the way down to the Central Mountain 8-yard line.
The Red Tornados put one more touchdown on the scoreboard before the end of the half as Cooper Karycki capped another drive with his second touchdown of the first half, this one a 15-yard run.
Central Mountain managed to recover a quasi-onside kick to start the second half, but they were stopped on fourth-and-1 from the Mount Carmel 34 by the Red Tornados. Mount Carmel took over and needed just four plays to go 65 yards, capped by Delaney’s second touchdown pass of the night, this one to Cooper Karycki for his third touchdown of the night, which put the game into the mercy rule at the 8:49 mark of the third quarter.
Central Mountain added a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns, one following a block punt and one off a big offensive play. Mount Carmel, which hasn’t punted much this season, elected to punt on fourth-and-10 from its own 32 early in the fourth quarter and it was blocked by Gavin Edmonston and recovered by the Wildcats at the Mount Carmel 24. Five plays later, and after another fourth down conversion, Everett ran it in from 10 yards out to make it 42-14.
After another Mount Carmel touchdown on Jaxon Bobick’s 40-yard run, Central Mountain took over at its own 20, and on the first play from scrimmage, Gavin Heverly found a hole and outran all Red Tornado defenders for an 80-yard touchdown run.
The win sets up a showdown for the Red Tornados with the rival Shamokin next Friday. Although the Indians lost their first game of the year to Blue Mountain on Friday, depriving the matchup of having two undefeated teams for the first time in more than two decades, it will still be one of the most anticipated Coal Bucket games in recent memory.
“To us, it’s a huge game every year, and this year is no different,” said Darrah. “It might be different to some people on the periphery, fans, and things like that, but to us, it’s one of the biggest rivalries in the country, so it’s no different this year.”
Mount Carmel 49, Central Mountain 21
Central Mountain (0-9) 0 7 0 14 – 21
Mount Carmel (9-0) 21 14 7 7 – 49
First quarter
8:39 – (MC) Jason Klokis 1-yard run (Miller kick), 2-4, :12
4:23 – (MC) Cooper Karycki 20-yard run (Miller kick), 5-64, 1:18
:43 – (MC) Max Karycki 2-yard pass from Jaylen Delaney (Miller kick), 2-82, :18
Second quarter
6:27 – (CM) Mason Masorti 16-yard pass from Alex Johnson (Fredricks kick), 13-80, 6:16
5:00 – (MC) Michael Higgins 3-yard run (Miller kick), 4-69, 1:27
:47 – (MC) Cooper Karycki 15-yard run (Miller kick), 6-47, 2:15
Third quarter
8:49 – (MC) Cooper Karycki 16-yard pass from Jaylen Delaney (Miller kick), 4-65, 1:20
Fourth quarter
6:40 – (CM) Kyle Everett 10-yard run (Fredricks kick), 5-24, 2:57
3:42 – (MC) Jaxon Boblick 40-yard run (Miller kick), 5-78, 2:58
3:16 – (CM) Gavin Heverly 80-yard run (Fredricks kick), 1-80, :26
Statistics
CM MC
First downs 17 20
Rushes-net yards 28-184 31-383
Passing yardage 176 67
Passing 20-33-1-0 5-5-2-0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 5-40 2-15
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Central Mountain: Kyle Everett (21-82-1), Alex Johnson (5-16), Gavin Heverly (1-80-1), Kole Corman (1-6); Mount Carmel: Cooper Karycki (9-130-2), Austin Ventilli (5-47), Michael Higgins (4-27-1), Jaylen Delaney (3-102), Jaxon Boblick (3-46-1), Logan Shuder (3-4), Preston Pultynovich (2-2), Gabe Higgins (1-24), Jason Klokis (1-1-1)
PASSING: Central Mountain: Alex Johnson (20-33-176-1-0); Mount Carmel: Jaylen Delaney (5-5-67-2-0)
RECEIVING: Central Mountain: Caleb Stitzer (6-65), Kyle Everett (5-42), Mason Masorti (5-42-1), Gavin Heverly (3-24), Jacob Rembold (1-3); Mount Carmel: Max Karycki (2-32-1), Cooper Karycki (2-28-1), Preston Pultynovich (1-7)