SOUTH CENTRE TWP.-Coming off a disappointing loss against North Schuylkill and faced with plenty of challenges over the next three weeks, Mount Carmel needed a confidence-building, get-right kind of game against Central Columbia. That’s exactly what Red Tornadoes achieved on Friday night. Mount Carmel had a pair of 100-yard rushers, took care of business on defense, and just showed all-around improvement in a convincing 48-0 win.
“I thought it was a good team victory,” Mount Carmel coach John Darrah said. “We had some big plays, some guys made some big plays. It was great to see our defense play a lot better. We got some guys back healthy, and I think they made a huge impact tonight. But again, we definitely grew as a team tonight and we want to keep trending in that direction.”
Mount Carmel (1-1) made one of those big plays on the opening kickoff when Cooper Karycki returned it 53 yards to set up the Red Tornadoes in Central territory. Karycki finished off the short, four-play drive when he scampered in from a yard out less than two minutes into play. Later in the opening quarter, Michael Kimsal scored the first of his two touchdowns by crossing the goal line on a 10-yard run with 1:16 left. The lead would grow to 21-0 after Jaylen Delaney broke loose on a 70-yard run that saw him made three nice cutbacks on his way to the end zone. Delaney added another touchdown run of 24 yards just over three minutes later. After being held to zero yards on his first three rushing attempts, Delaney totaled 124 on his next four carries.
“We can turn the corner, and when Jaylen gets a little bit of room, he’s a threat to take the ball to the house, whether it’s on the ground or through the air,” Darrah said. “So I was really happy to see him get going. It seemed like he started a little bit slow, but then a couple touches, a couple huge plays in a row.”
Central (0-2) struggled to get anything going offensively and didn’t have a play longer than nine yards. Helped by a personal foul call, the Blue Jays did march into Mount Carmel territory on their third possession. However, the nine-play drive would end when a fourth-down pass fell incomplete. The Red Tornadoes led 28-0 at halftime, while limiting Central to just 59 yards of offense and two first downs.
“We did some different things defensively,” Darrah said. “I thought our guys responded well to it. I thought we tackled really well. We were physical, we were making some big hits, so that was good. Like I said, we’re going to continue to grow every week.”
After halftime, Mount Carmel would quickly build on the lead. Central fumbled the second-half kickoff, and one play later, Kimsal scored on a 19-yard run. Freshman Michael Higgins certainly made the most of his four opportunities. Higgins found a seam up the middle and easily outran the defense on an 88-yard sprint to paydirt that was his first varsity touchdown, and also landed him right on the century mark for the night.
“Mike is just a tough kid,” Darrah said. “He’s just a downhill runner, and he’s young. He’s only going to get better from here.”
Dominic Keller, a hard-running freshman, led Central with 42 yards on 16 carries. The Blue Jays did have a chance to score on their first possession of the second half. A couple of Mount Carmel penalties help set up a first-and-goal, but once again the Red Tornadoes did what they needed to. Two incomplete passes on third and fourth down helped preserve the shutout. Overall, Central coach Ky Seesholtz did see positive steps forward after an opening-week loss to Midd-West.
“We were just way more organized today on the field,” Seesholtz said. “We got plays in a lot better, we were able to sub guys in. Our effort never died during this game. We gave it everything we got. We’re trying to sub guys out to get a look, and they don’t want to come out of the game. They want to play. They want to play for this team, and they want to play for this culture we’re trying to set here. I’m very proud of our guys. The score doesn’t show how they played tonight. There’s a few big plays here and there that just affected us both defensively and offensively, but we can learn from that. We can develop it and build off of it.”
Mount Carmel 12 16 13 7-48
Central Columbia 0 0 0 0-0
Individual Scoring
First Quarter
MC-Cooper Karycki 1 run (kick failed) 10:18
MC-Michael Kimsal 10 run (run failed) 1:16
Second Quarter
MC-Jaylen Delaney 70 run (Karycki run) 8:44
MC-Delaney 24 run (Karycki pass from Gavin Marshalek) 5:23
Third Quarter
MC-Kimsal 19 run (kick failed) 11:47
MC-Michael Higgins 88 run (Miller kick) 6:48
Fourth Quarter
MC-Chance Swatski 19 pass from James Spears (Spears kick) 10:06
Team Statistics
……………………..MC………….CC
1st downs………13………………4
rush-yds………31-298……..29-87
comp-att-int..9-12-0…….4-12-1
pass yds……….111……………17
total yds………..399………….104
fumb-lost………1-0…………..3-1
pen-yds………….7-80……….8-55
Individual Statistics
Rushing-Mount Carmel: Jaylen Delaney 7-124, 2 TDs; Michael Higgins 4-100, TD; Cooper Karycki 4-52, TD; Michael Kimsal 4-34, 2 TDs; Austin Ventilli 5-17; Preston Pultynovich 1-(-1); Logan Shuder 1-(-3); Lance Glenney 1-(-4); Alekzandr Lukoskie 1-(-9); Gavin Marshalek 3-(-12). Central Columbia: Dominic Keller 16-42; Logan Miller 6-15; Aiden Mahamadou 3-14; Josiah Hosler 2-9; Demir Wood 2-7.
Passing-Mount Carmel: Marshalek 5-7-0, 53 yds.; James Spears 2-2-0, 35 yds., TD; Lukoskie 2-3-0, 23 yds. Central Columbia: Hosler 4-12-1, 17 yds.
Receiving: Mount Carmel: Shuder 2-23; Zeke Noel 2-21; Chance Swatski 1-19, TD; Lukas Carpenter 1-16; Max Karycki 1-14; Delaney 1-10; Aidan Brokenshire 1-8. Central Columbia: Connor Litchfield 2-10; Miller 1-4; Eli Geedy 1-3.
