DANVILLE-Following a first half in which Mount Carmel failed on numerous scoring opportunities and the Danville defense did what it could to stay competitive, things quickly turned after halftime. The Red Tornadoes needed just 11 plays to score four third-quarter touchdowns, which was more than enough to open the flood gates. Jaylen Delaney and Cooper Karycki both struck for big plays after being held in check throughout much of the first half, as Mount Carmel cruised to a 42-21 win.
“First half, just not executing up to our capability,” Mount Carmel coach John Darrah said. “Had a couple turnovers, which we typically don’t have. Our defense really played great and kept us in the driver’s seat. Really at halftime, the adjustment was just pretty much, let’s play better. Let’s play to our capability. We didn’t do anything different. We woke up a little bit and I thought we had a great third quarter there.”
Mount Carmel (5-0) had golden opportunities to break things open, especially in the first quarter. The Red Tornadoes started their first three drives on the Danville side of the field, but only scored once. Mikey Higgins scored from two yards out on the Red Tornadoes’ second possession, but other than that, the Ironmen put together a pretty valiant effort on defense. Jaylen Delaney was stopped on a fourth down play inside the Danville 5 on Mount Carmel’s first drive, and Landon Bennett recovered a fumble in the red zone to thwart another threat. Mount Carmel took a 14-0 lead at the 9:15 mark of the second quarter when Delaney connected with Aidan Brokenshire on a 20-yard touchdown pass.
“We’ve still got some inexperienced guys,” Darrah said. “Put in a situation like that, they gotta learn how to wake up, how to adjust. So it was good to see them kind of turn things around there in the third quarter.”
Danville (3-2) saw its defense face almost impossible situations throughout the entire first half. The Ironmen got another fourth down stop early in the second quarter, when once again Delaney was stopped inside the 5. Much of the excellent field position Mount Carmel enjoyed was set up by the inability of the Danville offense to move the ball. The Red Tornadoes held Danville to minus-8 yards of total offense and only one first down in the opening half, as the Ironmen continued to play without starting quarterback Macon Patrick, who is out with an injury.
“First half, I thought we played super well defensively,” Danville coach Shawn Sheptock said. “Offensively, we again shot ourselves in the foot at various times, but I was very pleased with the effort. Third quarter, we came out flat, and that’s on me. That’s something I gotta change. That’s something I have to address, and get us to be better prepared in the third quarter.”
The home-run hitters for Mount Carmel made their presence felt in the decisive third quarter. Karycki took a handoff and went 66-yards for a touchdown on the fourth snap of the second half. Exactly two minutes later, Delaney found a wide-open Karycki for a 29-yard touchdown pass, extending the lead to 28-0 with 8:28 left. Karycki finished with 98 yards on 12 carries, but certainly made the most of both touches he got after halftime.
“I know he had a rushing touchdown and caught a pass there, that was good to see,” Darrah said of Karycki. “It’s just a matter of, it’s like a game of inches. We do a couple things better, we’ve got some explosive skill guys. We get them loose, they can make some big plays.”
Following a failed fake punt, Delaney would need just one play to finish off his night in style. Delaney got the space he needed and sprinted 44 yards to end zone, as he ended with 99 yards on the ground and two touchdown passes through the air. With the reserves in, Jaxon Boblick made his second big play in as many weeks as he scored on a 25-yard touchdown run to make the score 42-0, while the focus began turning towards a big matchup with Southern Columbia next week. Danville’s first team finally got things going in the fourth quarter against Mount Carmel’s defensive backups. Ben Nye, Jack Rarig, and Maxx Kitka all scored rushing touchdowns in the final nine minutes.
“I’m proud of our kids, they worked hard,” Sheptock said. “Coach Darrah runs a great program. I have a lot of respect for Coach Darrah. Their kids are fundamentally sound, they’re very physical kids. Our kids knew that they were going to have to have a gargantuan effort to defend something like that. When you have a quarterback that can run the ball, a tailback that can run the ball, the wing could run the ball, and I thought we did well in the first half.”
Mount Carmel 7 7 28 0-42
Danville 0 0 0 21-21
Individual Scoring
First Quarter
MC-Mikey Higgins 2 run (Josh Miller kick) 5:57
Second Quarter
MC-Aidan Brokenshire 20 pass from Jaylen Delaney (Miller kick) 9:15
Third Quarter
MC-Cooper Karycki 66 run (Miller kick) 10:28
MC-C. Karycki 29 pass from Delaney (Miller kick) 8:28
MC-Delaney 44 run (Miller kick) 5:11
MC-Jaxon Boblick 25 run (Miller kick) :28
Fourth Quarter
D-Ben Nye 14 run (Liam Tomko kick) 8:16
D-Jack Rarig 4 run (Tomko kick) 5:37
D-Maxx Kitka 5 run (Tomko kick) :54
Team Statistics
…………………MC………………….D
1st downs………19……………………..12
rush-yds……51-414………………….47-164
comp-att-int…4-6-0…………………5-8-0
pass yds………..64……………………..37
total yds………478…………………….201
fumb-lost…….2-2……………………..6-2
pen-yds………..2-15………………….3-10
Individual Statistics
Rushing-Mount Carmel: Jaylen Delaney 13-99, TD; Cooper Karycki 12-98, TD; Mikey Higgins 6-74, TD; Jason Klokis 6-38; Austin Ventilli 4-34; Preston Pultynovich 3-26; Jaxon Boblick 1-25, TD; James Spears 1-12; Max Karycki 1-6; Logan Shuder 2-4; Gabe Higgins 1-0; Jayden Rotolo 1-(-2). Danville: Braxtyn Girardi 6-52; Jagger Simpson 15-41; Ben Ney 11-41, TD; Jack Rarig 7-32, TD; Kayvion Seabrook 2-14; Maxx Kitka 2-8, TD; Team 1-(-8); Mason Kingery 3-(-16).
Passing-Mount Carmel: Delaney 4-6-0 64 yds., 2 TDs. Danville: Kingery 5-7-0, 37 yds.; Simpson 0-1-0.
Receiving-Mount Carmel: C. Karycki 1-29, TD; Aiden Brokenshire 2-23, TD; M. Karycki 1-12. Danville: Anthony Wesley 2-15; Ezzy Tobias 1-11; Seabrook 1-8; Simpson 1-3.