MOUNT CARMEL – Over the past two seasons, Milton hasn’t made things easy for Mount Carmel. The Black Panthers sprung an upset last year, and just two weeks ago, it took some time for Mount Carmel to pull away. Saturday night, that trend was emphatically reversed. Outside of a little hiccup at the start of the game, the Red Tornadoes exorcised some demons. Mount Carmel scored on five consecutive drives in the first half while rolling up 303 yards of offense, as the No. 3 seed Red Tornadoes strolled into the District 4 semifinals with a 55-26 win. No. 2 seed Lewisburg (9-1) will await Mount Carmel next week, with the game to be played at Milton High School on Friday night.
“It felt like there were some demons out when the game started, when we gave up that kick return and they scored,” Mount Carmel coach John Darrah said. “We had a sloppy offensive series, and I was thinking ‘here we go,’ but then our kids settled in. I was happy with the way we ran the football and defended the run, which when it gets colder out, is what you have to do to be successful. I thought it was a good team win.”
No. 6 seed Milton (4-7) was coming off a nice victory at Warrior Run last week, and things started well enough for the Black Panthers. Monte Fisher returned the opening kickoff 63 yards to set up Milton with a very short field to navigate. However, the Red Tornadoes defense held on downs, but the offense handed the ball right back with a fumble on their initial offensive series. Fisher caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Izayah Minium to give Milton a very brief 6-0 lead, and it wouldn’t take very long for the floodgates to open for Mount Carmel.
Jaylen Delaney got the scoring party started with a 38-yard touchdown run that saw him make a couple of nice moves to avoid tackles on his way to the end zone. Delaney continues to show his versatility as he tallied a game-high 94 yards on only six carries. The sophomore is also Mount Carmel’s leading receiver, and had a 14-catch outing against Central Columbia back in Week 2.
“He’s just a really good athlete,” Darrah said of Delaney. “When we was in junior high, he was more of a running back and doing this kind of stuff all the time, so we know he’s just dangerous with the ball in his hands. It’s just about getting the ball in his hands so he can do a lot of things, and I think he showed that tonight.”
Following Delaney’s run, Mount Carmel would score two more times in the opening quarter. Gavin Marshalek found Chase Balichik for a 51-yard touchdown pass, and Cooper Karycki bounced a run to the outside for a 13-yard sprint to paydirt. After being shutout by Shamokin last week, the Red Tornadoes got back on track in a big way. Thirteen different players got carries out of the backfield, with five them crossing the goal line.
“Oh yeah, it felt great, Delaney said. “We were running the ball all over them in the first half with our starters, and it felt great.”
Mount Carmel (8-3) continued to move the ball against very little resistance in the second quarter. Delaney scored on an inside handoff from 9 yards out, and then the defense would chip in. Andrew Lukoskie picked up what amounted to backwards pass and took it the distance for a 16-yard touchdown, extending the lead to 34-6 with 9:16 left before halftime. Any hangover from an emotional Coal Bucket game the week before had clearly vanished in a rebound performance.
“That’s the makeup of this team,” Darrah said. “We’re able to just keep battling, not let stuff rattle us and things like that. Just an overall good team victory. We got a lot of different guys involved in a lot of ways. I’m just proud of the way the kids bounced back this week.”
One of the many players who contributed was Luke Blessing. On opening night, Blessing suffered a knee injury at North Schuylkill that looked like it could be season-ending. Blessing had missed a good chunk of his senior season, but showed signs of the 1,300-yard rusher he was in 2023. He carried six times for 56 yards, and scored on a 2-yard run with 4:19 remaining in the second quarter.
“It’s really unbelievable,” Darrah said. “What a great kid, and obviously what happened to him was unfortunate. Great to see him getting stronger every week and having some success. He scored a touchdown tonight, so I definitely feel good about him doing that.”
Michael Kimsal closed out the dominant first half by running straight up the middle on his first carry of the night for 32-yard touchdown. Max Karycki notched his first career touchdown with a 3-yard run midway through the third career. With the mercy rule in effect for the entire second half, Mount Carmel used plenty of reserves the rest of the way. The Red Tornadoes’ offensive line paved the way for a stable of backs all night, which will be needed against the likes of Lewisburg, and potentially Danville, down the road.
“It’s amazing,” Delaney said. “Every game they’re dominating up front. The holes are wide open for us to run through.”
Milton 6 6 7 7-26
Mount Carmel 20 28 7 0-55
Individual Scoring
First Quarter
M-Monte Fisher 17 pass from Izayah Minium (kick failed) 7:56
MC-Jaylen Delaney 38 run (kick failed) 7:04
MC-Chase Balichik 51 pass from Gavin Marshalek (Robert Schoppy kick) 5:28
MC-Cooper Karycki 13 run (Schoppy kick) 2:53
Second Quarter
MC-Delaney 9 run (Schoppy kick) 10:51
MC-Andrew Lukoskie 16 fumble return (Schoppy kick) 9:21
M-Fisher 30 pass from Chase Lytle (pass failed) 7:50
MC-Luke Blessing 2 run (Schoppy kick) 4:19
MC-Michael Kimsal 32 run (Schoppy kick) 2:40
Third Quarter
MC-Max Karycki 3 run (Schoppy kick) 6:20
M-Lytle 20 run (Luke Osman kick) 1:12
Fourth Quarter
M-Chris Doyle 3 run (Osman kick) 9:51
Team Statistics
……………………………M……………………..MC
1st downs……………..6………………………….25
rush-yds…………….25-10…………………56-319
comp-att-int……..5-13-0…………………..4-6-0
pass yds……………128………………………..82
total yds…………….138……………………….401
fumb-lost……………2-2……………………….5-2
pen-yds………………8-55…………………….2-10
Individual Statistics
Rushing-Milton: Chris Doyle 13-43, TD; Monte Fisher 1-(-1); Lucas Ditty 1-(-5); Chase Lytle 7-(-6), TD; Izayah Minium 3-(-21). Mount Carmel: Jaylen Delaney 6-94, 2 TDs; Luke Blessing 6-56, TD; Michael Kimsal 3-53, TD; Matthew Balichik 4-50; Cooper Karycki 6-34, TD; Aidan Brokenshire 4-20; Logan Shuder 7-19; Al Bailey 3-17; Jon Morgante 2-15; Aidan Deitz 5-10; Max Karycki 2-7, TD; Edward Dye 1-0; Robert Schoppy 1-(-12); Team 2-(-16); Gavin Marshalek 4-(-28).
Passing-Milton: Lytle 3-6-0, 105 yds., TD; Minium 2-7-0, 23 yds., TD. Mount Carmel: Marshalek 4-5-0, 82 yds., TD; Brokenshire 0-1-0.
Receiving-Milton: Fisher 3-74, 2 TDs; Ditty 2-54. Mount Carmel: Chase Balichik 1-51, TD; Delaney 2-23; Tait Adams 1-8.
One Response
John darrah has wally hall itis. Its when you don’t play your best players at there best positions and waste there talent. It’s now obvious to me Delaney is the best rb but he plays wr lol