ASHLAND – Since the 2018 season, Mount Carmel has had two major monkeys on its back. The Red Tornados have only lost 10 games on the field during that time (not including a few forfeits during the shortened 2020 season). Astoundingly, nine of those losses have been to just two teams – North Schuylkill and Southern Columbia.
On Friday, the Red Tornados got one of those major monkeys off its back, and erased the memory of a pair of close losses in their last two trips to Ashland back in 2017 and 2019, as Mount Carmel overcame some tense moments late, as well as a lighting delay, and made some big defensive plays in the second half to snap a seven-game losing streak to North Schuylkill with a 25-17 win.
“I’m enjoying it now, but it was nuts after we came out of the delay. Half our team was cramping up, but we had a ton of guys, especially some of our sophomores, that made some huge plays that were the difference,” said Mount Carmel coach John Darrah. “This was a really tough week one opponent and we’re really glad to get out of here with a win.”
The win marks the first over the Spartans for Darrah, a Mount Carmel graduate who served as an assistant coach at North Schuylkill before returning to his alma mater for the 2015 season.
Cole Spears, making his first varsity start at quarterback, played like a poised veteran, as he accounted for three touchdowns on 14-of-19 passing for 176 yards and a touchdown, and also had two rushing touchdowns on 28 yards rushing.
“I can’t even describe the feeling – it’s awesome,” said Spears. “I’m so happy for our coaches and especially the seniors – this is their first win over North Schuylkill.”
While they got the job done down the stretch in crunch time, it was a bit of an ominous start for the Red Tornados, however. On the first play from scrimmage of the game, North Schuylkill running back Jared Tinari broke loose for a 57-yard run to set up the Spartans at the Mount Carmel 28. The Red Tornados hunkered down, however, and stopped the Spartans on down.
The Red Tornados were then stopped on down themselves, and North Schuylkill converted on its next drive as Neekoli Caraballo punched it in from a yard out following a 54-yard reception by Joey Flail that put the Spartans on the doorstep.
Mount Carmel answered with a long drive on its ensuing possession, with a two-yard touchdown run by Spears capping a 16-play, 80-yard drive that took 7:43. Fourteen of those plays were rushes, but Garrett Varano hauled in a nine-yard reception to convert a fourth-and-8 from the Spartan 12 to extend the drive.
“That was very important answering,” said Darrah. “We have good senior leadership and we had a great summer, some great double sessions, but we didn’t have our two best practices this week, but I think that was a blessing in disguise because we have to learn how to fight through some tough times, and that’s what we did today.”
The drive-extending reception by Varano was one of five catches for 73 yards on the night for the senior, as Mount Carmel came out throwing the ball, particularly early, a departure from its usual ground and pound offense, but something that there might be more of this season.
“We’re definitely looking to through a little bit more. We’ve got some speed on the outside there so we’re just trying to take advantage of it with some simple throws and I thought Cole threw it well and we had some big plays in the passing game to help us win,” said Darrah. “He really gutted it out.”
North Schuylkill punted on its next two possessions while Mount Carmel turned it over on downs at the Spartan 26. The Red Tornados then took over at their own 37 with 4:30 left in the half, and two big passes moved the ball down the field, 15 yards to Matt Scicchitano and 39 yards to Varano to put Mount Carmel at the Spartan 3. Two plays later, Luke Blessing punched it in from two yards out to make it 13-7.
The Spartans managed to move the ball 63 yards on five plays down to the Mount Carmel 9-yard line with :04 left in the half, and Gavin Mentzer kicked a 26-yard field goal to cut the lead to 13-10 heading into halftime.
Mount Carmel had a punt partially blocked to end its first drive of the second half, but it got the ball right back as Al Bailey picked off Trevor Minalda on the Spartans’ first offensive play of the second half to set up the Red Tornados near midfield.
From there, Mount Carmel went back to its usual bread and butter, pounding out 13 plays for 49 yards, 10 of which were runs, but also got two big fourth-down conversions through the air, the second of which was a 13-yard touchdown reception by Varano on a tipped ball on fourth-and-goal from the 13 to put Mount Carmel up 19-10 and cap a drive that took 7:34. Varano also caught a seven-yard pass to convert a fourth-and-4 earlier in the drive.
Mount Carmel then forced a three-and-out by the Spartans, and on the first play of its ensuing drive, Blessing ripped off a 64-yard run all the way down to the North Schuylkill 6. After a three-yard gain by Spears put it on the 3, the lighting delay came, before Spears finished the drive with a three-yard touchdown run when play resumed after a 45-minute delay, putting the Red Tornados up 25-10.
A sack by Noah Shimko stopped the Spartans on fourth-and-1 of their ensuing drive, and Mount Carmel was able to run off over three minutes of clock despite not getting a first down on its next drive before punting, giving North Schuylkill the ball back at its own 29 with 5:50 to play.
The Spartans took just a little over a minute to go 71 yards in six plays, capped by a 17-yard touchdown reception by Collin Stanakis to cut it to a one-score game with 4:33 remaining.
Mount Carmel went three-and-out again and punted it back to North Schuylkill with 3:19 remaining. The Spartans advanced to the Red Tornado 39 before Chase Balichik, one of those sophomores that Darrah referred to, picked off Minalda’s pass at the Mount Carmel 10, and after one more first down, the Red Tornados had their first win over North Schuylkill since 2013.
Blessing, another one of those sophomores, finished with a game-high 107 rushing yards along with his touchdown. Xavier Diaz, the expected first-string running back, and the PIAA Class 2A champion in the 100 meters last spring, had 26 yards on nine carries along with four catches as he battled cramps throughout the game.
Mount Carmel 25, North Schuylkill 17
Mount Carmel (1-0) 0 13 6 6 – 25
North Schuylkill (0-1) 7 3 0 7 – 17
First quarter
5:16 – (NS) Neekoli Caraballo 1-yard run (Mentzer kick), 4-59, 1:36
Second quarter
9:33 – (MC) Cole Spears 2-yard run (Yagodzinskie kick), 16-80, 7:43
:41 – (MC) Luke Blessing 2-yard run (kick failed), 6-63, 3:49
:00 – (NS) Gavin Mentzer 26-yard field goal, 5-63, :41
Third quarter
1:10 – (MC) Garrett Varano 13-yard pass from Cole Spears (kick failed), 13-49, 7:34
Fourth quarter
9:57 – (MC) Cole Spears 3-yard run (run failed), 3-70, 1:13
4:33 – (NS) Collin Stanakis 17-yard pass from Trevor Minalda (Mentzer kick), 6-71, 1:17
Statistics
MC NS
First downs 19 13
Rushes-net yards 44-184 20-106
Passing yardage 176 173
Passing 14-19-1-0 10-21-1-2
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 8-66 5-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Mount Carmel: Luke Blessing (16-107-1), Cole Spears (13-28-2), Xavier Diaz (9-26), Michael Farronato (4-4), Ryan Weidner (1-18), Jacob Zarski (1-1); North Schuylkill: Trevor Minalda (10-14), Jared Tinari (7-86), Joey Flail (1-1), Ricky Halford (1-4), Neekoli Caraballo (1-1-1)
PASSING — Mount Carmel: Cole Spears (14-19-176-1-0); North Schuylkill: Trevor Minalda (10-21-173-1-2)
RECEIVING — Mount Carmel: Garrett Varano (5-73-1), Xavier Diaz (4-19), Michael Farronato (3-63), Matt Scicchitano (1-15), Luke Blessing (1-6); North Schuylkill: Jack Dean (6-75), Joey Flail (2-73), Collin Stanakis (1-17-1), Jared Tinari (1-8)
