LEWISBURG – Coming off a loss to Southern Columbia in week two, John Darrah’s Mount Carmel squad was looking for a bounce back win to get its young season back on track.
The Red Tornadoes knew it wouldn’t be easy facing an undefeated Lewisburg team at home who had put a drubbing on Central Columbia the week before.
Luckily for the Red Tornadoes, the visitors were able to control the line of scrimmage and pick up a solid 40-20 victory over the Green Dragons.
“The first couple weeks we’ve faced some good defenses” said Coach Darrah, “We definitely think we’re a good offensive football team, but we hadn’t scored many points. We were waiting for an opportunity to show what we have and put up some big points and some big numbers.”
The run-heavy Mount Carmel offense opened the game with possession of the football and pounded the rock down the throat of the Lewisburg defense on a drive that made it look like things could get out of hand early.
On the team’s opening drive, the two-headed monster of John Ayers and Shane Weidner combined to carry the ball five times for 59 yards en route to the game’s opening score.
“Their line was much bigger than ours, but our line just got lower and was able to manhandle them and take us right down for the score.” said Weidner. “
After a pair of three-and-outs, the Lewisburg offense began to click thanks to workhorse running back Max Moyers.
Moyers touched the ball on 12 of the Green Dragons’ first 15 plays. The Sophomore back ended up leading all rushers in the game with 151 yards on 24 carries.
In a 6-0 game with the Green Dragons threatening deep in enemy territory, Moyers lost a fumble at the Mount Carmel 18-yardline to shift momentum back to the leading Red Tornadoes.
On the ensuing possession, Mount Carmel opened the drive with quarterback Tom Reisinger’s first pass of the night. Reisinger found Weidner in the flat as the junior rumbled for a gain of 25 yards.
Two play later disaster struck for the Green Dragons. On a second down and six, Reisinger dropped back to pass and floated a ball down the left sideline that fell incomplete. Unfortunately for Lewisburg, senior wide receiver/cornerback Dylan Farronato went down on the play with an apparent knee injury. The senior – who earlier in the week committed to play football at Davidson University next fall – was helped off the field without putting any weight on his injured leg and did not return to the contest.
Mount Carmel’s drive marched on and just two plays later Weidner found pay dirt again on a 23-yard rushing touchdown.
“Our line did their job. They blocked like they were supposed to, and we just ran all over them.” said Weidner. “
Trailing 14-0 the Green Dragons needed a score to try to take some momentum into the halftime break.
The home team took over in plus field position at the Mount Carmel 41 with just six minutes remaining before the halftime whistle. The team put together an eight-play drive that was highlighted by nice receptions by senior wide receivers Coleman Witherite and Romale Brown.
Backup quarterback Ethan Spaulding finished things off with a one-yard touchdown run to get the Green Dragons on the board and down by just a touchdown.
From here a defensive stand would have been just what the doctor ordered, but the Mount Carmel offense had other plans.
Taking over at its own 26-yard line the Red Tornado offense marched 74 yards on seven plays to pick up a score. The scoring play came with just 33 seconds remaining in the half when Reisinger connected with junior captain Jack Chapman for a 45-yard catch and run down the right sideline.
“I think our passing game has really improved since last season,” Darrah said. “We take what the defense gives up. Its good to be able to take advantage of what the defense is giving you whether it’s the run or the passing game.”
In the second half Mount Carmel was just as strong on offense as the team racked up 20 second-half points in the win.
The Red Tornadoes ended up rushing for 379 yards on 47 attempts in the game, with most of those yards coming from Ayers and Weidner.
Ayers ended up leading the duo with 138 rushing yards and a touchdown on 19 attempts. Weidner tacked on 114 yards and two touchdowns on just seven carries.
“We played hard. Every single one of our guys played hard.” Weidner said. “We made a couple changes from last week and came out strong. You guys saw the score.”
It was the first time Mount Carmel had two running backs rush for over 100 yards each in a single game since Weidner and Ayers accomplished the feat in a game against Milton last season.
Both Mount Carmel and Lewisburg will take 2-1 records into their respective week four matchups next Friday.
“I think we did play a little sloppy tonight,” Darrah said. “We had a couple penalties and missed a couple tackles on defense.”
Mount Carmel looks to keep rolling when the team takes on Jersey Shore (1-2) in Jersey Shore.
Lewisburg looks for a bounce back win when the team faces Milton (1-2) at 7 p.m. in Lewisburg.
Mount Carmel 40, Lewisburg 20
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Mount Carmel14 7 6 13 — 40
Lewisburg0 7 7 6 — 20
First Quarter
MC—John Ayers 7-yard run (PAT No Good), 10:03.
MC—Shane Weidner 23-yard run (Ayers 2-yard run. 2-point conversion Good), 2:37
Second Quarter
L—Ethan Spaulding 1-yard run (Jack Dieffenderfer PAT Good), 2:48.
MC—Jack Chapman 45-yard reception from Tom Reisinger (Julien Stellar PAT Good), 0:33.
Third Quarter
MC—Ayers 10-yard reception from Reisinger (PAT No Good), 6:31.
L—Max Moyers 2-yard run (Dieffenderfer PAT Good), 1:45.
Fourth Quarter
MC—Weidner 46-yard run (PAT No Good), 11:19.
MC—Tanner Karycki 58-yard run (Stellat PAT Good), 7:53
L—Spaulding 17-yard run (2-pt. conversion No Good), 5:31
TEAM STATISTICSMCL
First downs1812
Total yards501239
Rushes-yards47-37934-176
Yards passing12263
Passing (comp.-att.-int.)4-8-15-13-0
Punts-avg.3-245-42
Fumbles-lost3-02-1
Penalties-yards5-303-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Mount Carmel: Ayers 19-138 TD, Weidner 7-114 2TD, Karycki 3-72 TD, Stellar 5-27, Noah Berkoski 2-15, Reisinger 5-12, Michael Reed 2-4, Dylan Pupo 1-2, Tyler Owens 1-2, Damon Dowkus 1-(-2), TEAM 1-(-5). Lewisburg: Moyers 24-151 TD, Spaulding 7-18 2TD, Ethan Dominick 2-5, Andrew Ramirez 1-3.
PASSING—Mount Carmel: Reisinger 4-8 122 yds, 2 TD, INT. Lewisburg: Spaulding 2-4 33 yds; Nick Shedleski 3-9 30 yds.
RECEIVING—Mount Carmel: Chapman 2-87 TD, Weidner 1-25, Ayers 1-10 TD. Lewisburg: Romale Brown 3-36, Coleman Witherite 1-19, Brett Newcomb 1-8.
