After a season of nothing but positives and domination by Tiger football, tears were shed as the team walked off the field Saturday.
The Mt. Carmel Caravan was just too powerful, defeating Edwardsville 34-7 and earning a trip to the state finals next weekend at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb.
The brisk, 30-degree temperatures and 12 mph winds greatly affected the Tiger pass game as they were going into the wind in both the first and fourth quarters. After a punt on the first drive by the Tigers, the Caravan did exactly what they know what to do: run the football.
“The weather is as tough as you make it,” senior tight end Hayden Schmidt said. You can either let it be a factor or not, and I feel like as a team we didn’t let it affect us.”
On the first offensive play of the game for the Caravan, University of Illinois commit Matt Domer took a hand-off straight up the gut and was untouched as he raced his way to the end zone for a 49-yard score. The extra point was tacked on to put the Caravan up 7-0 with 9:09 to play in the first quarter.
Mt. Carmel had just begun their scoring. After Mt. Carmel’s Deonte Brown intercepted a pass thrown by EHS quarterback Dan Marinko, the Caravan cashed in with a nine-yard touchdown rush by Jimmy Mickens. Though the extra point attempt was blown, the Caravan still led the Tigers 13-0.
Nearing the end of the quarter, the Caravan tacked on another nine-yard touchdown by Domer for his second score of the game. Mt. Carmel then went for two and got it on a pass play to extend the lead to 21-0 with 16 seconds left in the first quarter.
The two-point conversion by the Caravan was the only pass play of the game for them as they rushed the ball on every other play of the game.
Mt. Carmel’s defensive line was just too much for the Tiger offensive line to handle as Edwardsville was held to six total rushing yards on 21 carries. Midway through the second quarter, Edwardsville’s star running back Elijah Crockett was injured on a horse collar tackle and did not return.
After Crockett’s injury, D’ Anthony Knight took over full duties at running back. After being down 21-0, the Tigers marched down the field and set up at the goal line with 3:20 remaining in the first half when Knight fumbled the football at the one yard line and Mt. Carmel regained possession of the football and took that lead into half-time.
The Tiger defensive settled down after the first quarter and stopped the Caravan on all of their possessions in the second and third quarters. With 1:33 left to go in the third quarter, the Tigers saw a glimpse of hope as a long drive going with the wind was capped off by a one- yard touchdown pass from Marinko to wide receiver Darius Crochrell.
The Tiger defense was on to something. With 35 seconds left to play in the third quarter, EHS senior linebacker Sean Sandifer recovered a fumble at midfield to give the ball back to the Tigers. Unfortunately for EHS, they could not capitalize and the game was pretty much all but over from that point.
The Caravan tacked on two late touchdowns in the fourth quarter, another from Domer, his third of the game and another from junior running back Jaquan Buntyn. Buntyn’s one-yard touchdown run came after a late interception by senior defensive back Howard Griffith off of Marinko, which sealed the deal for the Caravan.
Mt. Carmel head coach Frank Lenti had this to say post-game about EHS quarterback Dan Marinko: “He’s one of the best I’ve seen; he might be better than the kid at St. Rita and the kid at Loyola.”
As Schmidt and his teammates walked off the field for the last time together he said, “It was tough. But I’m glad we could make all you guys (fans) proud, that’s all we wanted.”
When asked how proud he was of his team on their accomplishments this year Schmidt said, “As proud as anybody could ever be of anything in the world. It was a true honor to play for everybody on the team and the coaching staff. Something I’ll hold as one of my greatest achievements.”
The Tigers certainly did make their fans proud as they finished the season with a 13-1 record and will go down as the best team in Tiger football history.