Carmel cashes in with win at Libertyville

Ask Michael Jordan.

When you score a double-nickel, as he did against the New York Knicks in an unforgettable performance at Madison Square Garden in 1995, you're doing something right on offense.

But as much as Carmel's offense put on a show in a 55-27 dismantling of host Libertyville on Friday night, its defense came up just as big. Especially at just the right times.

In a crazy game of offensive one-upmanship by both teams, the Corsairs finally took control late in the third quarter with a sack that turned into a fumble and then a touchdown.

The Corsairs put the clamps on Libertyville quarterback A.J. Schurr, who was scrambling at his own 16-yard line and about to launch a pass to a receiver down field.

But Jake Larson charged Schurr from behind and when he teed off, the ball popped out of Schurr's hands. LaRon Biere followed the rolling ball and fell on it in the end zone for a Carmel touchdown.

That gave the Corsairs a 41-27 lead, and all of the momentum they would need to close out the game.

"That did it," Libertyville coach Randy Kuceyeski said. "We just couldn't overcome that."

It was Carmel's second touchdown in a mater of minutes.

The Corsairs, who improve to 2-0 on the season and 4-0 against Libertyville in the teams' regular season series dating back to 2007, had scored just seconds before on a 13-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brian Serio to Patrick Mulroy.

"This is always a fun, crazy game," Serio said.

Isn't that the truth.

Just a few minutes before Serio's touchdown pass, Libertyville was flying high. The Wildcats had blocked a Carmel punt and A.J. Schmidt tracked down the football in the end zone to tie the game at 27-27 with 6:12 to play in the third quarter.

"We made some mistakes and they got back in the game, but offensively, we were moving ball really well all night so I knew we'd score again," Serio said. "And then our defense just really stepped it up toward the end of the game and (Libertyville) wasn't able to get much of anything."

Libertyville gained just 47 yards of offense and failed to get a first down in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, the Carmel offense, which racked up 487 yards on the night, kept rolling.

The Corsairs closed out the game with two fourth-quarter touchdowns - a 12-yard run by Serio and a 7-yard run by Matt Maher.

Serio scored 3 touchdowns on the game and running back Michael Panico was right behind with 2 touchdowns against his hometown team. Panico, a Libertyville resident whose brother Santino starred for the Wildcats in the early 2000s, scored on a 5-yard run and an electrifying 73-yard run on the first play of the second half.

That extended Carmel's 7-point halftime advantage to 27-13.

Three minutes later, though, Libertyville scored the first of two straight touchdowns - a 23-yard halfback option pass from Hutch Herchenbach to Jeremy Birck, who scored 2 touchdowns on the night. Then came Schmidt's blocked punt.

"This was crazy," said Panico, who rushed for a game-high 159 yards on 9 carries. "We'd get like two touchdowns ahead, then all of a sudden they'd come back and it was back and forth, back and forth. But in the end, we got everything under control and our defense played great."

Libertyville, which drops to 0-2 on the season, hasn't been firmly in control this season. In its season opener against Barrington last week, the Wildcats were down 28-0 in the first quarter before rallying to come to within a touchdown in the third quarter.

"I look at these two games as two of the hardest games on our schedule," said Schurr, who scored 2 touchdowns and passed for 132 yards while completing 12-of-20 attempts. "I think our nonconference schedule is the toughest in the state. We will bounce back."