Carmel stops Elgin, honors Sullivan
An evening that started on a painfully somber note ended the way many Fridays do at Carmel's football stadium.
With a celebration, and, fittingly, Kool and the Gang's “Celebration” playing over the loudspeaker.
Third-seeded Carmel rolled over No. 14 Elgin 55-7 in a Class 7A playoff game that was out of hand by halftime. By then, the Corsairs, who move to 9-1 on the season and will next face the winner of tomorrow's game between No. 11 Chicago Taft and No. 6 Rockton Hononegah, boasted a comfy 31-point lead.
Carmel's deafening dominance was preceded by silence.
Fans and players were asked prior to kickoff to participate in a moment of silence to honor former Carmel student and football player Declan Sullivan. The 20-year-old, 2008 Carmel graduate was killed on Wednesday at the University of Notre Dame while filming football practice.
Sullivan, a Notre Dame student who worked for the athletic department, was perched above practice on a portable tower when high winds caused the tower to fall over. Sullivan was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital.
His younger brother Mac is a cornerback on the Carmel sophomore team and was brought up for the playoffs.
“The whole school is upset about it,” Carmel quarterback Brian Serio said. “It's an awful thing that happened and we're all praying for (the family).
“His brother (Mac) was up with us this week and was actually at practice when it happened. That's got to be so tough on him. But we're all here together for them. We're all a family.”
On the field, the family business was thriving.
Carmel did what it does best and ran all over the place with ease.
The triple option worked to perfection as four different backs rushed for more than 100 yards each. Serio had 111 yards on 12 carries, Jordan Kos and Michael Panico each rang up 108 yards (on 13 and 11 carries, respectively) and sophomore reserve Josh Walinski came in late in the fourth quarter to help Carmel ice the game and wound up with 128 yards on just 8 carries.
“That's our game,” Carmel coach Andy Bitto said. “When we can get it on the perimeter or run the cutback dive inside, we're going to chop people up.”
Actually, it was Elgin that had Carmel scared to pieces right out of the gate.
The Corsairs fumbled on their second play from scrimmage and Elgin linebacker Adrian Martinez scooped up the ball and ran 60 yards for a touchdown. That gave the Maroons a 7-0 lead with 8:40 left in the first quarter.
It was the fourth straight game in which Carmel fumbled away the ball on its first possession.
“When we got that touchdown, I thought we were in the game,” said Elgin quarterback Lee Jackson, who completed 10-of-21 passes for 96 yards. “Everyone was confident. “But they just came back strong on us.”
Carmel's defense was particularly relentless from then on.
The Corsairs held Elgin to just 110 yards of total offense. Meanwhile, they forced the Maroons into six turnovers four lost fumbles and two interceptions. Four of those turnovers led directly to Carmel scores.
By halftime, Carmel was up 38-7 on a 24-yard field goal by Steven O'Block, touchdown runs by Serio (1 yard, 19 yards, 1 yard) and Kos (9 yards) and a 40-yard touchdown pass from Serio to Brian Brennan.
“The defense has been doing a great job of getting turnovers,” Kos said. “It's important to capitalize on those and we did a pretty good job of that tonight.”
Kos ran for another touchdown (4 yards) in the third quarter and then the fourth quarter saw reserves like Walinski and back-up kicker Matt Ryan shine. Ryan, a sophomore, booted a 32-yard field goal and Walinski motored for a 51-yard touchdown run.
“The turnovers were frustrating,” said Elgin coach Dave Bierman, whose team wraps up its most successful season in 10 years with a 6-4 record. The Maroons last made the playoffs in 2001. “When you give them field position like we did, it doesn't take them very long to score. When we thought we were getting something positive going, something would happen, a penalty or a turnover.”