Carmel 43, Notre Dame 13
The home crowd at Notre Dame High School in Niles was loud for good reason late into the first quarter during the Dons' game with Carmel on Friday.
The Dons offense had touched Carmel for a first-quarter touchdown. The defense had kept the Corsairs' offense in check, forcing a fumble and a punt. And with Carmel facing a third-and-1 at its own 34, Notre Dame was a big defensive play into taking the lead into the second quarter.
The festive mood ended quickly
That's when Carmel quarterback David Venegoni picked up a yard on a quarterback keeper. On the next play, Venegoni ran a draw 65 yards for the game-tying touchdown. On Notre Dame's first play on the next possession, the Dons' Zach Abraham connected with Joe Gutierrez on a 7-yard pass play. But Gutierrez fumbled, and Carmel junior James Zizzo recovered on the Dons' 27. Three plays later, Venegoni ran in another touchdown from 6 yards. That 14-point onslaught took just over a minute and a half to complete, and it was the first of two spurts of big plays that Carmel rode to a 43-13 win.
Venegoni ran for another touchdown to finish with 3 TDs and 140 yards on 16 carries. He also completed 4 of 5 passes for 54 yards and a touchdown -- the touchdown a 24-yard connection to senior Brian Siedlecki with 2:18 left in the first half to make it 36-7.
"We played a bad first series, but after that, we got going," Venegoni said. "I think we played young our first week, but we played a little better our second week and started to pick up in our third week."
In the first two weeks, the Corsairs (3-1, 2-0 East Suburban Catholic Conference) scored 15 points against Morgan Park and Libertyville. In the second quarter, it took about them a minute to score as many against Notre Dame (3-1, 1-1). After Venegoni rushed for another touchdown to make it 20-7 with 6:11 left in the second quarter, the Corsairs' defense forced a second-and-31 situation on Notre Dame from the Dons' 11. An errant snap went over Abraham's head, and Abraham kicked the ball out of the end zone for a safety. On the free kick, Ryan Williams ran the ball back 59 yards to make it 29-7 at the 5:11 mark.
"This is the best defense we've had in a long time," Carmel coach Andy Bitto said. "This might be the best defense we've had since the state championship team. We did a great job creating a lot of pressure on the quarterback."
Notre Dame's offense featured four receivers, a halfback and a shotgun formation. The Dons also ran a no-huddle offense, and it created some problems for the Corsairs early.
"Their receivers were quicker than I had thought, and the quarterback was scrappy," Bitto said.
Quarterback Abraham completed 5-of-6 passes for 38 yards on the Dons' first scoring drive, which halfback Tim Swieton punctuated by scoring on a 1-yard dive. Abraham finished the day 25-for-33 for 244 yards, 1 touchdown and 4 interceptions (2 by Chris Salvi and 1 each by Aaron Kwasigroch, and Ryan Williams).
Salvi punctuated his day by blocking a Notre Dame punt in the end zone and recovering it before it went out of the end zone for Carmel's final touchdown.