Joliet Catholic 45, Carmel 8
The theme for the Joliet Catholic defense on Friday night in its East Suburban Catholic Conference showdown with visiting Carmel was "No Mercy."
"We weren't going to let up," said Joliet senior defensive tackle Dan Foreman. "No mercy, never let up -- that's our motto."
By the time Joliet Catholic got done with Carmel in the battle to decide the 2007 East Suburban Conference champion, it was the Corsairs who were crying uncle.
Joliet rolled out to a 31-0 advantage, scoring on all but two of its first-half possessions and eventually rolling past the Corsairs 45-8.
The win secures another conference title for the 8-1 Hilltoppers and likely a top-seed in next week's Class 6A state playoffs.
Carmel had its seven-game winning streak snapped and completed the regular season at 7-2 overall. The Corsairs finished second in the ESCC.
"(Joliet) won the game in the first quarter tonight," Carmel coach Andy Bitto said. "We haven't given up a lot of big plays and we gave up far too many tonight."
The game couldn't have started any worse for the Corsairs.
On just the third play from scrimmage, Foreman stripped Carmel quarterback David Venegoni of the football, setting up the potent Hilltoppers attack inside the Corsair 45. Fortunately for Carmel, the defense stiffened and didn't allow Joliet to get started. It was, however, a sign of things to come for Carmel on a night when nothing bounced the Corsairs' way.
After getting the ball back, Carmel failed to move it again and was forced to punt. This time, Joliet got the ball back in favorable field position and didn't waste any time doing something with its good fortune.
Four plays later, Joliet notched its first score when quarterback John Ruettiger lofted a perfect pass to Sean Sheppard in the end zone for a 17-yard scoring play and a 7-0 advantage. It was the start of a 19-point first quarter for Joliet, which turned out to be more than enough points for the Hilltoppers.
"We kept giving (Joliet) short fields," Bitto said. "They were quicker than we were. They got lower than we did -- they just kicked our (butts)."
When Ruettiger and the Joliet offense weren't beating Carmel through the air, the ground game led by junior Tyler Hudetz ran through the usually stingy Corsairs defense.
Hudetz burned Carmel for 126 of his game-best 182 yards in the first half. A significant chunk came just before half, when Hudetz burst through the Carmel line and sprinted away from the speedy Corsairs secondary for a 65-yard scoring play.
"We knew that (Carmel) could come at us and do the same thing," Hudetz said. "So we wanted to get on them fast and not let them get anything going."
Hudetz and Brandon Geiss churned through the Carmel defense in the first half with Geiss putting the finishing touches on a 31-point outburst with a 3-yard score just before halftime.
"Our defense has been playing really well so to have a performance like this tonight, is hard to imagine," Bitto said. "But we have to wipe the slate clean with wire brushes or anything we can find to get this off of us and move on to next week."
Carmel did finally hit pay dirt late in the fourth quarter after the running clock had started and the outcome was well in hand for Joliet Catholic.
Venegoni took it in from 7 yards away to prevent the shutout. He completed a 2-point pass to Dylan Shearon for the game's final points.