Baucus, Carmel's 'D' earn shutout
Jack Baucus ran nearly the length of De La Salle Institute's football field to make a tackle.
Exhausting as it may have been for the Carmel Catholic junior tight end, anyone who has played high school football in mid-November will surely tell you that long journeys are well worth the effort.
Baucus' tackle of electrifying Elliott Brown on the final play of the first half Saturday night not only helped Carmel post its first shutout of the season but earned the Corsairs a berth in the Class 7A state semifinals.
With its defense limiting De La Salle to 67 total yards of offense, including minus-10 rushing, the Corsairs won 16-0 on Chicago's south side.
Carmel (10-2) will host Lake Zurich (11-1) next Saturday. Corsairs coach Andy Bitto said if Lake Zurich approves, the game will start at 4 p.m. -- the same time the Class 7A state championship game is scheduled to be played the following Saturday, Nov. 24.
"This is probably the best we've ever done (defensively) this season," said Carmel cornerback Tim Cook, who had an interception and a sack. "We stuck to our game plan, everyone did what they were supposed to do, we made some big plays, and we didn't let (De La Salle) get their running game going. Their passing started out all right, but then we got tired and we shut them down."
De La Salle played some "D" itself, particularly in the first half. Carmel couldn't put the ball in the end zone and instead settled for 3 field goals from strong-legged Austin Heinrichs.
Cook's interception in the final 30 seconds of the half gave Carmel the ball at midfield. With only three seconds left, quarterback David Venegoni heaved a pass toward the end zone. Brown -- a dangerous return man/wide receiver who Carmel refused to kick to -- stepped in front of Baucus and took off the other way.
Brown zigged and zagged downfield, breaking tackles in the process. Baucus eventually dragged down Brown inside the Carmel 5.
"I was an idiot," Bitto said. "I decided with three seconds left, let's throw it down there and see if we can get a tipped pass or something -- then zing, zang, zong. Luckily, Baucus caught him."
"It just scared me so much," Baucus said. "I saw that ball go up and it was under-thrown. I just hustled all the way back -- 90 yards -- to tackle (Brown). I was kind of hoping someone else would get him so I wouldn't have to. I just tried to make the play."
Good thing for Carmel Baucus stands 6 feet 6 and is athletic. His long reach and trusty hands helped him snatch Brown just in time.
"Awesome," Cook said of Baucus' touchdown-saving tackle. "That was scary. I saw all of them chasing (Brown). I saw Venegoni break down. I'm like, 'All right, he's down.' Venegoni slips and I thought (Brown) was gone. Then Baucus came out with his big hand and just yanked him back."
"He just hustled," Bitto said. "Our kids have been hustling all year."
Carmel has been running the ball, too.
The Corsairs all but put the game away with a 20-play, 99-yard drive that ate up a whopping 10 minutes, 35 seconds on the game clock.
Geoffery Fields capped the march with a 2-yard TD run with 7:53 left in the fourth.
Fields (19 carries, 99 yards), Mike Taylor (14-80) and Venegoni (22-77) shared the 20 carries. They ran all night behind a group that included Michael Schafernak, Kolin Meehan, Michael Jeffrey, Patrick Lyons, Kent Liederbach, Nick Rudman, Alec Smith and Andrew Nerup.
"That was definitely a statement drive for us," said Liederbach, the center. "We knew we had a long way to go with 99 yards. It was just the same couple basic plays. We knew if we got (De La Salle's defense) going they'd start to get tired. All we had to do was play low, play fast and just throw a couple of back-side blocks -- (gain) 5-6 yards at a pop. We were really patient, (Venegoni) made the right reads and we just kept driving.
"We made a couple of mistakes but we were able to bounce back from them with some key blocks and some really hard running from our running backs."
Carmel's defense held Meteors star running back Cordero Gaston to 0 rushing yards on 8 carries.
"We should have 4 or 5 shutouts, if we didn't doink them away," Bitto said. "(We) shut down a very explosive offense."