Carmel wins contrast of styles with ND
An interesting battle was brewing Friday in Mundelein. Visiting Notre Dame essentially used a ball-control, run-and-shoot offense. Quarterback Eric Hennessey, son of the head coach, completed 32 of 51 passes on the night, but only 4 of the receptions resulted in gains of more than 10 yards.
Carmel, meanwhile, seemed to be running up against a brick wall for much of the contest. Usually it doesn't matter to the Corsairs if an opposing defense commits eight men to stop the run. This time, it did. Carmel's first 14 running plays netted just 16 yards.
Eventually, though, Carmel quarterback Andrew Nerup (18 carries, 111 yards) broke loose for a pair of long touchdown runs to create some breathing room and the Corsairs held off Notre Dame 21-14 in East Suburban Catholic Conference action.
"I thought Notre Dame did a great job up front confusing us on our blocking schemes," Carmel coach Andy Bitto said. "Luckily, we broke a couple of long ones when we needed to."
Both of Nerup's long scoring runs came on the same play, where he faked a handoff to Mike Taylor, then followed his fullback through the right side of the line. Nerup sprinted 38 yards late in the third quarter to put Carmel ahead 14-0.
After the Dons finally found the end zone with 6:30 remaining on an 8-yard pass to Pat Lazzara, Nerup added a 51-yard touchdown run to stretch the lead to 21-7. Notre Dame's final score came with just 28.9 seconds on the clock.
"It was kind of a grind-it-out kind of game," Nerup said. "We were really patient with our option game. You've got to give them credit."
The defining play of the first half was turned in by Carmel's defense. The Corsairs (5-1, 3-1) failed to convert a fake punt at their own 48-yard line on the game's opening drive.
The first of Hennessey's bushel of passes went for a 9-yard gain. His second throw was picked off by Carmel linebacker Ryan Hrabek, who returned it 57 yards to the Notre Dame 3. Nerup ran it in two plays later to give the Corsairs a 7-0 lead that stood up at halftime.
"Our coaches told me if I read that the running back is for sure blocking, I can drop back and read the quarterback's eyes," said Hrabek, a Grayslake resident. "It's disappointing (not to reach the end zone), but I'm just glad the offense was able to score and I secured the ball. I had trouble running because I was making sure to hang onto the ball."
After big games the past two weeks, Taylor was held to 55 yards on 17 carries. Notre Dame (4-2, 2-2) finished with 207 passing yards and minus-8 rushing yards.
"For anybody to beat these guys, you have to keep their offense off the field," Dons coach Mike Hennessey said. "We're not going to run over them. We have to nickel and dime it down the field. We did a lot of things we wanted to do, but we didn't win. I'm sure nobody gave us a chance."