Hinsdale Central upsets Mt. Carmel

Allan Cameron is a relatively undersized defensive tackle, but the Hinsdale Central senior had two of the biggest plays on a night of many to propel the Red Devils to the Class 8A football finals.

Cameron recovered a Mt. Carmel fumble, which David Lutz translated into a go-ahead 24-yard field goal with 2:39 to play.

Then with the Caravan at its own 37-yard line, Cameron stopped Mt. Carmel quarterback Jordan Lynch on a fourth-and-1 play to preserve the Red Devils' 24-21 victory before an overflow audience Saturday night in Hinsdale.

Hinsdale Central (11-2) earned a program-first title-game berth against Maine South (13-0), which prevailed 23-6 against Bartlett, next Saturday at the University of Illinois' Memorial Stadium in Champaign.

Mt. Carmel (10-3), the storied south side program, had its season end for a second year in a row to a local school.

The Caravan lost to Glenbard North in the semifinals last year.

"Turnovers are going to win games," Cameron said. "When the opportunity comes up, I had to go for it. (On the fourth-down play) I knew (Lynch) was going to want to take matters into his own hands. We knew it was going to be a sneak."

Hinsdale Central never trailed in taking a 21-7 lead after the opening possession of the second half.

Quarterback John Whitelaw had bookend touchdown runs of 20 and 11 yards for Hinsdale Central, and Brian Connor raced 90 yards with a kickoff return after Mt. Carmel junior running back Milton Greer negated the opening Whitelaw keeper.

The Red Devils' two-score lead proved short-lived, however.

Lynch orchestrated a 6-play, 69-yard march - capping the drive with a 23-yard strike to Jack Sherlock - and Caravan defensive back Dan Coci raced 47 yards with a fumble with 45 seconds to play in the third quarter to set up the climatic final 12 minutes.

The Hinsdale Central defense, which stopped three promising first-half Mt. Carmel drives with a fumble, interception and loss of downs, respectively, answered the call once again.

After Cameron secured the Red Devils' third turnover, Whitelaw had a 15-yard keeper and 21-yard connection to Alex Kirk to set up the game-winner.

"We knew (the Mt. Carmel defense was) going to be keying on (senior running back) Richie (Zajeski, who led all rushers with 73 yards)," Whitelaw said.

Whitelaw hit Mick Culligan for a 16-yard gain in the final minute to ice the game.