Carmel fields a winner

Carmel's 11-man defense wasn't having much luck stopping the pass-happy Marist offense Friday night.

It wasn't until the Corsairs got an assist from their 12th man that they were able to finally put the Redhawks on ice.

That 12th man was named Turf. Field Turf, to be exact.

Field Turf ended a wild and crazy game of one-upmanship when he caused Marist running back Michael Skalitzky to slip on a fourth-down play in which he needed two yards but only got one.

With just 1:27 remaining in the game, Carmel got the ball back and was able to simply take a knee to run out the clock on a 36-32 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory.

The victory moves Carmel to 2-1 overall (1-0 ESCC) and drops Marist to 2-1 (0-1 ESCC).

"I was so excited when I saw that," Carmel quarterback Brian Serio said of the slip. "I can't believe that happened."

It certainly was an unexpected way to end a game that was otherwise filled with beautiful, picture-perfect plays. Particularly on offense, where a combined 838 yards was generated between the two teams.

For starters, both Marist and Carmel had plenty of success running the ball. Before his slip, Skalitzky was slipping by Carmel defenders left and right. He rolled up 94 rushing yards on the night.

Meanwhile, Carmel sophomore Jordan Kos tallied a game-high 168 yards on 24 carries. He also scored a touchdown.

The fact that both teams were running the ball well opened up the passing game and both teams took advantage.

In fact, both Serio and his counterpart, Marist quarterback Mike Perish, practically put on a passing clinic.

Perish, who committed to Western Michigan over the summer, completed 23-of-33 passes for 272 yards, 3 touchdowns - all of which went to Skalitzky - and no interceptions.

Serio threw only four passes but he completed three of them and all three were touchdowns - two of which were yardage guzzlers of 89 and 64 yards to Matt Felicelli. Serio wound up with 163 passing yards on the night.

Serio's last pass, the 64-yarder, proved to be the winner. He lofted a spot-on spiral to Felicelli who then out-sprinted everyone to the end zone.

That broke up a tie game and gave the Corsairs a 36-29 lead with 9:52 left in the game.

"That quarterback..., he's the real deal," Carmel coach Andy Bitto said of Perish. "And Brian is going to be very good. He was so calm out there tonight."

As expected, Marist then came roaring back with a well-executed drive of its own.

The Redhawks marched from their own 35-yard line all the way down to Carmel's 8-yard line. After a couple of misfires, Marist was facing a fourth down and elected to go for a field goal, which Ben Falloon made from 25 yards out to cut the deficit to 36-32 with 5:59 left.

Still, Marist coach Pat Dunne would love to give those three points back. He'd love to have stuck with his offense, which had been giving Carmel fits all night.

"If I had to redo it, even though we made the field goal, I would have gone for it on fourth down," Dunne said. "We had the momentum with us, we were scoring on every possession. It goes back to me and my play calling. I take the blame." Dunne pointed out that Marist had gone for fourth down a couple of times earlier in the game and had converted.

"It's something I shouldn't have gone away from," Dunne said. "(Perish) is a tremendous leader and competitor and, with a kid like him, I should have never ever kicked it down there (at the 8-yard line). We should have put the ball in his hands because of what he did all game. He's a winner."