Time runs out for Stevenson
Stevenson faced an uphill battle all night against Chicago Catholic League powerhouse Mt. Carmel.
With the game on the line in the fourth quarter, the visiting Patriots mounted a classic display of Stevenson football.
Trailing by a touchdown with 8:39 on the clock, the Patriots started at their own 21-yard line. After holding the ball for 16 plays, they faced fourth-and-3 at the Mt. Carmel 10-yard line.
That's where the drive ended on an incomplete pass with just over a minute remaining. The Caravan barely held on for a 23-16 victory in a second-round Class 8A matchup at Gately Stadium on Chicago's South Side. Mt. Carmel moves on to face the winner of today's Warren-Loyola clash.
If this was the final game for Bill Mitz after 28 years as head coach at Stevenson, it was certainly a fitting ending.
"We felt pretty confident (about the last drive)," Mitz said. "We were already trying to think of a 2-point play to win the thing."
"We were moving the ball. Everything was clicking," said senior lineman Thomas McGovern. "We just didn't finish. We left it all on the field."
Stevenson (10-1) converted one fourth down during the final drive. With a first down at the 17-yard line, quarterback Kevin Earl barely missed Brion Wood in the end zone, then Earl ran for 1 yard. On third-and-9, Matt Harris took a pitch for 6 yards, setting up the decisive fourth-and-3.
As Earl dropped back to pass, he was swarmed almost immediately by two Mt. Carmel linemen. The junior escaped somehow, but didn't have anyone open in the end zone and a pass sailed incomplete. The Caravan took over and ran out the clock.
"That was probably one of our longest drives of the season," Harris said. "We just couldn't pull it off. It's hard to put into words."
One of the most pivotal plays in this game happened at the very beginning. Stevenson tried to run a reverse on the opening kickoff. But a Mt. Carmel player knocked the ball loose before the handoff could be made and the Caravan recovered at the 5-yard line. Richard Ford scored from a yard out and Mt. Carmel led 6-0 before the game was barely a minute old.
"That kickoff, that was a big momentum changer," said Caravan running back Denzel Thompson, who ran for 101 yards on 10 carries. "When we had the momentum on our side, we knew we could win the game."
Mt. Carmel added a field goal, then tacked on a clutch 88-yard drive in the final minutes of the first half to take a 16-0 advantage at intermission.
"It kind of shocked us a little bit," Harris said. "We've never been down like that at halftime. But we came out firing after in the second half. We just didn't have enough time on the clock."
In the third quarter, the Patriots ran a no-huddle offense with four wide receivers and quickly got on the board with a Harris 1-yard run. After the 2-point conversion, Stevenson was within 16-8.
The Patriots got the ball back in Mt. Carmel territory, but served up another momentum changer when Jack Sherlock made a nice interception and runback, setting up another touchdown that made it 23-8 heading into the fourth quarter.
Stevenson answered with another quick scoring drive and Harris' second touchdown run made it 23-16. The Caravan defense keyed heavily on fullback Mark Weisman (18 carries, 71 yards). Harris finished with 44 yards on 9 carries and junior Joseph Cassata had some nice gains in the second half. Earl was sacked 5 times and completed 5 of 16 passes for 78 yards.