Scouting Carmel at Cincinnati Elder
Carmel (8-0) at Cincinnati Elder (2-5)
When: 1 p.m., Saturday
Last week: Carmel def. Notre Dame, 40-7; Cincinnati Elder had a bye week.
Skinny: Talk about a long road trip. Playing in the spread-out East Suburban Catholic Conference, Carmel often must endure at least a couple of long bus trips each season in rush-hour traffic through the city. But this one takes the cake. The Corsairs will bus all day and night after school on Friday to get to Ohio. This game was scheduled in order to make up for Carmel's annual league game against St. Joseph, which left the East Suburban Catholic Conference at the end of last year. "We're looking at it as an opportunity, not as a draining trip," Carmel coach Andy Bitto said. "This is a good thing for us. We'll get to see how we handle ourselves in a situation like this because sometimes you have to take a long trip or two on your way to the state championship. We're also going to get to play in a unique environment."-Bitto says that in football-crazed Ohio, there are big high school stadiums everywhere and Elder is no exception. Elder's home stadium seats more than 10,000 fans, and the place should be almost filled. Even though the Panthers are just 2-5 this season, they boast a proud football tradition. They were state champions in 2002 and 2003, finished as the state runner-up in 2008 and lost in the state semifinals just last season. "Our stadium holds like 3,000 and maybe we get another 1,200 in there when we add additional seating," Bitto said. "It will be a great opportunity to play a game in a stadium like that with all those fans. You kind of see what kind of mustard you have. They've got a good program."-Bitto says Elder's most dangerous weapons are running back Ben Coffaro, quarterback Ben Gramke, wide receiver Jeff Vorherr and tight end Alex Viox. But the Panthers have lost three straight games and are averaging just 18 points per game out of their spread offense-Meanwhile, Carmel is averaging 38.4 points per game in its triple option, which rolled up 321 rushing yards against Notre Dame last week. Michael Panico finished with 120 rushing yards and Jordan Kos added 109 yards.