Color Carmel a winner

Fans of the brown and gold of the Carmel Corsairs couldn't help but notice a new color on Friday night in Mundelein.

In showing support for Breast Cancer Awareness month, the Carmel Corsairs (5-2, 4-1) all wore pink socks, as well as a pink ribbon sticker on their helmets. The coaches also wore pink hats as the student body released pink balloons into the sky to start the game.

"It's something that hits close to home," said Carmel coach Andy Bitto.

Then, after playing two overtime games the two previous weeks, the Corsairs stood up for the cause with a 55-8 drumming of visiting St. Joseph (1-6, 0-5).

"It's a nice feeling to win one like this," Bitto said. "We are getting healthy and are hitting our stride."

With super sophomore running back Jordan Kos out due to turf toe, Carmel used seven different backs to dart through the Chargers' defense.

"We have a lot of skilled backs," Bitto said with a smile. "We have the guys tonight, a couple on the sophomores, and about five on the freshman team."

While Eric Stevenson (4 carries, 42 yards) opened the scoring with an 11-yard touchdown run to begin the stampede for Carmel, it was Matt Maher (8 carries, 55 yards) that led the ground attack for Carmel.

Quarterback, Larry Amato (5 of 8, 127 yards, 3 Tds), also rushed for 76 yards but teamed up with wideout Matt Felicelli (4 catches, 77 yards, 2 TDs), to do some damage of their own.

After a beautiful diving interception by defensive back Mike Panico, Amato connected with Felicelli on the next play for a 42 yard TD pass.

"Matt (Felicelli) can get open," Bitto said, "They (St. Joseph) picked their poison by bringing their safeties up and our line did a good job protecting Larry."

That was only the beginning for Amato, who connected on three straight passes, all for touchdowns. He later connected with Felicelli again on a 13-yard pass, and then to running back Ryan Cappis (4 carries, 53 yards) on a 50-yard screen pass.

Carmel's defense also held St. Joseph to just 52 yards of offense in the first half and contained Chargerss quarterback Cameron Meredith (11 carries, 25 yards).

"Our defense has been tough all year," Bitto said."We brought the pressure tonight to try and get to him (Meredith) before he could make any plays."

Defensive playmakers Luke Venegoni, Patrick Cox, and Mike Cohen all sacked Cameron Meredith for big losses during the game for Carmel.