Kos is boss for Carmel in triumph over Libertyville

Turf toe kept Carmel Catholic fullback Jordan Kos off Joliet Catholic Academy's varsity turf on Opening Night.

No toe woe, however, was going to deny the sophomore the chance to play in front of a loud, capacity crowd at Carmel on Friday night.

Kos was simply the boss, rushing for 176 yards and 2 touchdowns on 20 carries, as the Corsairs defeated Libertyville for the third time in as many years, 28-14 in a game that the home team broke open in the third quarter.

Carmel evened its record at 1-1, while Libertyville, which got a pair of late TD throws from quarterback A.J. Schurr, fell to 1-1.

"Let's put it in this context," Carmel coach Andy Bitto said. "You're playing at home, you're playing against Libertyville - sweet."

The Corsairs had plenty of sweet plays, including junior cornerback Ricky Acosta's strip of Wildcats running back Nick McDowell and his interception of a Schurr pass that was deflected by safety Mike Fitzgibbons.

Both plays came late in the first half and set up field goals of 32 and 36 yards by Nick Battalini.

"This whole week we talked about finishing - 'We got to finish, we got to finish,' " Acosta said. "I thought we did a pretty good job of finishing."

Like Kos, Acosta was making his first varsity start. He played only on punt return last week.

"I was kind of scared," Acosta said. "Then once I got the first couple of hits, I was just going."

The 5-foot-11, 173-pound Kos, who Bitto called a combination of former Carmel stars Jimmy Potempa and Mike Taylor, had TD runs of 6 and 4 yards.

"The kid's talented," Bitto said. "You can't really teach breaking a tackle at the line of scrimmage or jumping over somebody and cutting underneath guys. He does it quite well - and he's only 15."

Kos credited his offensive line of Jack Hartnett, Gunnar Kephart, Mickey Baucus, David Steele and Logan Lester and new tight end Matt Maher.

"Playing on sophomore I'm not used to guys being that big or that fast," Kos said. "They were just opening holes for me.

"I was nervous (before the game). But once I got in there and started banging a little bit with those guys, all the nerves went away. I just started having fun."

Up 13-0 at halftime, Carmel's Eric Stevenson returned the second-half kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown. On the PAT, Stevenson caught a shovel pass from holder Larry Amato.

"The kickoff return was the defining play of the game," Wildcats coach Randy Kuceyeski said.

Kos' second score of the night had Carmel up 28-0 after three quarters.

In the fourth, Schurr threw TD passes to McDowell (29 yards) and Eric Andrews (4 yards).

Schurr finished 12 of 19 for 138 yards.

"He did a nice job," Kuceyeski said. "Very good presence in the pocket, doesn't make a whole lot of mistakes, and under these circumstances for a junior I think he did a pretty good job."