Carmel takes control against Marian Central

An even-keel contest blew wide open in the second quarter. Yet, it wasn't the Hurricanes benefitting from an offensive storm.

Carmel took advantage of short field situations with three unanswered scoring drives to cap the first half en route to a 42-14 takedown of visiting Marian Central in East Suburban Catholic action at Baker Stadium.

"I thought we had to run the ball well against them and I thought we had to get some turnovers against them," said Carmel coach Andy Bitto. "We did that. I thought they had a pretty good game plan against us. For a kid that hasn't played and hasn't started before, their quarterback (Kolton Rominski) did a pretty good job. I was proud of the way our defense responded against him."

Carmel (5-3, 4-2) was outgained overall (358-349) against a Marian Central (4-4, 2-4) team paced by 215 yards on 22-of-46 passing from third-stringer Rominski, making his first prep start in the absence of Miami (Ohio) quarterback commitment Billy Bahl, who sat the game due to an ejection last week.

But Carmel's defense made a series of key stops, including a pair of interceptions from Joe Hoy, and its triple option offense touched the right spots at the right time - largely thanks to a 293-yard ground effort keyed by Rondel Jamison's 191 yards on 24 touches with 3 scores. Hoy added a ground score with quarterback Michael Huiras running for 57 and a score with 56 passing and a scoring strike.

"The effort in practice, we've got to keep it up in the game," said Jamison. "My team kept the strength up. I had to keep up the momentum and couldn't let them down."

Carmel struck first in the opening quarter. After a short punt on Marian Central's first possession, Jamison slipped through the Hurricane line like butter with a 55-yard fake option run to daylight.

The visiting Hurricanes found rhythm on their third drive, however, equaling the measure with a 90-yard drive keyed by the arm of Rominski and capped by a 3-yard scoring plunge from Jarryd Cabusao, who rushed for 81 yards.

It was the lone bright spot of the opening half for Marian Central.

Carmel's next drive opened the second quarter with fake left, pitch right, burst into the middle - the puzzle pieced together via a wide pitch to Hoy, who side-stepped a block to paydirt.

The Corsairs' defense ramped up the pressure the remainder of the quarter and keyed short field situations for its offense.

"We got lucky a couple of times with the short field," added Bitto. "We're going to score a lot when we've got short field. Rondel's done a great job all year and Mike's done a great job running the show. I'm pretty excited about both of them."

Carmel used a short punt to set up a 13-yard toss from Huiras to Noah Turner. The signal-caller then pushed inside with a fake handoff, then darted around the left side of the line to open field for a 20-yard score.

Three series later, Marian Central was looking to regain a tempo in the pass game as Rominski landed a soft throw to Matt Ricchiuto. A soft hit popped the ball into the hands of Carmel's Collin Psenka and Corsairs' offense needed one play, a 34-yard touchdown strike from Huiras to Zavier Barnes, to take a 28-7 lead into the locker room at the mid-point.

The visiting Hurricanes, opened the third quarter with a spark from Rominski.

He hit passes of 12 and 27, drew a personal foul on a sideline scamper and capped the 80-yard drive with a 9-yard scoring strike to Cabusao to cut the deficit in half.

The Hurricanes had another chance at points on its next drive, but their drive was stalled in Corsairs territory with a turnover on downs.

After holding Carmel to a second punt in the half, another costly turnover bit the visitors as a surging Hoy picked Rominski and darted 33 yards to the seven. Jamison needed one carry to make up the 7-yard difference to the goal line.

Hoy added his second interception in the fourth quarter to put any hopes of a Hurricanes comeback to rest. The Corsairs struck one last time with a 33-yard scoring dash from Jamison to produce the final tally.

"We were well-prepared all week, so we kind of knew what they were going to do," said Hoy. "Honestly, it comes down to coaching, it comes down to effort and guys who you know are going to do their job on the other side of the ball. It's knowing what you're going to do and executing in every phase."

Carmel looks to maintain the momentum in a key season finale at home against Notre Dame. Marian Central closes the season at home against St. Patrick.