Notre Dame turns away Carmel

With nothing to lose in its final game of the year, Carmel's football team left everything it had on Legends Field.

But Tyler Tsagalis wouldn't let the Corsairs play the role of spoiler.

The Notre Dame senior signal caller overcame a pair of critical interceptions, keying four scoring drives behind 297 yards of total offense as the Dons held off Carmel 25-13 in the teams' East Suburban Catholic regular season finale.

The Corsairs, which end their regular season with a 3-6 mark, 3-4 in league play, cut a two score deficit within five thanks to an 85-yard fourth quarter pick-six from Remy Chitwood, but was unable to stall Tsagalis on the following drive and fell prey to a pick of their own on their final series.

"One thing about these kids, we finished 3-6 but we had four games like this where a ball could bounce one way and bounce the other," said Carmel coach Andy Bitto. "What's kind of been our Achilles heel all year is we got turnovers at inappropriate times. Other than that we were in all but two games."

Notre Dame (8-1, 6-1) led 12-7 at the half and opened the third quarter with a clock churning 65-yard drive that featured first down runs of 13 and 17 by Tsagalis, who burst over the goal line from three yards out.

Carmel's offense was unable to find a rhythm and the Dons were poised to score again on a lengthy fourth quarter drive into Corsair territory when Chitwood cut in front of a pass at the 15 and bolted down the right sidelines 85 yards unscathed.

"He was dropping back and rolled out, I got to my zone and the ball fell right into my arms and I took off to the right and was gone," said Chitwood. "That was huge. If we were able to get a stop on that next possession we were right back in that game. We weren't able to do that as a team and that's unfortunate."

Notre Dame followed by turning to the ground game of the Western Illinois commit Tsagalis, who moved the chains on runs of 15 and 18 before finding a leaping Tim Simon in the corner of the end-zone on a third and five with 3:25 remaining.

"After that pick, I came off the sidelines a little bit down, but as the quarterback and leader of the team you've got to calm down," Tsagalis said. "We had to come out with the mindset to move the ball and get first downs and that's what we did. That last play was a little bit of a broken play, Tim went deep and it worked. It was a great play by him. That drive really showed what kind of team we are."

"We felt that we were going to be better off with him running the ball," said Notre Dame coach Mike Hennessey. "If we could get four wide and have Tyler run the ball, he's tough to tackle and slithers through. It's good when you can keep the ball in his hands."

Carmel tried an air game of its own on the next possession, but a deep throw landed into the hands of Notre Dame's Greg Burnett to usher the Dons into the postseason and close out the Corsairs' campaign.

Overall, Notre Dame racked up 406 yards of total offense on the game. Tsagalis completed 10 of 14 for 169 yards, one touchdown and two picks while gaining 128 yards on 20 carries with a pair of scores on the ground. Jimmy Topping also added 95 yards on 25 touches with a second quarter touchdown run for the Dons.

Rondel Jamison paced the Corsairs' offense with 81 yards on 17 carries and a second quarter touchdown, while Zavier Barnes rushed for 31 and tallied a 27-yard grab. Along with Chitwood, Shareif Bailey delivered an interception.

Although the season didn't end with a playoff berth, Bitto is proud of his team's effort this year.

"We've got a bright future," added Bitto. "I try to live in the moment. I'm real proud that they worked hard; they grew up as men and fought the adversity. They didn't give up and fought their tails off until the end."