advertisement

Wozny, St. Patrick run past Carmel

St. Patrick senior running back Trever Wozny gets tackled easily as often as a scampering squirrel uses a crosswalk.

Almost never.

Carmel Catholic's football team discovered that reality Friday night in its homecoming, as Wozny rushed 29 times for 203 yards and 2 touchdowns in St. Patrick's 24-14 victory at Baker Field in Mundelein.

The CCL/ESCC Purple division clash was also a homecoming of sorts for first-year Shamrocks coach Luke Mertens, who had coached in Lake County at Lake Zurich, and, for the past 16 years, at Lakes.

"Tough kid," Mertens said of Wozny, who scored on TD runs of 1 yard and 35 yards, the second tally coming late in the fourth quarter after Carmel (4-2, 1-1) had pared St. Pat's 17-0 halftime lead to 17-14 with 3:45 left in regulation.

Corsairs junior RB Kyle Lynch (13 carries, 63 yards) entered the end zone on a pair of 2-yard bursts in the final frame.

Carmel's other standouts in the furious rally were quarterback Jonathon Weber (20-of-41 passing, 236 yards), wideout Torey French (6 receptions, 123 yards) and sophomore Kwintin King, who recovered the onside kick after Lynch's first TD.

"I told the guys in the huddle, there in the fourth quarter, 'You gotta believe, you gotta believe,' " Weber said after the battle of hurry-up offenses left the Shamrocks with records of 4-2, 2-0.

But St. Patrick had too much faith in Wozny, and he delivered, particularly with clutch gallops of 40 and 35 yards on the visitor's last TD trip.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.