Written by: Justin Beiter on Friday, August 23, 2024.
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FOUNTAIN SPRINGS – The hill was too steep for Mount Carmel against a strong opponent. A forgettable first half full of mistakes proved to be the Red Tornadoes’ undoing. North Schuylkill took advantage of its opportunities, took the lead and withstood a comeback attempt in the second half, allowing the Spartans to win 37-30.

“I’ve never seen a game like this where we performed so poorly,” Mount Carmel coach John Darrah said. “In an important game, it’s my fault. I take the blame for it. We have to be ready to play. I don’t really know why we played so poorly, especially in the first quarter and early in the second quarter. Of course, I’m the head coach, so that’s on me.”

North Schuylkill (1-0) marched right down the field on its first possession. Luke Miller, having a great night, opened things up with a 29-yard touchdown run from the left side. Mount Carmel (0-1) got a brief boost when Jaylen Delaney intercepted a pass and returned it 49 yards for a touchdown. But then things quickly went downhill. Stray shotgun snaps were a problem throughout the game, and the first of several that eluded him was recovered by Chase Slotcavage. That mistake led to a 49-yard field run by Gavin Mentzer, with plenty of room. Another fumbled snap, this time from under center, was quickly recovered when Miller crossed the goal line from 21 yards out. The Red Tornadoes messed up three snaps, resulting in a loss of 40 yards. Ironically, shotgun snaps were not a major problem during preseason training.

“Not to that extent,” said Darrah. “We had one here and there, but that was something that affected us, especially in the first half.”

Thanks to the lost yards and good defense, North Schuylkill had to deal with a lot of short fields in the early stages of the game. Miller completed the first half hat trick with a 1-yard touchdown run and went one better when he scored on a 5-yard run with 2:51 left in the half to give the Spartans a 30-7 lead. The junior finished the game with 29 carries for 193 yards and four touchdowns.

“Luke is an athlete,” North Schuylkill coach Wally Hall said. “He’s definitely one of the guys we’re going to throw the football to. He was prepared for that. There are definitely other guys that are capable of doing that. A lot of people see that on film when you go from the scrimmage (against Danville) to just running the ball twice and passing the ball very effectively. The last few years we’ve spread the ball all over the football field. We can line up and run, and that’s obviously what we’re going to do with our offensive line.”

Delaney finally brought some life to the Mount Carmel sideline after catching a 66-yard touchdown pass from Gavin Marshalek with just over a minute left in the first half. The Red Tornadoes, who lost running back Luke Blessing to injury, were able to cut the deficit to 30-22 thanks to a 4-yard run by Michael Kimsal midway through the quarter. Due to the large deficit, Mount Carmel threw the ball almost exclusively in the second half. Marshalek completed 19 of 32 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns.

“I thought he played pretty well,” Darrah said of Marshalek. “He threw some good balls. Like I said, that’s not what we want right now. We have to start over, all of our goals are still ahead of us. We have to have a great week of practice and get better.”

The Spartans leaned heavily on their offensive line and put together an impressive 15-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Caden Mengel. Mount Carmel answered with a touchdown catch by Tait Adams on a fade pattern with just under eight minutes left to play. The Red Tornadoes actually managed a fourth-down stop and had a chance to add drama late in the game. However, North Schuylkill managed a prompt fourth-down stop and picked up two first downs, denying Mount Carmel win No. 900 and Hall win No. 100 in his career.

“That’s the most important part, the first four minutes of the game and the last four minutes of the game are crucial,” Hall said. “A lot of games are won at that point. We’re definitely going to rely on our offensive line and our defensive line. Our defensive line has been playing great, too. Things are starting to come together. We’ve had a good few months of preparation leading up to that. We lost a lot of talented players a year ago, but we’ve definitely replaced them, and some of the things we’re doing, we’re just going to build on that.”

Mount Carmel 7 7 8 8-30
North Schuylkill 10 20 0 7-37

Individual ranking
First quarter
NS-Luke Miller 23 run (Gavin Mentzer kick) 7:59
MC-Jaylen Delaney 49 Interception-Return (Kick by Bobby Schoppy) 6:18
NS-Mentzer 49 Field Goal

Second quarter
NS-Miller 21 run (Mentzer Kick) 11:52
NS-Miller 1 run (Mentzer kick) 7:08
NS-Miller 4 run (run failed) 2:51
MC Delaney 66 pass from Gavin Marshalek (Schoppy kick) 1:34

Third quarter
MC-Michael Kimsal 4th run (Kimsal pass from Marshalek) 6:33

Fourth quarter
NS-Caden Mengel 1 run (Mentzer kick) 10:26
MC-Tait Adams 8 pass from Marshalek (Delaney pass from Marshalek) 7:59

Team statistics
…………………………….MC………………NS
1st attempt ……………10……………………20
Running yards………..19-(-8)………………..53-295
comp-att-int…..19-33-0…………….7-13-1
Pass yards…………..261……………….63
Total length ………..253…………………358
pamb-lost………..5-2………………..1-0
Pen yards…………3-20……………………..6-50

Individual statistics
Rush-Mount Carmel: Luke Blessing 5-19; Michael Kimsal 5-16, TD; Al Bailey 1-1; Gavin Marshalek 2-(-1); Cooper Karycki 3-(-3); Team 3-(-40). North Schuylkill: Luke Miller 29-193, 4 TDs; Caden Mengel 16-91, TD; Kolten Joyce 6-15; Michael Mogish 1-0; Team 1-(-4).

Passing by-Mount Carmel: Marshalek 19-33-0, 261 yards, 2 TDs. North Schuylkill: Mengel 7-13-1, 63 yards.

Reception-Mount Carmel: Jaylen Delaney 6-85, TD; Tait Adams 5-67, TD; Chase Balichick 4-27; Karycki 1-33; Bailey 1-23; Andrew Lukoskie 1-16; Blessings 1-10. North Schuylkill: Kevin Jones 3-31; Miller 3-26; Mogish 1-6.

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