Streak still intact for Mount Carmel
SHAMOKIN — Shamokin looked like it was going to give Mount Carmel fits early, taking an early one-point lead in the first quarter of Friday night’s game at Kemp Memorial Stadium.
The Red Tornadoes, though, had other ideas, running past the Indians, 49-21, to extend its Coal Bucket series winning streak to 25 games.
When the final whistle blew, the Mount Carmel community that stuck it out in the frigid, pouring rain rallied around the team on the field, chanting “25.”
“There’s a lot that goes into this game with all the tradition and the streak we have going,” Mount Carmel coach John Darrah said. “Now that we have the win, it’s a great relief and I’m happy the kids get to enjoy it.”
After losing a fumble on their first possession — and ultimately giving up the game’s first points on Thomas Davitt’s 20-yard touchdown on the ensuing play — the Indians put together a 17-play, 69-yard drive. Thirteen of those plays and 57 yards came via Max Madden carries. He capped off the series with a 1-yard rush.
“They did a really nice job [running the ball that series] and we were concerned there with them running it right down the field,” Darrah said. “It was a matter of our guys calming down a little bit and getting used to the game. We were able to adjust from there and do a pretty good job the rest of the game.”
The plan of keeping the Red Tornadoes off the field didn’t go the way Shamokin would have liked, as twice the Indians fumbled the ball and Mount Carmel took advantage. The second occurrence happened late in the first half as a pitch to Madden fell to the turf. Mount Carmel, starting at the Indians’ 32 needed just four plays to finish the drive off with a 3-yard run by Davitt.
The drive was encapsulated by a series of penalties — seemingly with all the refs throwing their flags for personal fouls. It led to the Indians having a player and three coaches ejected.
All told, the two teams combined to fumble the ball 11 times.
Even with very little passing, the Red Tornadoes also came up with the game’s only interception as Cole Spears picked off Brett Nye on the first play of the fourth quarter.
The turnovers helped the Red Tornadoes, sure, but they didn’t exactly need them. Instead, lanes were there all night for anybody lined up in the backfield, scoring on their first seven possessions.
Quarterback Pedro Feliciano didn’t have to flash his arm any, finishing with a game-high 100 yards on the ground. For much of the contest, he would fake a handoff and take off as the Indians bit at the fake all night. He had a pair of rushing touchdowns, going for 2 and 31 yards.
Darrah has been wanting to get the passing game going a little bit before District 4 playoffs start next week, but he also enjoyed what he saw to risk passing the ball in sloppy conditions.
“It was raining out and the situation didn’t present itself,” he said. “The rain was just a concern and we were moving the ball around well on the ground and didn’t want to take a risk of a sack or an errant throw in the rain and kept it on the ground.”
Julien Stellar, returning to action in the second half for the first time in two weeks, needed just two carries before finding the end zone to start the scoring in the second half. He accounted for the longest touchdown run of the night, going for 66 yards.
“I thought our line did a phenomenal job and our backs, whoever is in there, carried the ball well,” Darrah said. “Those guys really came through for us.”
Spears also had a 5-yard score in the first half while Xavier Diaz — having a touchdown washed by a penalty on fourth down the play before — cashed in for a 35-yard score, and Mount Carmel’s final points.
The Red Tornadoes finished with 351 total yards — all on the ground.
With the game clock running via mercy rule, the Indians tacked on two fourth-quarter touchdowns.
All told, Darrah is pleased with the results he’s seen as of late. Entering Friday, The Red Tornadoes scored 60 points in its previous two contests and averaged 50.5 points per game since Week 6 — the 49 they scored didn’t bring that down much.
He wants to see that carry over in the playoffs, and it starts with Mount Carmel’s bread and butter.
“I think we’re rolling pretty good in our run game and we want to keep it going.”
The Red Tornadoes currently hold the No. 2 seed and are in line to host current No. 7 seed Bloomsburg next week.
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