Mount Carmel Upends Wildcats 41-21
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP—The Mount Carmel Red Tornadoes were reputed to be a ground-oriented team when they took to the turf of Malinak Stadium Friday night.
But Pennsylvania’s winningest high school football team showed it could toss the ball a bit too, using sophomore backup quarterback Tommy McDonald to throw his way to three second quarter touchdowns after Central Mountain had taken a 7-6 lead early in the period. By the time the half ended the visitors were up 28-7 and were never threatened.
Mount Carmel stretched the lead to 41-7 in the third period and coasted home with a 41-21 win. The victory put the Tornadoes at 2-2; the loss dropped the Wildcats to 2-2 with a trip to Lewisburg (3-1) set for next Friday.
The loss was potentially a costly one for CM. The versatile Justin Neff appeared to suffer some kind of injury to his throwing arm and did not play in the second half. Fellow junior Bryce Mansfield left with a leg injury and wideout/punter Tyler Zablocki also went down with an injury. There was no immediate word on the extent of their injuries although Neff remained in uniform on the Wildcat sideline through the second half.
The Wildcats could muster no surge against a stout Mount Carmel defense which held the home team to 146 yards of offense. Mount Carmel meanwhile piled up 312 yards in the first half alone and finished with 475. Senior running back Kyle Kurycki led the way with 185 yards on 18 carries, scoring three touchdowns. McDonald had open receivers all night and finished with 165 yards passing, going 6-for-6 for 161 yards and three scores in the second period alone. Mount Carmel scored on six straight possessions through the first three periods.
Central Mountain had its only lead when Neff returned a kickoff 80 yards and Austyn Carson kicked the extra point early in period two.
The sophomore Carson directed the offense in the second half and engineered two late touchdown drives, one a 5-yard run by Hunter Weaver, the other a 21-yard scoring pass to J.J. Harris.
Lewisburg (3-1) next Friday night at Christy Mathewson Stadium on the Bucknell campus won’t be easy. The Green Dragons lost 21-7 to Mount Carmel last week and tonight drubbed Milton 33-0. Earlier, Lewisburg beat Shikellamy 38-14 and Montoursville 31-21. They are led by quarterback Trent Gower averaging more than 150 yards a game passing.
| Sept. 25, 2015 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOTAL |
| MOUNT CARMEL | 0 | 28 | 13 | 0 | 41 |
| CENTRAL MOUNTAIN | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 21 |
