Vanderbilt commit Jack Elliott returns to lead Mount Carmel to comeback win over Joliet Catholic

CHICAGO – Jack Elliott slowly joined his huddled Mount Carmel teammates just before the start of the second half of Friday’s game against Joliet Catholic. The Caravan had just played one of the worst halves that Elliott could remember, and he had a simple challenge to his teammates.

Grow up.

Mount Carmel got the message. Elliott and the Caravan scored 28 consecutive points in the second half to lead Mount Carmel to a 35-21 win.

“Everyone’s got to be leaders if we want to go this far,” said Elliott, a senior Vanderbilt commit. “No one’s holding your hand. It doesn’t matter.”

Elliott led the Caravan (5-2) back to a win on and off the field after missing last week’s loss to Brother Rice to what Mount Carmel coach Jordan Lynch called a small sprain in his throwing shoulder. He had been cleared to play in Friday’s game earlier in the day and didn’t throw his first passes until Thursday.

Elliott showed some rust in the first half but responded with a big second half to help the Caravan overcome a 14-7 deficit. After Mount Carmel forced the Hilltoppers to go three-and-out on their first second-half possession, Elliott connected for a 41-yard pass to sophomore Quentin Burell before senior Danyil Taylor Jr. scored on a 1-yard run to tie the score at 14 with 7:55 left in the third quarter.

That momentum continued on the Caravan’s next drive. Elliott found freshman Marshaun Thornton for a 78-yard touchdown pass to give Mount Carmel its first lead of the game with 4:58 left in the third quarter.

Senior Cooper Lehman scored on a 41-yard run on the next drive to make it 28-14 with 1:56 left in the third, and Elliott found Burell for a 21-yard touchdown pass with 3:12 left in the game.

Lynch was cautious before the game to make sure to protect Elliott from any further injury. But Lynch knew Elliott wanted to go out to lead his team when it needed him the most.

“The kid’s tough as nails,” Lynch said. “He led us to victory.”

Elliott threw for 238 yards, 187 of which came in the second half, and completed 10 of his 20 pass attempts. He also rushed for 36 yards. Taylor Jr. rushed for 109 yards on 17 carries with two touchdowns while Burell finished with 91 receiving yards on five catches.

“As good of a passer he is, as good as his arm is, his body makeup, he’s a tough guy to tackle, he’s deceptively fast too,” Jaworski said. “Watching on film and seeing him in person, even when you think your guy’s got an angle on him, he just out-runs him. He’s pretty shifty. He looks like a running back that can really throw the heck out of the ball too.”

Senior Nate Magrini rushed for 115 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown for Joliet Catholic (4-3) while senior Larry Stringham added 88 yards on the ground off 10 carries and a touchdown. The Hilltoppers (4-3) took an early 7-0 lead when senior Vincent Bremner rushed in for a 1-yard touchdown with 5:34 left in the first quarter and Larry Stringham made it 14-7 with 6:15 left in the second quarter.

“Everyone’s got to be leaders if we want to go this far. No one’s holding your hand. It doesn’t matter.”

—  Jack Elliott, Mount Carmel senior quarterback

But Joliet Catholic couldn’t find a way to take advantage of opportunities, including two leaving deep trips into Mount Carmel territory with no points.

“Against really good teams, you can’t give up third-and-30, you can’t turn the ball over, you can’t have penalties,” Jaworski said. “It just kind of became unraveled and that was disappointing.”

Joliet Catholic will have a forfeit win in Week 8 because De La Salle suspended the rest of the season, and the Caravan play Fenwick. Elliott hopes that second-half momentum continues into the rest of the regular season.

“It just puts us in a good position to keep on,” Elliott said. “Fenwick is next, and then whatever’s after that, 1-0 each week.”