Blainey Dowling, Danny Furlong connection leads Mount Carmel past Marist in 42-7 win

CHICAGO — Blainey Dowling and Denny Furlong have been building their relationship since they were 5 years old. Now they’re showing it off each week as teammates for Mount Carmel.

The quarterback-wide receiver duo were at it again on Friday in the Caravan’s 42-7 win over Marist, connecting for their team’s first two scores and helping the offense score more than 40 points for the third straight game.

“We’ve got that South Side connection,” Dowling said. “Fans call us 7-11 because he’s always open. But Denny’s a freak athlete. He makes plays, you just need to get him the ball.”

The two helped Mount Carmel (4-0, 1-0 CCL/ESCC Blue) regroup after the team failed to score on its first drive despite reaching the Marist 22. The Caravan drove from their own 13 and scored when Dowling hit Furlong for a four-yard pass to give their team a 7-0 lead with 9:02 left in the second quarter.

After Marist went three-and-out on its next drive, the two connected again, this time for a 38-yard reception to give the Caravan a 14-0 lead with 4:58 left in the second quarter.

“The chemistry is unbelievable,” Mount Carmel coach Jordan Lynch said of Dowling and Furlong. “It starts up front with the protection, but Blainey Dowling and Denny Furlong are playing like seniors.”

Dowling hit Darrion Dupree for a six-yard touchdown pass to give Mount Carmel a 21-0 lead heading into halftime and the quarterback completed his third touchdown pass to Furlong on the first play of the second half, completing a 66-yard pass down the sideline to make it a 28-0 game with 11:44 left in the third quarter.

Jack Elliott came in for a play and threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Dupree to make it 35-0 with 5:21 left in the third quarter and Dupree added a 55-yard rushing score to make it 42-7 with 10:32 left in the game.

Dowling completed 17 of his 22 attempts for 235 yards and four touchdowns, with one interception. Furlong finished the night with three touchdown receptions for 149 yards to go along with 37 rushing yards while Dupree rushed for 139 yards, one touchdown, and finished with 63 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

“It was a moving train, we kept it going, kept it going,” Lynch said. “We had players who played hard, coaches coached well.”

Marist’s (2-2, 0-1 CCL/ESCC Blue) defense made too many mistakes in the secondary, which allowed Mount Carmel to throw with ease in the air. Mount Carmel didn’t punt the ball until there were eight minutes left in the game.

The RedHawks scored on a 15-yard pass from Dermot Smyth to Nolan Baudo with one second left in the third quarter to make it 35-7, the first touchdown the Caravan have allowed this season. Mount Carmel took away the running attack and made Marist one-dimensional.

Smyth completed 12 of his 22 attempts for 146 yards with a touchdown and an interception while running back Marc Coy was held to 18 rushing yards. Ryan Sims finished with 59 receiving yards.

“They’re a very, very talented team, very well-coached and we made some mistakes that a good team like that is going to capitalize on and they did,” Marsit coach Ron Dawczak said. “We made some uncharacteristic mistakes and stuff we need to work on. I’ll take the blame on that. Our guys need to be better prepared so we don’t have breakdowns like that that give up easy touchdowns.”

The RedHawks will host Marmion on Friday, Sept. 23, while the Caravan will host St. Ignatius the same day, a team Mount Carmel lost to 27-0 last season.

The Caravan have showed off its talent so far this season and Lynch doesn’t expect as lull as the season continues.

“It’s a player-driven team,” Lynch said, “led by the seniors and the captains won’t allow anything else.”