Mount Carmel “gets its bike back” and takes down St. Ignatius 41-17

CHICAGO — Mount Carmel took its bike back on Friday night

That was Caravan coach Jordan Lynch’s message to his team this week as it prepared to host St. Ignatius after losing 27-0 last season. Lynch didn’t want his team to treat Friday’s matchup as a revenge game, he just wanted the Caravan to take back what was theirs.

Mount Carmel took it back right from the start, running out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and taking down the Wolfpack, 41-17.

“It definitely feels great,” linebacker Danny Novickas said “Throughout the week, we didn’t necessarily call it revenge, coach Lynch used this slogan that we have to get our bike back. This year is a completely different team, a completely new look. We came out 120 percent and it feels great to have that against them. For the guys who played last year, it feels great, it’s one of the best feelings because of how it went last year.”

The Caravan (5-0, 1-0 CCL/ESCC Blue) started their physical play on the opening kickoff when they forced St. Ignatius to fumble the return and took over on the Wolfpack 22. Mount Carmel used four plays to score, ending with a one-yard run from Darrion Dupree to make it 7-0 with 10:32 left in the first quarter.

After Mount Carmel’s defense forced a three-and-out, the Caravan offense took over on the Ignatius 40 and used five plays to score, with Dupree rushing in for his second touchdown of the night on an eight-yard run to make it 14-0 with 6:33 left in the second quarter. The Caravan added its third touchdown when Blainey Dowling completed a 15-yard pass to Dupree to give his team a 21-0 lead with 2:19 left in the first quarter.

“We’re really playing fast,” Dupree said. “If we can come out fast, I feel like no one can mess with us,”

Dowling threw his second touchdown of the night when he completed an eight-yard pass to Danyil Taylor Jr. to give Mount Carmel a 28-3 lead with 3:59 left in the second quarter. The senior quarterback took it 21 yards himself with 22 seconds left in the first half to give his team a 35-3 lead.

Mount Carmel took out its starters in the second half and backup quarterback Jack Elliott completed a 16-yard pass to Alonzo Manning II to give the Caravan a 41-3 lead with 9:10 left in the third quarter.

Dowling completed 13 of his 18 pass attempts for 181 yards and two touchdowns, with one rushing touchdown. Dupree finished his night with 66 rushing yards and two rushing scores while adding 32 receiving yards and one touchdown catch. Elliott completed seven of his 10 pass attempts for 101 yards.

Lynch wanted his team to come out firing on Friday, knowing a quick start was going to be they key to getting a win.

“You have to get off to a fast start,” Lynch said. “You have to get a lead early to make them uncomfortable and they have to start trying to throw the ball.”

St. Ignatius (3-2, 1-0 CCL/ESCC White) got on the board when Marty Junkins hit a 41-yard field goal with 9:48 left in the second quarter to make it a 21-3 Mount Carmel lead. Alex Ditsch scored on a 50-yard run to make it 41-10 with 5:57 left in the third quarter and John Kemp rushed in for a yard to score with 1:23 left in the third to make it 41-17.

Ditsch rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown while quarterback Jake Petrow completed two of his three pass attempts for 16 yards, adding 31 yards on the ground.

Wolfpack coach Matt Miller knew Friday’s environment would be tough to play in and getting off to a slow start became too much to overcome.

“We were out of it so quickly, unfortunately,” Miller said. “When you’re playing the number one team in the state, that can’t happen.”

St. Ignatius will return to CCL/ESCC White play when it travels to De La Salle (1-4, 0-1 CCL/ESCC White) on Friday, Sept. 30 while Mount Carmel bounces back to CCL/ESCC Blue play at Brother Rice (3-2, 0-1 CCL/ESCC Blue) on Friday as well.

While the Caravan earned play qualification with their fifth win of the season, they’re focused on more important things as the season progresses.

“We were promised nine (games), now we’re promised 10,” Lynch said. “We get one more game and another week with our family. It’s one week at a time.”