Red Tornadoes secure victory 25 to 17 with late interception !

Tagged under: District 11, District 4, Gameday Hub, News

Daniel Reed | August 28, 2022

Mt. Carmel survives late Spartans drive with HUGE interception by Chase Balichik !

With just over 2 minutes left to play in the game, North Schuylkill’s drive was stopped, what led up to that point, Let’s take a look…

Mt. Carmel would win the coin toss to begin the game and would defer to the second half giving the home team Spartans the ball to start. North Schuylkill would move the ball at the beginning to only have their opening drive stall, turning the ball over on downs. Much would be the same outcome for the Red Tornadoes on their opening drive as well when they too would turn the ball over on downs. On the Spartans next possession, North Schuylkill’s Trevor Minalda would connect with star WR-Joey Flail for about 56 yards, down to the Red Tornado 2 yard line, Neekoli Caraballo taking it the rest of the way for the games first score. Spartans leading 7 to 0 with 5:16 to play in the opening quarter. Mt. Carmel would begin their way down the field on their next possession when QB-Spears connected with Garrett Varano for 9 yards on 4th down, setting up a 2 yard QB keeper for the touchdown, with the point after attempt good, we were tied and in for a battle.

Later in the second quarter, Mt. Carmel would take the lead for the first time when running-back Luke Blessing would take it from 2 yards out into the endzone, the point after failed and we now had a 13 to 7 ballgame. Later in the quarter, North Schuylkill would drive the field with completed passes to Flail and Jack Dean, setting up a 27 yard field goal from Gavin Mentzer with just :09 seconds to play in the first half. Mentzer would nail the attempt and we went into the half with a score of 13 to 10 Mt. Carmel leading the Spartans at Spartans Stadium.

The Red Tornadoes would get the ball to start the second half and would have to punt. The Spartans would take advantage of the punt and block it. Next play the Spartans would give the ball right back to the Red Tornadoes when Al Bailey intercepted the Minalda pass, setting up the Red Tornadoes at midfield. Mt. Carmel would eventually score on the drive when Garrett Varano would haul in the pass from Cole Spears and score from 13 yards out. A two-point conversion attempt would fail, making the score 19 to 10 Red Tornadoes with 1:10 to go in the quarter. The Spartans again would have to punt away, giving the ball to Mt. Carmel, 1st and 10 at the 30 with 11 minutes to go in the game.

On the next play, Luke Blessing, who would finish the game with over 100 yards, broke lose towards the sideline and burst upfield for about 65 yards to the Spartan 3 yard line. Then, FLASH … we go into a 30 minute lightning delay. After the players came back on the field to warmup for 15 minutes, play once again began. On the next play, QB Spears called his own number and thrusted forward behind his big line for the score. The lead was now 25 to 10 with 9:57 to go in the game. Later on in the final quarter, North Schuylkill would cut the lead to 8 when Spartans quarterback would connect with Collin Stanakis for 15 yards and the score. The Red Tornadoes lead was now 25 to 17 with 4:33 left to play. Mt. Carmel would get the ball and begin to run the time off the clock but North Schuylkill wasn’t ready to go down without a fight on their home turf. The turf that since was installed, the Spartans haven’t lost at home from what I had heard on the sidelines, I will have to confirm that information. So, on fourth down, Josh Shimko would sack the Mt. Carmel quarterback, and the Spartans would have one final drive on the turnover on downs, giving the ball back to the Spartans. North Schuylkill would eventually get downfield with quickness until that’s when, Chase Balichik would jump in front of the receiver to intercept the pass at around the 8 and return it upfield to about the 37 yard line to secure the victory for the Red Tornadoes. With the win, Mt. Carmel ended a seven year losing streak to the Spartans as well as, like I mentioned earlier, allegedly giving the Spartans their first loss on their home turf since it was installed. Again, I will have to confirm that information with Coach Hall.

Later the next day, I was able to reach out to Coach Hall to get his insight on the game, and he would respond with this, ” It was a great week one matchup. Mount Carmel made more plays then us. We had our opportunities, but did not capitalize. We made multiple adjustments defensively during the first half, halftime, and during the weather delay. Offensively, I felt we could have stayed with some plays. Will take the positives and move forward towards week two. It’s a long season! ” During the game, I had the pleasure of catching up with former Spartans quarterback Jake Hall, who is now attending the University of Villanova. It’s always great to see the emotion players still have for their former team.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

POST-GAME INTERVIEWS:(Mt. Carmel Head Coach, Players)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS:(MC)
Passing: MC: Cole Spears(14-19-0 = 174yds, 1TD)
Rushing: MC: Luke Blessing(14-197yds = 1TD), Cole Spears(15-30yds = 2TDS)
Receiving: MC: Garrett Varano(5-73yds = 1TD)
Tackles: MC: Garrett Varano(6)
Sacks: MC: Noah Shimko(1)
Interceptions: MC: Chase Balichik(1), Al Bailey(1)

TEAM STATS:(MC) – (NS)
Total Plays: 60 to 40
First Downs: 16 to 10
T.O.P.: 33:20 to 14:40

Coming up in week-2 for the (0-1)Spartans, they will travel south down Rt.61 to the Eagles Nest to take on (1-0)Blue Mountain, winners in week-1 over Jim Thorpe in overtime 27 to 26 !

Week-2 for the (1-0)Red Tornadoes, they will host the (1-0)Bucks of Dunmore, who were also winners in week-1 vs a very good Old Forge team 42 to 35 !

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