Spears, Diaz Highlight MCA’s Upset Win Over Rival

Tagged under: District 4, Gameday Hub, News

Dave Fegley | October 14, 2023

Red Tornadoes give Tigers first loss

A touchdown pass from Cole Spears to fellow senior Xavier Diaz in the third quarter extended Mount Carmel Area’s lead in their upset 42-30 win over Southern Columbia.

The Red Tornadoes dominated and deserved to win, and that 32-yard connection was historic.

On their annual Senior Night inside of The Silver Bowl, Spears broke the single game passing yardage record with 332, and Diaz’s 10 grabs are a new MCA record in a game.

Diaz tied the previous mark of nine receptions in the first half alone.

“It is an honor to now hold that record. We have such a rich program with great history, but I couldn’t do any of it without my teammates. It was a great night, but we know when the clock strikes for Monday we have to get back to work. We can enjoy this win for the weekend against a really good team,” said Spears who topped Zack Wasilewski’s previous mark of 315.

Mount Carmel jumped out to a 21-0 lead and just simply took it to the Tigers as the snapped Southern’s 15-game winning streak.

“We had some really good play designs. The linemen did their jobs on those screen passes, and Cole got me the football,” Diaz said. “When we make those big plays, it really pumps us up with how loud the crowd cheers and the guys on the sideline are always supporting as well.”

One of Southern’s five turnovers on the night came on the second offensive play. Luke Blessing put the Tornadoes in front just seconds later. The junior scored four touchdowns, including a 24-yarder 56 seconds into the game.

“It was crazy. We knew this was the best defense that we were going to face, so we had to come out hungry. That was the best first quarter our team has ever played, and then we just kept pounding it down their throat,” Blessing said.

The inability of the Tigers being able to tackle any Tornado that touched the ball was disappointing for any Southern fan to see. It almost appeared as if some Southern players were scared to make any contact on Friday the 13th.

“It was disappointing to say the least. Hopefully this will serve as a wakeup call. We aren’t unbeaten anymore,” Southern head coach Jim Roth said.

Later in the first quarter, set up by a 45-yard catch from Diaz, Blessing made the score 14-0 with a one-yard run. Then, with 4:17 remaining in the first quarter, Spears connected with Diaz from 36 yards out to extend the lead to 21-0.

“Mount Carmel played very well and deserved to win. That pretty much sums it up. They executed and we didn’t. They made more plays than we did and played inspired. They had a good game plan and stuck with it. Yes, we made a lot of mistakes with turnovers and penalties, but they made the plays when they needed to,” said Roth.

Garrett Garcia scored for the Tigers on a short run, followed by a successful two-point conversion as kicker Isaac Carter missed his second consecutive game with a concussion. That 21-8 deficit went right back up to three scores quickly.

Just over a minute later, Blessing caught a 26-yard screen, broke four tackles, and gave the home team a 28-8 advantage. Following a fumble recovery by MCA senior Maddox Reed, Blessing scored from five yards out.

“We knew we had to battle. Playing against a team like this, you know at times it is going to be tough and isn’t going to be pretty. Our guys kept battling though. I didn’t realize we forced five turnovers, but that’s a credit to our defense,” MCA head coach John Darrah said.

Louden Murphy scored for the Tigers with just over two minutes to go in the first half, making the score 35-14 at the break in favor of Mount Carmel.

Garcia and Murphy each scored in the second half, but it wasn’t enough as the Red Tornadoes earned the win as freshman Jaylen Delaney had two late interceptions to cap things off.

Mount Carmel might have scored just once in the second half, but it was the play that gave both Spears and Diaz the record.

“They killed us with the screen pass. We didn’t play it well the first time that they hit it on us, and we didn’t adjust to playing it better. Then add to that our run defense. We have played good against the run all year, but they really took it to us. They finished out plays, and we missed a lot of tackles,” said Roth.

With the win, Mount Carmel Area knows what happened last season in the playoffs as Southern Columbia got redemption in the Class 2A District 4 title game by winning in convincing fashion.

“We just talked about it in the huddle right after this win. Last year when we beat them in the regular season, we felt like we were going to win a state championship. However, we got a rude awakening. Southern handled us in the playoffs and went on to win another state championship,” said Reed who recovered three fumbles in Friday’s victory.

Mount Carmel (6-2) will travel to Shikellamy next week before closing the regular season on the road in their annual Coal Bucket game against Shamokin Area.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better start. It was like a dream scenario the way it played out early on,” said Darrah. “Cole Spears had a great game. Xavier Diaz had a great game. It was just a great overall win for every player that contributed. Now we have to use this as momentum going forward. We need to focus on our next opponent”

Southern (7-1) will look to rebound next week as they have another tough test. They will take on an undefeated Wyoming Area squad.

“Mount Carmel gashed us against the run, and we have another tough opponent next week,” Roth said. “Tonight, was frustrating. We knew coming in that we were facing a physical team. You can never look past Mount Carmel, and they took it to us. Hopefully the kids come ready to practice and put this one behind us.”

MOUNT CARMEL 42, SOUTHERN COLUMBIA 30

Southern Columbia (7-1): 8-6-8-8 — 30

Mount Carmel (6-2): 28-7-7-0 — 42

SCORING SUMMARY

First quarter

MC-Luke Blessing 24 run (Robert Schoppy kick), 11:04

MC-Blessing 1 run (Schoppy kick), 6:41

MC-Xavier Diaz 35 pass from Cole Spears (Schoppy kick), 4:17

SC-Garrett Garcia 2 run (Carter Madden run), 1:37

MC-Blessing 26 pass from Spears (Schoppy kick), 0:26.5

Second quarter

MC-Blessing 5 run (Schoppy kick), 5:13

SC-Louden Murphy 5 run (pass failed), 2:23

Third quarter

SC-Garcia 1 run (Murphy pass from Blake Wise), 4:31

MC-Diaz 32 pass from Spears (Schoppy kick), 1:59

Fourth quarter

SC-Murphy 9 run (Murphy pass from Wise), 7:49

TEAM STATISTICS

SC  –  MC

First downs 17  –  24

Rushes-yards 47-235  –  31-179

Passing yards 107  –  332

Comp.-att.-int. 9-19-2  –  17-30-1

Fumbles-lost 5-3  –  2-1

Penalties-yards 7-51  –  9-55

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Southern Columbia: Garrett Garcia 19-121, 2 TDs; Louden Murphy 15-64, 2 TDs; Carter Madden 7-33; Brayden Andrews 3-11; Blake Wise 3-6. Mount Carmel: Luke Blessing 23-153, 3 TDs; Cole Spears 4-20; Xavier Diaz 3-7; Team 1-(-1).

PASSING — Southern Columbia: Wise 9-19-2, 107 yds. Mount Carmel: Spears 17-29-1, 332 yds, 3 TDs.

RECEIVING — Southern Columbia: Jake Hoy 5-49; Kyle Christman 2-7; Murphy 1-48; Madden 1-3. Mount Carmel: Diaz 10-207, 2 TDs; Chase Balichik 4-65; Blessing 2-27, TD; Jacob Schultz 1-31.

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