St. Patrick edges Carmel with field goals in OT

Derrick McLean wasn’t going to let his guard down on defense.

McLean picked off a pass and recovered a fumble as of a big Corsairs defensive showing.

Carmel’s defense forced 3 turnovers — but couldn’t take advantage of anything in its favor offensively.

“I just worked hard all season and my teammates have worked hard all season,” McLean said. “It’s all great to get the fumble (recovery) or the interception. It’s the game I love.

“It was all a grudge match. Our defense always plays hard no matter what. I’ve never seen a team out-hit us.”

Yet the Corsairs turned the ball over themselves three times.

In the resulting up-and-down-the-field tussle Friday night, St. Patrick edged Carmel 6-3 in two overtimes in an East Suburban Catholic Conference game in Mundelein.

St. Patrick place kicker Juan Gonzalez sent an 18-yard field goal through the uprights for the winning score.

Carmel (2-6, 2-4) dropped its third straight game and third home game of the season.

“We couldn’t finish them off in the red zone and (St. Patrick) couldn’t finish things off in the red zone either,” Carmel coach Andy Bitto said. “It seemed like a classic, like playing back in 1975 — or from 1965.”

A possession before, the Corsairs had a shot at taking the lead, but Steven O’Block’s 30-yard field goal attempt went off the right upright and fell back on the field.

“The ball hitting the upright and coming back, that’s the way our season has been,” Bitto said. “The ball has been bouncing back on us a bit.

“It was a team effort and we had chances to score. I thought our defense played great.”

Carmel’s defense stopped St. Patrick (5-3, 3-2) twice inside the 10 during regulation and kept the Shamrocks out of the end zone in both overtimes.

Each kicker made a field goal in the first overtime, Gonzalez on a 22-yarder and O’Block from 19 yards.

That was after the game had been scoreless through the four quarters.

St. Patrick lost starting quarterback Octavio Renteria on its opening drive to a broken arm, according to coach Dan Galante.

Renteria had taken a quarterback keeper on a 16-yard run to the Corsairs’ 1 when the injury occurred.

The Corsairs defense held, with McLean’s interception ending the drive few plays later and give Carmel the ball at the 17.

The Shamrocks needed a victory as they pursue a postseason berth.

“We’ve bever been in a game like this with Carmel,” Galante said. “Carmel was a very good football team. I knew Carmel was going to come out and give us everything, and they always do. After our quarterback went down, our kids were resilient and kept fighting out there.”