Benet drops fourth straight

Mt. Carmel rolled over and cut through Benet 49-6 in a Class 7A first-round playoff game Friday night at Gately Stadium.

The Caravan defense allowed the Redwings just 11 yards rushing for the game.

The Caravan’s Christian Searles scored the first three touchdowns on three pass plays. Two passes were from his own quarterback Marko Boricich for 17 and 37 yards and one from the opposing quarterback, Jack Beneventi, a 30-yard interception return for a touchdown. That put Mt. Carmel ahead 21-0 early in the first quarter.

“Touchdowns don’t come to often for me, so they are all great,” Searles said. “But the (interception) was my best. We started out fast so we really killed their momentum and we didn’t let them hang around.”

The Caravan forced the Redwings to rely on Beneventi and the passing game.

“It’s a tough to lose in the first round of the playoffs,” Beneventi said. “We always strive for the best. Mt. Carmel is a great team with great defense and great offense. It’s special to play a team like that.”

Spotted with an early lead, the Caravan machine kept pushing. Matt Domer added two more scores on runs of 26 and 6 yards and Brendan Griffin caught a 1-yard pass from Marko Boricich to give the Caravan a 42-0 lead at the half.

“We talked to the kids about starting fast and coming out strong and not waiting to see how good they are but show them how good we are,” said Caravan coach Frank Lenti.

“It makes it a lot easier to call offense when you know if you don’t turn the ball over, people are going to have to go a long way to score points.”

After starting the season 6-0, the Redwings lost the last three games of the regular season. Coach Patrick New made no excuses.

“If we are going to lose, we want it to be to the state champions,” New said. “Their defense is as advertised. They are really good upfront. Our plan was to keep it close, but once you let it get out by two or three touchdowns, they control the ball so well and they eat up the clock.”

Brad Sznajder broke out for a 47-yard run in the third quarter to end the shutout for the Redwings.

The Caravan will face St. Rita in Round 2 of the playoffs.