Huiras, Carmel calmly in control against St. Viator
In a rivalry game, no one would have blamed the Carmel football team for keeping its foot on the gas.
But Mike Huiras decelerated in the final minutes of Carmel's 38-20 win over host St. Viator on Friday, giving Carmel not only its biggest win in several years, but maybe its classiest win ever.
"Classiest move I've seen a high school football player make in 30 years," Carmel coach Andy Bitto cried out to his players in the post-game huddle.
Huiras, Carmel's senior quarterback, was trying to help Carmel salt away its victory over the final three minutes, when his keeper around the outside from about 40 yards out suddenly turned into a clear path to the end zone.
He had everyone beat.
But instead of motoring to the house for his third touchdown of the game, Huiras slid to the ground after he secured the first down, passing on adding more points to the scoreboard.
Bitto said that no one was yelling at Huiras from the sideline to avoid scoring, he made the decision himself.
"For him to think that way, that's an unbelievably classy move," St. Viator coach Brandon New said. "If I'm a high school kid, I'm scoring there. Most kids would."
Huiras would seem to have every reason to pile on St. Viator. Bragging rights are on the line in his own household.
"My cousins, my uncles, my Mom went (to St. Viator)," Huiras said. "My family has been all about St. Viator. But I'm not about rubbing it in. We'll just take the win. That's what I've been taught at my great school."
Still, Huiras, who finished with 2 touchdowns and 122 yards rushing, was savoring the enormity of the win for Carmel, which improves to 4-2 overall and 3-1 in the East Suburban Catholic Conference.
"This is huge," Huiras said. "We lost (to St. Viator) last year on a last-second field goal. And we lost the year before at our Homecoming. It's one of the biggest rivalries in the ESCC for us, and it's just a huge win."
Carmel got a huge night out of sophomore running back Rondel Jamison. He powered his way up the middle carry after carry for 180 yards and 3 touchdowns. All three of his scores came before halftime, helping Carmel take a 28-14 lead into the locker room.
"I just believe in my line, believe in my team and I keep my feet moving," said Jamison, who admits to being surprised that he has been so productive as a sophomore. "I thought I'd be out here getting hit and hurt all the time but I just really trust in my team to help me out."
After Jamison's second score gave Carmel a 14-0 lead with 11:57 left in the second quarter, St. Viator got on the board on the ensuing kick-off. Michael Ragauskis ran it back 99 yards for a touchdown.
That was the biggest highlight of the night for St. Viator, which never found much of a flow offensively thanks to a lopsided time of possession in Carmel's favor.
"They won the line of scrimmage tonight and we just didn't get a chance to do anything," New said. "I mean, how many minutes did they have the ball? Time of possession was big. Carmel runs the ball so well, and when that's all that you do, you can (string a lot of plays together). They're happy getting three or four yards a play and they keep going and going and going."
St. Viator's first offensive score came with just 35 seconds left in the first half. Quarterback Tyler Johnston ran in a touchdown from a yard out. Johnston, who completed 18-of-29 passes for 255 yards, also hooked up with Ben Dickey in the third quarter for a 24-yard touchdown pass.
Dickey had 9 catches for 121 yards.
"I think Viator is a really good team, especially on offense," Bitto said. "We did a really good job of slowing them down and taking the ball away from them because we got a lot of first downs and moved the ball well."