Carmel grasps a playoff success
All Zavier Barnes could do with his left hand was smother the casted right one of teammate Joey Lythcke, as Carmel Catholic's happy football players took a knee and formed a human chain on Harlem's artificial turf.
Back in the playoffs for the first time in three years, after a postseason run of 12 straight appearances ended, the Corsairs played Saturday like a team that doesn't want to let go of its special season any time soon. Behind 231 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns from sophomore fullback Rondel Jamison and 137 yards on the ground from senior quarterback Michael Huiras, No. 10 Carmel rolled to a 42-28 win in a Class 7A playoff opener in Machesney Park.
So much for being “short-handed” on its offensive line. The 6-foot, 254-pound Lythcke injured his hand early in last Friday night's game against Notre Dame. He goes to the doctor Monday to see whether the original diagnosis of two fractured metacarpals is correct. After Saturday's game, which earned Carmel (7-3) a second-round home game against No. 15 Fenwick (6-4), which upset No. 2 seed and previously undefeated Highland Park 17-10, Lythcke's hand was admittedly feeling better.
“I grew up with Carmel football my entire life, going to the games,” Lythcke said. “We're all best friends this year. (The seniors) got together as a group last year and said we're not (missing the playoffs) again. We're changing. We're bringing in a new legacy to Carmel.”
He and his senior teammates backed up their words against No. 7 Harlem (7-3). Huiras ran for a TD and threw one to senior Joe Hoy, while the junior Barnes added 77 rushing yards and a TD.
Even with Lythcke playing with essentially one hand, Carmel's offensive line — which also included seniors Ben Eppel, Patrick Lyman and Adam Stull, junior Sean Foster and junior tight end Noah Turner — helped pave the way for 474 rushing yards.
“I feel everyone on the offense executed, almost every play, especially our guys upfront,” Huiras said. “They created huge holes.”
Jamison busted off a 49-yard TD run on the game's third play from scrimmage. But the Huskies answered immediately, as sophomore QB Trent Willey (17 carries, 96 yards) scored the first of his 2 touchdowns. The teams traded TDs again, as Jamison scored from 4 yards out, before Harlem's Nathan Woolsey carried the ball 5 yards into the end zone early in the second quarter.
The score remained tied at 14-14 until Huiras hit Hoy in a stride in the left corner of the end zone from 20 yards out with 4:43 to go before halftime.
Carmel never trailed after that.
“We've been working on that play all week,” Huiras said of the wheel route Hoy ran. “We knew it was going to be there. We thought they were going to focus on our big tight end Noah Turner, because he's a playmaker.”
Carmel's defense came up big early in the fourth quarter with Harlem facing a fourth-and-5 from its own 45. Corsairs junior linebacker Remy Chitwood snuffed out a double reverse. On the next play, from the Huskies 34, Huiras broke free and raced into the end zone to make it 28-14.
“Jimmy (Rejc, defensive coordinator) was screaming, ‘Double-reverse pass!' right before it happened,” Carmel coach Andy Bitto said. “That was a big play. (Harlem) was aggressive all day. They went for it on fourth downs. They wanted to keep the ball away from us. That's how you beat us.”
After Huiras' TD, Carmel cornerback Sharief Bailey recovered a fumble at the Carmel 46. Earlier in the half, with Harlem threatening to even the score at 21-21, Bailey intercepted a pass at the goal line and brought the ball out to the Carmel 28.
The Corsairs also got fourth-quarter TD runs from Jamison (51 yards) and Barnes (2).
“Winning is so fragile,” Bitto said. “It took two years to get back on track. Winning this game is even bigger for our program.”
Fractured hand or not, Lythcke has a grip on what this season has meant.
“It feels great now,” he said with a smile of his sore hand. “I'll keep playing, no matter what. It's my senior. I'm not going to stop.”