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Football: Mount Carmel tops Brother Rice, claims Catholic League title
Updated: November 18, 2011 10:08PM
The plan for Don Butkus and the Mount Carmel offense Friday night was to get a couple scores ahead early while driving into the teeth of a fierce south wind.
With the Caravan facing a third-and-five from their own 13 and the clock winding down in the first quarter, it looked like Butkus might have to go to Plan B.
But then the junior quarterback faked a handoff to Brandon Greer and was off to the races, going 87 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown that got the Caravan rolling to a 39-6 win over Brother Rice in the Catholic League final at Gately Stadium.
“We felt like we needed one more touchdown to put them away and we accomplished it,” said Butkus, who ran for three touchdowns and passed for two more. “It felt good.”
And it got Mount Carmel (9-4) to its first Prep Bowl since 2001. The Caravan will play Saturday’s Simeon-Harper winner next Friday at noon. For now, that game is scheduled to be played at Gately, but a rumor was circulating Friday night that it may be at Soldier Field after all.
Butkus and his teammates are more concerned about how they play than where they play, though. They have refocused after falling to Bolingbrook in the second round of the IHSA playoffs and won two straight, including their second victory over Brother Rice this season.
“We lost to Bolingbrook, they’re a tough team,” said Butkus, who had eight carries for 92 yards and was 5 of 7 passing for 79 yards. “That feeling, we don’t want it again. We don’t want to lose.”
Butkus threw a pair of touchdown passes to Jason Gasser, a 21-yarder in the second quarter and a 12-yarder in the fourth, and also scored on a pair of one-yard sneaks in the second period.
The first scoring pass came one play after Derrick Bryant had the first of his two fumble recoveries. A short Rice punt into the wind set up the first one-yard touchdown run and Draco Smith’s 58-yard burst led to the second. Smith ran nine times for 73 yards and Greer finished with 62 yards on 14 carries.
“With the defense and the kicking game. we really kept the field tilted in the first half,” Caravan coach Frank Lenti said.
Ivan Strmic kicked a pair of field goals for Mount Carmel, a 23-yarder into the wind in the first quarter and a 33-yarder in the third.
Joe McNally recovered a fumble and Vincent Speller picked off a pass as Mount Carmel forced four turnovers by Rice (8-5). The Crusaders scored on an 11-yard run by Andrew Walker (11 carries, 53 yards) with 1:21 left in the game. Martez Walker had 51 yards on 12 rushes for Rice.
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