Late drive lifts Carmel past Marist

Updated: March 22, 2011 4:10PM

First Jordan Kos got Carmel into a hole, and then he got the Corsairs out of it.

Kos muffed a Marist punt that left the Corsairs in the shadow of their own goal line, trailing by three points in the fourth quarter Friday night.

But then Kos gained 44 yards on nine carries as No. 6 Carmel marched 99 yards on 18 plays for the decisive score in a 20-16 East Suburban Catholic Conference win in Chicago.

Brian Brennan, subbing for Carmel's leading rusher, Michael Panico, got the last 20 yards on a sprint around left end with 1:22 remaining to wipe out a 16-13 deficit. Then Brennan's brother Sean intercepted Marist quarterback Luke Oosterbaan at the Carmel 34 with 46.9 seconds left and the Corsairs ran out the clock.

"It was extra pressure," Kos said of the final drive. "I had to run hard. Brian did a great job of finishing it off. The O-line did a great job blocking ... opening up holes."

Kos finished with 216 yards on 22 carries, including 67 on a first-quarter touchdown run that featured a key block by Brennan. Brennan, who didn't find out till Friday morning that he'd be starting, added 66 yards on 12 carries and also threw a 15-yard scoring pass to Ryan Cappis late in the second quarter to give Carmel a 13-9 halftime lead.

No. 21 Marist (3-2, 1-1) regained the lead at 16-13 on Oosterbaan's 11-yard TD pass to John Carraher with 8:09 left in the third quarter.

Ben Falloon put Marist ahead 3-0 with a 37-yard field goal with 10:19 left in the first quarter. Kos' TD run gave Carmel the lead, but Marist went back on top 9-6 on Oosterbaan's two-yard scoring pass to Mike Skalitzky with 3:56 left in the first half. Cappis' TD catch gave Carmel the lead again at the break.

The Corsairs (5-0, 3-0) were coming off an emotional home win over Joliet Catholic, but Kos said there was no letdown.

"Coach [Andy Bitto] was stressing all week [to] never be satisfied," Kos said. "[He said] Marist was going to come out hard, they were going to be tough and sure enough, it was a tough game."

Oosterbaan was 18 of 27 passing for 169 yards with three interceptions. McKinley Moore ran 23 times for 102 yards for Marist.

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