‘YOU LIVE FOR THIS’
The mud. The cold. The euphoria. Dupree digs it all as Mount Carmel grinds out 1st-round playoff win over Thornwood.
By the time sophomore running back Darrion Dupree was done carrying the ball for Mount Carmel on a rainy Friday night, he was covered in mud, shivering from the cold and ... absolutely thrilled about it all.
“It was crazy,” Dupree said. “It was so crazy. But we played. We did what we needed to do to get a win. We knew we had to run the ball in a game like this. I liked that.”
Dupree ran for 155 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries to lead the 17th-seeded Caravan to a 20-0 win over 16th-seeded host Thornwood in a Class 7A first-round playoff game.
Mount Carmel (7-3) will meet top-seeded Batavia (10-0) — a 37-0 winner over Lake Zurich — in the second round.
With a steady rain, a howling wind and a torn-up grass field making it difficult for either offense to get things going, the Caravan had to dig deep against Thornwood (7-3).
“We always say, ‘Play like a fist,’ ” Dupree said. “Everybody comes together and we just play like a team. That’s what we had to do in this game.”
Mount Carmel led just 7-0 in the final minute of the first half when special teams helped swing momentum in the Caravan favor.
Junior Danny Novickas blocked a punt to give the Caravan the ball at the Thornwood 35-yard line.
After junior quarterback Blainey Dowling ran for 22 yards to put Mount Carmel inside the 10, Dupree capped things off with a 3-yard TD run with just five seconds left in the half to send the Caravan into the locker room up 14-0.
On a night when the Caravan finished with minus-5 passing yards, it felt like an old-school Mount Carmel performance, with the offense reliant on running the ball down the defense’s throat.
Dowling knows all about that history. Mount Carmel’s home field is named Barda-Dowling Stadium, co-named after Dowling’s late uncle, Kevin, who died after collapsing at a Caravan football practice in 1995.
“Mount Carmel’s built on running the ball,” Dowling said. “We love running the ball. The line got out there and blocked. The receivers blocked. Our defense went out and did a great job. We came out with the win.”
Dowling ran for 112 yards on 13 carries, including a 4-yard TD run that gave Mount Carmel a 7-0 lead 43 seconds into the second quarter.
Dowling said he enjoyed the chaotic game conditions.
“Oh, my God, you live for this,” he said. “These are the games you dream of when you’re a kid. But we want it to be the first of many. We’ve got a bunch to go here. This was the start of the road to state.”
Dupree capped the scoring with a 1-yard TD run with 7:58 to go.
J.T. Harris had a fumble recovery for the Caravan, while
Novickas, Nickolas Naujokas, Elliott Lewis and Elijah Rivera all had a sack.
Thornwood’s Jason Scurlock recovered a muffed punt at the Mount Carmel 5 in the second quarter, but the Thunderbirds count not capitalize.
Saveon Brown hit Damajay Rheams on a fourthdown
pass, but Rheams was tackled at the 2. The Thunderbirds also fumbled in the red zone in the first half.
Eric Williams ran for 50 yards on 13 carries for Thornwood. Brown threw for 37 yards.
“We gave it everything we had,” Thornwood coach Kenneth Smith said. “Our defense did a phenomenal job all game long. Offensively, we had three chances
in the red zone and we just couldn’t capitalize. Overall, though, I can’t say anything negative about the way we played. We fought hard.
“We finished 7-3. That’s the best the school has done since 1994. Hats off to my guys. I’m extremely proud of them.”