Article and photos by T Ray Henry
One rushing play that had the coaches screaming where the play was going which led to a score... One fumble leading to a scoop and score... One breakdown in pass coverage which resulted in a score… One kickoff coverage sequence without lane integrity leading to the final score...
Four plays... Four plays which made the difference between winning and losing against an undefeated opponent.
Out of a total of 87 plays during a football game between Marshall and Mount Carmel along the banks of the Wabash River in Mount Carmel on Friday, October 9th, only four plays stood out which led to a 40-0 win for Mount Carmel, who clinched the conference championship inside Riverside Stadium and remained undefeated on the season at 8-0. Marshall fell to 3-5, but with the IHSA expanding the playoff field in each of the eight classes for football to 48 teams this year, the Lions still remain in the hunt for a playoff berth. As of this writing, Marshall is seeded 38th in IHSA’s computer projections for Class 2A which mathematically gives them an 85-90% chance of playing a football game beyond next Friday night and making the playoffs for the 31st time in school history.
The Lions turned in one of their best defensive efforts of the season against a high-powered Golden Aces squad. After Mount Carmel’s first two touchdowns, the Big Red defense held strong in stopping power runs on both two-point conversion tries. If we were to take away Mount Carmel quarterback River Deisher’s 49-yard touchdown run in the opening quarter, Marshall held the quarterback who had been averaging over 144 yards per game rushing in his first seven games of the season to a grand total of one yard on the ground. Coming into the game, Deisher gained 1012 yards rushing on the season, and his 50-yard total against Marshall was by far the least amount of rushing yards in his high school career.
As a team, Mount Carmel averaged 250 yards on the ground in their first seven games, gaining a total of 1752 yards. In Friday’s game, Marshall held the Golden Aces to just 97 rushing, 50 yards less than their next lowest output.
On Marshall’s second drive of the game, they drove the ball into Mount Carmel territory before disaster struck the Lions as a fumble and a 64-yard scoop and score for the Golden Aces made the score 12-0 with 14 seconds to go in the first quarter.
With as many as nine Lions playing both ways, Mount Carmel’s speed and depth led to three more touchdowns before halftime for the Golden Aces to take a 33-0 lead into the break. On the kickoff to begin the second half, the Lions had a breakdown of staying in their lanes as Mount Carmel took a 94-yard kickoff return to the house, and after the kick on the extra point was good, Marshall trailed 40-0.
With a running clock the remainder of the game, Marshall made it once inside the Mount Carmel red zone off the heels of two nice passes from Luke Brodie, the first to Bryce Parker and the second one a nice catch and run by Eli Thompson to get inside the Golden Aces 20. The drive stalled, however, and Mount Carmel took over possession on downs. The Lions defense never wavered in holding Mount Carmel scoreless throughout the entire second half, but depth and misfortune proved to be the Lions’ undoing in the first half of play.
Mount Carmel had a total of 285 yards in the game to Marshall’s 136. The Lions’ ground game, which has been a strength this year, was held to 54 yards rushing by a Mount Carmel defense which didn’t look nearly like the best in the LIC from field level. Max Welsh, who only played during the first half, had 19 yards on the ground to lead Marshall in rushing. Luke Brodie was 5 of 11 in passing for 82 yards, and Eli Thompson had one catch for 35 yards to lead the squad in receiving yards. Bryce Parker (30 yards) and Silas Dean (17 yards) each had two receptions.
The Lions now turn their attention to the one remaining game in the regular season against Newton at Bush Field on Friday, October 16th.
It is Senior Night for Marshall football players, football managers, cheerleaders, Marshallettes, marching band members, and fall sports athletes from golf and cross-country.
The football game kicks off at 7:00 PM, with Senior Night activities preceding the game.
Come on out to Bush Field and support our student athletes as they put a lid on the fall season.
Bryce Parker (6) makes a nice catch while wearing a Mount Carmel defender on his back
Silas Dean (0) sprints around the block by Cooper Danke and Ben Welsh against Mount Carmel
Eli Thompson (5) outraces the Mount Carmel defense to get Marshall into the red zone
Fisher Bishop (55), Luke Brodie (10), and Reed Ramey converge on the Mount Carmel ball carrier
