Early break helps Mikes down Gators
CONNELLSVILLE TWP. – The turning point of Carmichaels’ 28-7 Tri-County South Conference win over Geibel Catholic Saturday may have come just three minutes into the game. Geibel stopped Carmichaels’ opening drive at the GC 39, but the Gators roughed punter Dan Antonelli to keep the drive alive, and Carmichaels went on to score the first of three first-quarter touchdowns that made the difference in the outcome.
Quarterback Jonathan Krall capped the 58-yard opening drive from the 1-yard line. Less than three minutes later, Krall completed a 32-yard scoring pass to T.J. Harkins after Zach Doman recovered a Gator fumble at the GC 38 yard line. Workhorse Anthonie Farrar completed the 22-point outburst with a 5-yard run with 1:46 left in the quarter.
The Mikes possessed the ball for 8:25 of the quarter, while Geibel had the ball for just 10 offensive plays.
The Gators had three promising drives ended by interceptions. The first came after a drive from the Geibel 38 to the Carmichaels 33 before Seth Krall picked off Chris Erdely’s pass at the Mikes’ 10-yard line.
Late in the half, the Gators drove 63 yards in 11 plays to score their only touchdown. Christian Henckel carried six times for 26 yards in the drive, including an 11-yard run to the end zone to cut the deficit to 22-7.
Carmichaels (3-2, 3-4) put the game away with an 88-yard drive in 17 plays, including a pair of offside penalties against Geibel on third down plays. The drive took 6:31 off the clock from late in the third quarter until 8:17 remained in the game, when Farrar scored on another 5-yard run. Farrar led the Carmichaels offense with 33 carries for 181 yards rushing.
Geibel (1-4, 2-5) drove deep into Carmichaels’ territory twice in the waning minutes. But Josh Mundell intercepted a pass at the Mikes’ 6-yard line, and Harkins picked off another pass inside the visitors’ 30-yard line in the final minute.
Geibel Catholic coach Ron Marciante agreed that the early roughing penalty helped turn the tide, in addition to turnovers and the offside infractions on the Mikes’ final scoring drive.
“We made mistake after mistake,” Marciante said. “We threw everything we had at them. But ever game, something like that happens that we can’t come back from.”
Carmichaels coach John Menhart said he was concerned about the Gators going into the game. “I worried about our focus. Geibel is big and I didn’t know how our kids would respond on a Saturday afternoon. We were fortunate to get the turnover early. (Geibel) has a couple athletes who scare you in 22 (Hudnell Caldwell), 5 (Henckel), and 2 (Erdely).”