Mikes rise up to stun Eagles, 14-13
Mired in a five-game losing streak, Carmichaels walked onto the field at Avella to face an Eagles team that boasted a 6-1 record and was fighting for a playoff spot Friday night.
Most would expect a flat effort from a team out of playoff contention, facing such a tough road challenge.
The Mikes showed they haven’t given up on their season, however.
Will Murray scored two touchdowns and Carmichaels’ defense came up with a late stand as the Mikes stunned Avella, 14-13, to severely hamper the Eagles’ postseason hopes.
Avella fell to 3-2 in the Class A Tri-County South Conference and 6-2 overall. Carmichaels snapped its losing skid in improving to 1-4 in the TCS and 2-5 overall.
“I have to credit our kids with how resilient they are in staying with the plan, playing hard and not giving up,” Mikes coach Ryan Krull said.
“Our kids in a lot of these games have not played well enough on a consistent basis to win but I’ve got to give them a ton of credit because for five straight weeks we’ve been on the wrong end of Friday nights and we ask them to keep showing up, keep practicing and doing all the little things, and they do.
“In today’s day and age I don’t think that’s the norm with kids. I think when things go bad they think, ‘OK, how the heck can I get out of this situation.’ Our kids are staying the course and they’re so deserving of tonight.”
Carmichaels showed it would be no pushover right from the start.
Avella opened the game with a mammoth drive that carried into the second quarter. The Mikes defense refused to relent when it was backed near its goal line and the Eagles came up empty.
“We did not touch the ball the entire first quarter. We just couldn’t get off the field,” Krull said. “We shot ourselves in the foot a couple times with penalties. But we held them out of the end zone and we ended up moving the ball some.
“Then Will Murray broke a big run and scored. That was a big momentum shifter.”
Murray ran for a 46-yard touchdown to give Carmichaels a 6-0 lead with 10:20 left in the second quarter. Quarterback Cannon Bupka was stopped short on the two-point conversion run.
Murray scored again on a 15-yard run with 2:25 left in the quarter and this time Bupka did run in the two-point conversion. Those two points would loom large.
The Eagles finally got on the scoreboard when Chas Rush threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Wright with just 23 seconds left in the half and Wright’s extra-point kick made it 14-7 at halftime.
Avella took advantage of a Carmichaels turnover after the second-half kickoff.
“We fumbled the ball on our first play from scrimmage and they took it and went down and scored,” Krull said.
Rush and Wright hooked up again with 5:06 left in the third quarter on a 15-yard TD pass but the extra-point kick was wide, leaving Avella down by one.
“They barely missed the extra point,” Krull said.
Both teams put together long drives down the stretch.
“We got inside their 5 but got thrown for a loss and didn’t score,” Krull said. “Then they came down late in the game and had a fourth and 9 on our 13 but we held.”
Avella’s hopes for victory ended with an incomplete pass and the Mikes ran out the clock.
Murray led Carmichaels with 16 carries for 120 yards and made five tackles. Bupka ran 11 times for 60 yards and made six tackles.
Job Smith led the Mikes defense with eight tackles, including a sack, and Jordan Davis added two sacks and a fumble recovery. Carmichaels also got seven tackles from KC Shook and six tackles from Stephen Lewis.
Krull commended the Eagles and coach Ryan Cecchini.
“We beat a good Avella team,” Krull said. “His kids are so well coached and so well prepared. He knows football and he does a magnificent job with them.”