Mount Carmel and Catholic League Blue foe St. Rita duked it out under cloudy skies Friday night at Gately Stadium. In the end, the Caravan knocked off St. Rita 35-14 to improve to 4-0.
The crazy weather rolling through the area forced the cancellation of dozens of games. There was also a crazy sight at Gately: 5-9, 279-pound Mount Carmel defensive lineman Terrell Greer sealing the game with an interception and rumbling 74-yard return for a touchdown midway through the forth quarter to put Mount Carmel up 35-14.
“I was just thinking I just gotta score, I can’t let anyone stop me and I have to score,” Greer said. “I just wanted it too bad. I had to score. I told my guy earlier that there was going to be a pick six for me today. And I got it.”
Greer may have predicted the interception, but no one would have forecasted a 74-yard return.
“I just felt it, I told all my guys I was going to get a pick six today but I didn’t think it would be 74-yards but that was amazing,” Greer said.
The steady rain continued through the third quarter. Mount Carmel got on the board first with a 79-yard run by senior AJ Reis to the St. Rita 4, one play later he would punch the ball in for a touchdown.
Special teams errors and staunch defensive play kept St. Rita (1-3) in the game, the only points the Mustangs scored came from a botched punt. St. Rita defensive lineman Joe Doweiko picked off a pass and returned it for a score with 1:25 remaining in the first.
The second half was nearly all Caravan, with two AJ Lewis touchdowns in seven minutes of game time. The first was a five-yard run with just under six minutes remaining in the third quarter. He rumbled in from five yards out again with 11 minutes left in the ballgame.
St. Rita got a second spark from junior linebacker Marc-Elle Mondesir. He stepped up and pulled down a 53-yard interception and returned it for a touchdown with 9:21 remaining in the third quarter. But that wasn’t enough to stop a rolling Mount Carmel squad from remaining undefeated.