Prep Football: Not In the Cards For Dogs
Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Friday night's Week 1 opener for Harrisburg was theirs for the taking, but a combined turnover-plagued and penalty-induced effort did the Bulldogs in and they fell to Mt. Carmel 44-31 at Riverview Stadium on Legends Field.
The Bulldogs (0-1) squandered three first half drives, two of which resulted in back-to-back fumbles in the red zone and the other came when Harrisburg was unable to capitalize on a Mt. Carmel (1-0) fumble to open the game when the Aces mishandled the opening kickoff.
To add fuel to the fire, it was Harrisburg who fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half that resulted in a scoop and score for Mt. Carmel and the Bulldogs finished the game with nine penalties for 80 yards.
It wasn't the opener Harrisburg head coach Al Way was hoping for.
"We got a break right off the bat and I think their only turnover was the kickoff fumble and we immediately jump off sides twice on that first drive and not scoring. Immediately, it's a negative connotation and then we fumble twice inside the 10-yard line. You can't do that against a good football team. Not against a team that has an offense like Mt. Carmel does."
Mt. Carmel racked up 500 yards of total offense against Harrisburg, while junior tailback Trevor Kennard played like a pin ball on Red Bull.
The 5-foot-9, 190-pound scatback, who set a school rushing record last season with over 1,800 yards, got off on the right foot Friday in the Snake Pit, finishing with 33 carries for 313 yards and four touchdowns on the night.
He also caught one pass for a TD and had close to 50 yards in the air.
Way walked away knowing that defense is going to be a major concern for his club, at least in the early going.
"My big concern right now is our defense. Part of that is Kennard is a fantastic football player, but we don't tackle well and I thought our defensive line was getting knocked off the ball. I thought our secondary played pretty well, considering how good their passing game is, our secondary was not bad at all. Upfront we were not very good and that's got to get better for next week."
Mt. Carmel quarterback Pete Smith, who threw for 2,000 yards a year ago, finished Friday night's game with a modest 168 against Harrisburg and one touchdown pass.
After Harrisburg failed to score on Mt. Carmel's fumble to start the game, the Aces got on the board with their second possession when Kennard found pay dirt from two yards out.
Tylar Marler, who finished with 143 yards on 14 carries and led the way for Harrisburg offensively, scored from 32 yards out to make it 8-6 late in the first quarter.
Harrisburg led twice in the game - the first when Kane Carrigan bulled his way in from one-yard out with 9:31 to play in the second quarter and after Kennard tacked on his second TD to put the Aces back up by four - Noah Vallette hooked up with Marler on a 23-yard strike to make it a 18-16 game with 7:26 to play before half.
Mt. Carmel and Kennard tacked on one more score before halftime to put the Aces up 24-18 and following that score, Harrisburg went on two consecutive trips where they fumbled in the red zone, once by Marler at the three-yard line and then after forcing the Aces to punt, Upchurch fumbled at the 10-yard line as the Bulldogs were threatening to score again.
Down, but not out, the Harrisburg fumble to start the second half certainly took the wind out of the proverbial sails for the Bulldogs.
"It put us so far behind," Way said. "Not only do we not score twice in the first half, then we just turn around and give them a touchdown. "This is a game where we had to get a hold, a quick score and keep it within that six point range. Once, they got the cheap touchdown, then all of a sudden it's desperation for us. We can't go that five yards, four yards, six yards. Now we have to open it up and you drop passes. We had our chances and we have to change the attitude that they can win. I know it's hard after coming off losing seven games last year."
In the second half, Carrigan ran for a three-yard score and Corbin Crim-Harbison used his speed on an end-around for a 65-yard score to keep the game respectable.
Harrisburg finished with 453 yards of total offense as 391 of it came on the ground.
Marler had 17 carries for 143, while Crim-Harbison had 95 yards on three carries. Cardigan finished with 70 yards on 12 carries and Upchurch had seven carries for 32 yards.
Vallette went 4-for-10 for 62 yards, hitting Marler for 32 yards, Blake Drue for 20 yards, Aaron Stephens for 10 yards and Crim-Harbison for nine yards.
Vallette knows that the Bulldogs beat themselves Friday night, noting there wasn't one drive in the first half that Harrisburg shouldn't have scored on.
"We just beat ourselves and we've been training hard for two months, so to know we could have beat (Mt. Carmel), but didn't because of little mistakes is really frustrating right now."
Way takes solace in how well the offense performed, but echoed many of Vallette's sentiments.
"We did a lot of good things, but again, it's like I have told them the entire time in practice. What good does it do to have a 15-play drive, drive 80 yards to the five-yard line and fumble? That's exactly what we did tonight."
Harrisburg will play in its home opener Friday night at Taylor Field against Du Quoin at 7 p.m. The Indians were 46-0 winners over Sesser-Valier-Waltonville-Woodlawn in Week 1.
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter:
@spydieshooter.
Harrisburg 6 12 07 06 - 31
Mt. Carmel 8 16 12 08 - 44
Scoring Drives
First Quarter
MTC - Kennard 2 run (Smith to Evans pass), 7:27
HBG - Marler 32 run (pass failed), 1:45
Second Quarter
HBG - Carrigan 1 run (pass failed), 9:31
MTC - Kennard 22 run (Smith to Kight), 8:53
HBG - Vallette 23 pass to Marler (kick failed), 7:26
MTC - Kennard 23 run (Smith to Marcotte), 6:35
Third Quarter
MTC - Evans fumble recovery (pass failed), 11:49
HBG - Carrigan 3 run (Owen kick), 6:13
MTC - Smith 28 pass to Kennard (pass failed), 3:24
Fourth Quarter
MTC - Kennard 15 run (Smith to Marcotte), 7:24
HBG - Crim-Harbison 65 run (kick failed), 5:22
Team Statistics
HBG MTC
First Downs 14 17
Rushes-Yards 43-391 39-322
Comp-Att-Int 5-11-0 11-23-0
Passing 71 168
Total Yards 485 500
Fumbles-Lost 3-3 1-1
Penalities 9-80 5-35
Individual Statistics
RUSHING - HBG: Marler 8-143, Crim 9-95, Carrigan 12-70, Stephens 2-46, Upchurch 7-32, Vallette 2-5. MTC: Kennard 33-313, Smith 6-19.
PASSING - HBG: Vallette 4-11-10 71. MTC: Smith 11-23-0 168.
RECEIVING - HBG: Marler 1-32, Drue 1-20, Stephens 1-10, Crim-Harbison 1-9. MTC:Spear 1-57, Marcotte 5-29, Kennard 2-49, Carpenter 3-24, Evans 1-(-1).