By Todd Hummel
For The Daily Item
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SELINSGROVE — The one thing that Carm DeFrancesco has impressed on all of his teams that he has ever coached is pride in the football program and pride in the school.
It’s a message that high school kids have been buying since the early 1990s from DeFrancesco, and Friday night at Harold L. Bolig Memorial Field there was one more team of believers ready to take the field against the defending PIAA Class AAA champion Selinsgrove.
What made it even more special for DeFrancesco is that this group of kids is at his alma matter, Mount Carmel, and what a great night it was to be a Red Tornado on Friday.
Eddy Stewart threw two touchdowns passes and the Mount Carmel defense stymied the Seals’ offense as Mount Carmel snapped Selinsgrove’s 16-game winning streak with 14-0 shutout.
“I’m just so happy for our program. I’m telling you guys, we came over here expecting to win,” DeFrancesco said.
That was clear from the outset as the Mount Carmel defense held Selinsgrove to just 37 yards in the first half and the Red Tornadoes dominated the time of possession battle in the first half, running more plays (38) than the Seals had yards.
“Our defensive coaching staff did such a great job. We had our kids prepared. We were prepared for everything that they threw at us,” DeFrancesco said.
Mount Carmel’s offensive line deftly squelched the Seals’ blitzing 3-5, not allowing a sack. Meanwhile, Stewart, who threw for just 381 yards in 12 games last year, completed 11-of-16 passes for 144 yards and two scores.
“Adjusting to a new coach was hard, but coach Carm taught me well. I wasn’t much of a quarterback. I didn’t have a quarterback coach last year. I didn’t know anything,” Stewart said. “Coach taught me so well. Knowing when to check out of the stuff now really helps. I feel really confident.”
Both DeFrancesco and Stewart credited the offensive line for its play against the Seals.
“We did not perform well in those scrimmages up front, but our offensive line came out and dominated the line of scrimmage,” DeFrancesco said. “Our offensive line was a big surprise for us.”
“Our line held up perfect,” Stewart said. “Compared to last year, I didn’t have a lot of time to throw sometimes. I was running for my life. I had all confidence in the world tonight in my line.”
For the Seals it was a different story. They suffered their first regular season and shutout loss since a season opening defeat at the Silver Bowl in 2008, in Dave Hess’ first game. It was also the first home loss since Oct. 1, 2004, the first game with turf at Bolig Field.
“We just didn’t have it tonight. We played like an inexperienced team,” Hess said. “It always looks a lot worse on the field than it does on film. You always find a number of basic fundamental things that can be fixed and you will get better.”
Mount Carmel took a 7-0 lead just before halftime when Stewart hit Michael Stutzcavage with a six-yard TD pass with 42 seconds left. Stewart rolled to his right and Stutzcavage, the tight end, was left wide open back to the left of the play for the score, which capped a 10-play, 58-yard drive.
Selinsgrove did have a chance to tie the game when Zach Rager intercepted Stewart and returned it to the Red Tornado 16. Selinsgrove had a second-and-goal at the 3, but Tommy Hynoski recovered a botched snap at the Selinsgrove 4.
That proved to be the end of the Seals’ chances as Stewart guided the Tornadoes on a 15-play, 96-yard drive for the game-clinching score when he found Meyrick Lamb for an 8-yard scoring pass. The drive consumed 8:05 off the clock. Lamb scored with 6:08 left in the game.
