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Mount Carmel impresses in win over Harrisburg

By Jeffrey Drake

Saturday, August 30, 2008 12:47 AM CDT

For The Southern

HARRISBURG - Mount Carmel sophomore quarterback Alex Hale didn't complete a pass in his first varsity start, but he didn't have to. Hale scored four times on the ground en route to the Golden Aces' 42-13 win over Harrisburg to open the 2008 football season.

"We knew the guys returning were very good football players. And some of the sophomores were good as freshman last year, but that's freshman football. And the sophomores came in and did a really good job," said Mount Carmel head coach Darren Peach.

Coming into the contest ranked fourth in The Associated Press's Class 4A poll, Mount Carmel validated that ranking at the expense of the Bulldogs with over 400 yards on the ground. Senior Ryan Bumpus led the way carrying 11 times for 110 yards.

After two Hale touchdowns and a first quarter safety, it looked as though Harrisburg had climbed back into the game when quarterback Reid Roper ran 77 yards to bring his club to within 8 at 14-6, but that was as close as the Bulldogs would come.

Hale and Mount Carmel added two more touchdowns right before halftime to lead 28-6 at the break.

The Mount Carmel rushing attack kept pounding the ball right at the Harrisburg front seven, and continued to rack up big yardage on first down. Mount Carmel sophomore Tanner Crum (6-2, 265) and seniors Dathan Deisher (6-3, 225) and Luke Baumgart (6-3, 215) all helped dominate in the trenches.

"There's an old saying that the game is won up front, and I think that was evident tonight. "We didn't play very good on the offensive and defensive line. I thought field position really killed us. We were just in a hole and really couldn't get anything going offensively," Harrisburg head coach Jason Roper said. "Mount Carmel's just a good football team."

The story was the same out of intermission when Aces halfback Will Krup scored from 15 yards out to extend the lead 35-6 with 6:31 left in the third quarter.

Steve Zimmer added to the Aces lead with a 24-yard run late in the third to run the score to 42-6.

"Our sophomore quarterback came in and did a good job and our two seniors offensive lineman and Crum up front at center who's a sophomore but looks like a senior; they just dominated up front," said Peach, who ran his career record to 8-2 against the Bulldogs.

Harrisburg got back in the end zone midway through the fourth quarter, when junior Noah King scored from four yards out for the game's final score.

Both teams hit the road for Week two, with Harrisburg traveling to Du Quoin and Mount Carmel visiting Mount Vernon, Ind.