SUNBURY - It was the 800th victory in Mount Carmel's rich high school football history. ... a relatively easy 35-14 victory on the road against Shikellamy Friday night.
But to head coach Carm DeFrancesco, it was a whole lot more.
DeFrancesco said he was part of the school's 600th victory as an assistant coach, and said his time as a player was "too long ago" to remember which milestones he may have been a part of at that time.
"Here's what it means to me," DeFrancesco said after the game. "I think about the players that were here before, the teammates I had when I played here, the coaches, head coaches and assistants, who have been here over the years.
"And the communities. This milestone is for all the communities that make up the Mount Carmel Area School District. They really take ownership of this team."
Mount Carmel remains Pennsylvania's all-time leader in high school football victories, fifth overall in the nation, but after a brief celebration with his team on the field following the game, DeFrancesco's focus shifted to next week's Heartland Conference Division II showdown with unbeaten Southern Columbia.
"The task now is to win our division in the Heartland," DeFrancesco said. "And if we play the same way next week, we'll be in trouble."
DeFrancesco may have been exaggerating a bit, but despite the relatively lopsided victory over the Braves, there are some kinks that need to be ironed out.
Most of them revolve around turnovers - the Tornadoes lost three fumbles and gave up three interceptions - and penalties - they were flagged 10 times for 125 yards.
"We've had a rough couple weeks," DeFrancesco said, alluding not only to this week's game but also last week's loss to North Schuylkill. "We probably didn't want to admit it, but 800 may have been adding pressure for us. It's nice to get it and now we can get back to normal a little bit."
And while those kinks will need to be worked out, there were also some bright spots for Mount Carmel.
Meyrick Lamb, in his second game back after a two-game suspension, rushed 23 times for 115 yards and two touchdowns, and reserve running back Luke Klingerman rushed for 91 on only five carries. That was all part of a 302-yard performance the Red Tornadoes had on the ground.
And quarterback Zach Wasilewski, the new starter, was picked off three times, but did manage to complete five passes for 70 yards, including a 31-yard touchdown to Jakob Kleman.
"Zach (Wasilewski) is going to get more consistent as he gets more comfortable in there," DeFrancesco said.
The defense was stout as usual, limiting the Braves to just more than 200 total yards. The lone bright spot for the Shikellamy offense was running back Benny Delgado, only with the squad a few weeks, who rushed for 104 yards and two touchdowns on only 10 carries.