MOUNT CARMEL - Mount Carmel Area celebrated its 800th win before Friday's game, but it's win No. 801 that will be remembered.
The Red Tornadoes, trailing unbeaten Southern Columbia by two touchdowns with less than 10 minutes to play, rallied behind the arm of sophomore quarterback Zach Wasilewski to stun the Tigers, 22-21, scoring the go-ahead touchdown and two-point conversion with 36.9 seconds left to win the Pennsylvania Heartland Athletic Conference Division II championship.
Wasilewski threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Kleman, and followed with a two-point conversion throw to Meyrick Lamb for the win. Earlier, after Southern took a 21-7 lead on Keith Day's 20-yard touchdown pass from Brad Fegley with 9:55 to play, Wasilewski threw a 59-yard touchdown pass to Bryan McFadden on a third-and-18 play. Wasilewski completed 4 of 6 passes for 85 yards on the two drives.
"There was no doubt we were going for the two-point conversion," Wasilewski said. "Our coaches showed a lot of faith in us. I thought I was going to get tackled on the play. They had a lot of pressure. But I just threw it up and somehow it got in.
"This is a great feeling. This is such a great rivalry, and to win it this way is really amazing."
Wasilewski and the offense came up with big plays when it counted, but it was Mount Carmel's defense which enabled the offense to do it. The Red Tornadoes (8-1, 5-0) held South-
ern's running game to just 122 net yards and got lots of pressure on Fegley, sacking him four times. The Tornadoes twice shut Southern down on fourth-down plays in the second half, and came up with a big stop when Southern was trying to tack on an insurance touchdown, to set up Mount Carmel's winning drive.
The Tigers (8-1, 4-1) had a first down at Mount Carmel's 28, but two runs produced only two yards, and a holding penalty against Southern forced a third-and-21. Brett Przekop and Ed Smerlick combined to sack Fegley for eight yards back to the 47, setting up fourth and 29.
Lucas Klingerman, who got Mount Carmel off to a great start by returning the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown, returned the ensuing punt 23 yards, and Mount Carmel got the ball with 2:02 remaining. A facemask penalty on a two-yard run by Lamb gave Mount Carmel a short first-and-3, and Lamb, on third-and-1 broke loose for a 33-yard to Southern's 21.
Southern sacked Wasilewski with 49 seconds left, but a pass interference call against the Tigers' Keith Day on the next play gave Mount Carmel the ball at the 13. Wasilewski and Kleman connected on two straight passes of six and seven yards for the touchdown.
"Our defense played great," said Mount Carmel head coach Carmen DeFrancesco. "We didn't make plays all game and we had opportunities. But we finally made some plays at the end. but our defense kept us in the game. Our defensive coaches did a great job. We finally moved into the new field house and we had our best week of practice all season."
"We got beat up front," said Southern coach Jim Roth. "We were never able to move the ball consistently. We had some big plays, but we weren't able to run the ball consistently, and any time that happens you're going to have problems. If we make a couple more first downs, we run the clock out and win the game."
Tyler Levan and Casey Savitski scored on runs of 11 and five yards for Southern in a first half dominated by both defenses. Southern held Mount Carmel to 38 net yards in the first half.
Mount Carmel finishes the regular season next week in the Coal Bucket game at Shamokin, and Southern travels to Selinsgrove.