Gators Make History, Beat Carmel 14-9

Coach Chuck Ahsmann wanted to make a point after his team beat Carmel 14-9 Friday night.

"We don’t have 1 superstar on this team. We won this game tonight because we have 75 superstars!" he said to his team as loud cheers erupted from the players. "Tomorrow! Tomorrow! Listen up! Tomorrow, film at 9 a.m.!"

The coach smiled widely, knowing the players would be eager to see how they did. "Your coaches will be at Rockford for the 1 p.m. game tomorrow and we hope to see some of you there," he said as more cheers and yelling erupted from the players.

Both teams were very talented and ran behind massive lines as their primary weapon of offense. The only question was who was going to have the better defense that stops the other.

Carmel came into the game averaging 38.8 points per game. Crystal Lake South was averaging 29.9 per game. Jordan Kos has rushed for over 1,000 yards for the Corsairs while the Gators did not have anyone who had rushed for more than 500 yards.

The Gator defense called by Ahsmann responded with a great effort to hold Carmel to a 35-yard field goal just before the half and a 1-yard touchdown with about 5 minutes left in the game after two successful goal-line stands.

Carmel was held to 136 yards rushing (Kos only had 50) and 150 yards of total offense. The Gators played good solid fundamental football and pursued every attack around the edges relentlessly with a swarm of defenders.

Offensively, the big boys up front did the work for South and the Big Hoss Reese Dziedzic carried the offense on his back with 26 carries for 132 yards (5.08 per carry) and a touchdown on the team’s 69-yard first drive of the game.

"We’ve been working real hard in practice and with our lineman, it’s so easy to run behind them," said Dziedzic. "They really fire out and do a great job. I was getting a little winded the second half. They play really tough "D" and came out fired up in the second half. It feels great to make the Elite 8. We almost did it last year and got knocked off and I’m just hoping for another win to get to the semi-finals."

The Gators led 7-3 at the half — not a very comfortable lead in a tight playoff game. Big Ed Atkinson, offensive lineman, said, "At halftime, Coach Ahsmann told us (the offensive line) that we have to buckle down and play like we did on our first drive of the game. He told us to play with fire and intensity."

South ran a play action pass on the second play of the second half which wound up covering 79 yards.

"Coach told us at halftime that they were trying to stop our running game and putting eight men in the box," said quarterback Austin Fowler. "He said if the safety comes up, we’re going to run a play action pass and it will go. So I hit Dom Winiecke and he went all the way."

The Gators were now up 14-3, but this game was far from over. As Ahsmann knew, the Corsairs never quit.

"Carmel is well coached and they have talent every year. We’ve come in here twice and been handled by them. I think that for the first time ever our kids believed that they could win. You have to believe that you can win or you’re not going to."

Carmel began a sustained drive late in the third quarter from their own 10-yard line. They had taken over the ball on downs when they stopped the Gators just short of a first down on a fourth and three. The ensuing drive took eight and a half minutes. After a great goal line stand with two big hits by the Gator defense, the Corsairs finally punched into the end zone on a third and one run by Mike Panico.

Brendan Chrystal of South followed that play with a huge hit on Panico that stopped him right in his tracks when the Corsairs went for a two-point conversion.

"It was great for the team," said Chrystal, who played on both sides of the ball. "It just feels great to be going Elite 8. We have great coaching and they prepared us well."

Brad Walovitch was two for two on extra points for the night and faked a punt late in the fourth quarter and ran for an crucial first down on fourth and two from the Gator 22. It was a key play because it kept a clock-eating drive alive with 2:55 left in the game.

With 35 seconds left in the game, the Gators punted deep into Corsair territory. With no timeouts left, Carmel was now forced to throw the ball. Three incomplete passes and a quarterback spike later, the victory was won and the Crystal Lake South seniors had their record.

"I am just in awe…I don’t have words to say. My older brother was a Gator and he went to the Elite Eight. I told him that when I got to the high school I was going to do the same thing and now it’s happening. It’s incredible," Fowler said.

Asked about his chances of winning in the next round Ahsmann said, "When you get into the final eight there are a lot of good teams. We’re just gonna have to play error free, not turn the ball over, do what we did tonight — control the ball and play good defense."

NEXT UP: The Gators (12-1) find out today who their playoff opponent will be next week in the quarterfinals of the state playoffs. No. 2 seed Rockford Boylan plays No. 7 seed Wheaton North at 1 p.m. today in Rockford.