Carmel put together a fine defensive effort Friday night at Brownsburg, and the result was another sectional championship for the Greyhounds.
In a battle of elite teams, Carmel beat the Bulldogs 21-7 for the Class 6A Sectional 5 championship. The ‘Hounds extended their sectional win streak to eight years in a row and increased their state-leading number of overall titles to 32.
“That’s pretty impressive,” said Carmel coach John Hebert. “They’re all special in their own way.”
The Greyhounds led by the unusual score of 11-0 at the end of the first quarter. Carmel’s defense stepped up, making two safeties in the period. In between, Zach Osborne and Daniel Mullins teamed up for a big play, with Mullins catching a 69-yard touchdown pass from Osborne. Spencer Hanna made the extra point kick.
The ‘Hounds went up 18-0 early in the second after Zach White ran three yards for a touchdown, and Hanna followed that up with a good extra-point kick. Brownsburg answered a couple minutes later with a five-yard touchdown run by Luke Lacecy, followed by Nick Berry’s extra-point kick.
That cut Carmel’s lead to 18-7, and that would be the score through halftime and well into the third quarter. The ‘Hounds finally increased their advantage with less than a minute to go in the third when Hanna kicked a 40-yard field goal.
“That was really reassuring,” said Hebert. Carmel had to deal with adversity when Osborne suffered an injury in the third quarter.
“It’s an existing injury and there’s no structural damage,” said Hebert. “It’ll just be a lot of recovery through the week.”
Osborne had a good game before then, making 6 of 12 pass attempts for 117 yards. Leyton Lukowski stepped in as quarterback and held his own, going 2-for-3 with 16 yards.
Jaedon King was Carmel’s top receiver with three catches, while White gained 98 yards to lead the rushing game.
“Brownsburg’s really good, I can’t believe we held them to seven points,” said Hebert. “You get to this point, you just want to have another week together. All of our kids are practicing with us, freshmen, sophomores, so it’s another week for them to get better.”
Carmel is 9-2 for the season and will play at Ben Davis for the Regional 3 championship next Friday. The Giants dominated Perry Meridian 41-6 to win the Sectional 6 title.
CARMEL 21, BROWNSBURG 7
Score by Quarters
Carmel 11 7 3 0 – 21
Brownsburg 0 7 0 0 – 7
Team Stats CAR BR
First Downs 13 16
By Rush 7 8
By Pass 4 6
By Penalty 2 2
Rushes-Yards 47-179 34-79
Yards Passing 133 157
Comp-Att-Int-TD 8-15-1-1 11-30-3-0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-3
Penalties-Yards 7-81 8-79
Punts-Average 6-29.0 2-34.5
Carmel scoring
First Quarter
6:25 – Safety
5:33 – Daniel Mullins 69-yard pass from Zach Osborne (Spencer Hanna kick)
3:17 – Safety
Second Quarter
10:42 – Zach White 3-yard run (Hanna kick)
Third Quarter
0:55 – Hanna 40-yard field goal
Carmel individual stats
Rushing: White 23-98, Osborne 9-42, Jordan Jones 5-17, Leyton Lukowski 6-12, Colton Parker 2-6, Desmond Duffy 1-3, Baron Smith 1-1.
Passing: Osborne 6-12-117, Lukowski 2-3-16.
Receiving: Jaedon King 3-42, Max Walters 2-16, Mullins 1-69, Smith 1-10, Jones 1-minus 4.