By RICH TORRES
CARMEL – The rain slowed them down, but once the Class 6A 12th-ranked Carmel Greyhounds got rolling on Friday night, they never turned back.
Locked in a scoreless tie through 23 minutes in the first half, Carmel quarterback Christian Williams connected with junior Baron Smith for a 51-yard touchdown and the defense clamped down en route to a 28-0 shutout against 6A No. 4 Warren Central on Senior Night.
“I think the weather probably helped us a little bit there, took a little bit of what they wanted to do and made it harder to execute,” Carmel head coach John Hebert said. “But our kids did step up. I thought that defensively, we gave up 17 points to Ben Davis in the first quarter last week, so we were determined to get off to a better start and we carried it all the way through.”
The defense went to work against the defending state champion Warriors, forcing two lost fumbles and an interception by senior linebacker Ty Wise, which he returned 40 yards for a near touchdown at Warren Central’s 6-yard line in the fourth quarter to setup Williams and the offense.
“All of our seniors, we’ve never beaten Warren before, so this was a huge game. Practice this week was electric and we were studying film,” said Wise, who snared his first-career interception. “We were on fall break, so we had even more time for everything. This is a huge win for us.”
Carmel (5-3, 4-2 Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference) snapped its two-game losing streak while also avenging last year’s 27-7 loss against Warren Central (5-3, 5-2 MIC) during the state championship last November.
“We didn’t think about it like that,” Williams said. “We thought about it like any other week going in and playing our game and to the best of our ability. Whatever happens, happens, but there was a little bit in the back of our mind, that ‘hey, we got to get them back a little bit.’”
Williams made sure of it with an 80-yard scoring drive in the third quarter initiated after a strip tackle forced fumble and recovery by Dominic Padjen with Warren Central contending with second-and-10 at Carmel’s 15.
Padjen rushed Moore and drove through the quarterback while stealing away the football. Williams capped the ensuring possession with a 31-yard dart to Colton Parker on the drive’s seventh play to put the Greyhounds ahead 14-0.
An 11-play drive that spanned 5:47 and covered 61 yards was finalized by a 3-yard rushing touchdown from Dylan Downing, who finished with 84 yards on 14 carries.
Williams completed 9 of 13 pass attempts for 132 yards and rushed for 26 yards on eight carries, including a 3-yard score in the fourth after Wise’s almost pick-six.
“Overall, I thought it was a great effort,” Hebert said. “(Christian) is a special young man and also a special player. He’s just so poised and smart. He’s team-centered. He’s just the best leader for the position. The kids really rally around him.”
Williams punctuated the starter’s final scoring drive in the fourth quarter, but the defense held Warren Central scoreless for the first time this season and limited the Warriors to 5 of 13 on third downs.
Warren Central was averaging 25.6 points per game, but star running back Randy Wells found little room to operate, rushing for 39 yards on 18 carries. Moore completed 14 of 26 pass attempts for 146 yards.
Warren Central hovered near the red zone prior to the end of the first half with first-and-10 at the Carmel 30, but they ran out of time before they could reach the end zone.
Aiden Palmer scooped up Moore’s second lost fumble with 3:24 remaining in the game and Warren Central at Carmel’s 32.
“On defense, we just shut them down,” Wise said. “Our defense came out very electric. You can see in the way that we played.”
Warren Central was 0-for-2 in red zone chances despite posting 15 first downs and 216 yards in total offense. Carmel was 2 of 3 in red-zone opportunities.
After four punts and a turnover on downs, the Greyhounds used the defense’s momentum to spark the offense. Overall, Carmel posted 13 first downs, were 4 of 12 on third downs and won the time of possession 25:03.
“That’s one of our goals all year is to have a fast start and get the offense going and keep it rolling throughout the game,” Williams said.
Carmel scored on its first two drives of the second half and were 2-for-3 in the red zone and remained flawless until the second unit took the field with 3:24 remaining.
Up next, the Greyhounds travel to Lawrence Central this Friday before the postseason arrives.
CARMEL 28, WARREN CENTRAL 0
Score by Quarters
Warren Central 0 0 0 0 – 0
Carmel 0 7 7 14 – 28
Team Stats WC CHS
First Downs 15 13
By Rush 8 9
By Pass 6 4
By Penalty 1 0
Rushes-Yards 32-70 42-168
Yards Passing 146 132
Comp-Att-Int-TD 14-26-1-0 9-13-0-2
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 1-0
Penalties-Yards 6-32 5-88
Punts-Average 7-25.3 5-34.6
Carmel Scoring
Second Quarter
0:42 – Baron Smith 51-yard pass from Christian Williams (Spencer Hanna kick)
Third Quarter
6:12 – Colton Parker 31-yard pass from Williams (Hanna kick)
Fourth Quarter
10:29 – Dylan Downing 3-yard run (Hanna kick)
8:32 – Williams 3-yard run (Hanna kick)
Carmel individual stats
Rushing: Downing 14-84, John Rogers 8-27, Williams 8-26, Zach White 7-21, Gabe Quigley 3-15, Erik Allen 1-0, Z Blackburn 1-minus 5.
Passing: Williams 9-13-132.
Receiving: Zach Gish 3-20, Parker 2-46, Downing 2-8, Smith 1-51, Rogers 1-7.
The Carmel defense gets ready during the first quarter of the Greyhounds’ game with Warren Central on Friday. Carmel had a spectacular defensive game against the Warriors, shutting them out in a 28-0 victory. (Richie Hall)