By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – Carmel hosted another state champion Friday night for Week 3 of the Indiana high school football season, and the result was dramatically different.
The Greyhounds beat Detroit King 39-0 at Carmel Stadium. The Crusaders are the defending Class 6 Michigan state champions, but the Greyhounds played a great defensive game, and scored every which way possible in order to get the victory.
Case in point: Carmel’s first points came from defense: Midway through the first quarter, the Greyhounds forced an errant snap, and the King quarterback dove one the ball. The result was a Carmel safety, worth two points.
“I thought that was a great first push for us and gave our guys some confidence,” said ‘Hounds coach John Hebert. “The great part about it is, you get the ball right back.”
And Carmel did get some points out of that, as Josh Placzek nailed a 33-yard field goal shortly after the safety. As a result, the Greyhounds led 5-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Placzek stepped up again at the start of the second period, making a 41-yard field goal just 18 seconds into the quarter. Carmel’s defense was holding firm, but the ‘Hounds wanted a touchdown. They would get a first TD later in the period, and it was something else.
King was set to punt near the end zone, but Uchenyo Ojata blocked the kick, then picked it up and made the short run in to score. It was the first-ever touchdown for the 6-foot-4 junior defensive lineman.
“He played eight varsity snaps last year, and they were all on field goal block, because he’s so long and he’s got jumping ability and all of that,” said Hebert. “But that’s the first one that he ever blocked, and his first score ever.”
“I think definitely, this is the best collective team defensive performance we’ve had so far,” said Ojata. “We’ve been working really hard this past couple weeks after the loss and this was a really good way to bounce back for us.”
The Greyhounds dropped their Week 2 game last week to Christian Brothers from St. Louis, last year’s Class 6 Missouri state champions. Hebert said his team fought in the middle quarters of that game, but the talk in practice this week was about Carmel “playing a four-quarter game.”
“I thought tonight we played a four-quarter game,” said Hebert. “That’s what we set out to do. If we’re going to develop our potential, that’s got to be the way we do it. I’m really proud of the way our kids did that.”
The Greyhounds finished the first half with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Christian Peterson to Anthony Coellner. With that, Carmel led 22-0 at halftime.
Placzek kicked his third field goal early in the third quarter, this one from 45 yards, and the Greyhounds were up 25-0. Later in the period, Carmel made another nice touchdown drive. Alijah Alfayyad made a big run to get the Greyhounds into scoring position, and Ozzy Pollard punched the ball in from the one-yard line on fourth down.
Carmel’s Alijah Alfayyad made big third-quarter
runs to put the ‘Hounds in scoring position. (Joshua Herd)
Pollard struck again midway through the fourth quarter, taking the ball in from three yards. That got Carmel’s lead to 39-0, and the remainder of the game was played with a running clock.
“He’s 260 pounds,” said Hebert. “He’s not hitting the hole at full speed because he’s so close to the line of scrimmage. But he’s hard to get your arms around and stop his charge. They hit him in the backfield, but he just kept his legs going.”
“It was really important to come out and compete, especially after last week,” said Pollard. “A tough loss, but now we bounced back and we defeated a really good team.”
Placzek made all three of his extra-point attempts, in addition to the field goals. Alfayyad was the leading rusher with 35 yards, while Nate Rogers made two receptions.
Carmel’s defense delivered its first shutout since Oct. 15, 2021. Eyoel Belete made a second-quarter interception, while Artemas Bryant had some key stops.
The Greyhounds are 2-1 and travel to Louisville next Friday to play Louisville Trinity.
CARMEL 39, DETROIT KING 0
Score by Quarters
Detroit King 0 0 0 0 – 0
Carmel 5 17 10 7 – 39
Team Stats KING CAR
First Downs 6 9
By Rush 2 3
By Pass 3 3
By Penalty 1 3
Rushes-Yards 21-11 29-89
Yards Passing 79 44
Comp-Att-Int-TD 9-16-2-0 4-6-0-1
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-Yards 7-127 3-24
Punts-Average 3-26.3 1-39.0
Carmel Scoring
First Quarter
6:28 – Safety
5:04 – Josh Placzek 33-yard field goal
Second Quarter
11:42 – Placzek 41-yard field goal
3:30 – Uchenyo Ojata 3-yard blocked punt return (Placzek kick)
0:24 – Anthony Coellner 16-yard reception from Christian Peterson (Placzek kick)
Third Quarter
8:19 – Placzek 45-yard field goal
2:20 – Ozzy Pollard 1-yard run (Placzek kick)
Fourth Quarter
6:44 – Pollard 3-yard run (Placzek kick)
Carmel individual stats
Rushing: Alijah Alfayyad 7-35, Collin Johnson 7-25, Norvil Tucker 9-15, Peterson 1-10, Pollard 2-4, Holden Mumau 1-3, Coellner 2-minus 3.
Passing: Coellner 3-5-28, Peterson 1-1-16.
Receiving: Nate Rogers 2-21, Coellner 1-16, Pollard 1-7.