LOYALSOCK TOWNSHIP - Mount Carmel Area head coach Carmen DeFrancesco's post-game talk with reporters lasted a total of 19 seconds and sums up the game.
"They ran on us," he said of Loyalsock. "They threw on us. And we turned the ball over. Special teams killed us last week; special teams killed us this week. We had undisciplined play and we didn't make the plays. That's why you don't win."
And the Red Tornadoes didn't win, losing to Loyalsock 34-27 on Friday, but that doesn't mean the Red Tornadoes weren't close.
Mount Carmel had to punt after receiving the opening kickoff, but on Loyalsock's first possession the Red Tornadoes' Christian Kelley stepped in front of a Kyle Datres pass to take back the ball for Mount Carmel.
Michael Gilger got into the end zone on a 55-yard pass from Zach Wasilewski that Gilger caught in the flat and outraced defenders.
Loyalsock didn't let the Red Tornadoes have the lead for long.
Datres engineered a 4-minute drive that ended with him sprinting in from nine yards out to tie the game 7-7.
The Red Tornadoes then put together their own sustained drive.
Mount Carmel held the ball for 5:05 and covered 99 yards with a mixture of the run and high-percentage passes across the middle. Kelley caught two balls on the drive for 27 yards, but got just one more touch for the remainder of the game. Gilger put the exclamation point on the drive with a 5-yard run for a score.
In true slugfest fashion, Loyalsock came right back.
The Lancers showed the Red Tornadoes' defense a steady diet of Robbie Klein to set up a play-action pass from Datres to Phil Krizan for a 30-yard touchdown pass.
Not to be outdone, Mount Carmel got on the scoreboard again before the half when out of DeFrancesco's bag of tricks came a 26-yard flea flicker from Dominic Farronato to Treyvon White with 34 seconds left in the first half and the Red Tornadoes went into the locker room with a 21-14 lead.
Loyalsock received the second-half kickoff and scored on its first possession.
Klein continued to hammer the Tornadoes on the ground and give enough balance for Datres to hook up with Krizan twice more, including a 33-yard touchdown that Krizan outjumped White for at the goal line. Loyalsock missed the extra point attempt and Mount Carmel held onto a slim 21-20 lead.
On the drive, Mount Carmel was flagged for the first of its three personal foul penalties in the game. This one came after a 3-yard loss by Klein and gave the Lancers an automatic first down.
Mount Carmel didn't help itself when a holding penalty pushed the Tornadoes back to a first-and-22 and ended in a Wasilewski interception on fourth down.
The Red Tornadoes did stop the Lancers on the next drive and scored when they got possession. The drive covered just 45 yards but was exclusively on the ground and ended with Blake Panko scoring from 1 yard out.
Mount Carmel 7 14 0 6 - 27
Loyalsock 7 7 6 14 - 34
Selinsgrove 42 Shamokin 13
SELINSGROVE - Selinsgrove ran for 184 yards in the Seals' win over Shamokin.
It seemed like 484.
Dominating the line of scrimmage, the Seals ran for 180 yards in the first half and had 271 total yards in taking a 29-6 lead, and the statistics were worse than the score. The Seals (3-1) had the ball for 45 plays to Shamokin's 12, and had 19 first downs to none for the Indians (0-4).
"The kids agree, we took a step backward tonight," said Shamokin coach Yaacov Yisrael. "This was definitely a tough loss. We had our toughest week of practice. We have to find a way to move the football and we have to find a way to stop the run."
Shamokin 0 6 0 7 - 13
Selinsgrove 9 20 7 6 - 42