Carmel’s David Vega rolls into the end zone over Port Chester’s Melvin Molina for Carmel’s second touchdown during a varsity football game at Port Chester High School Oct. 8, 2016.
PORT CHESTER – The offense was rarely on the same page of a well-rehearsed playbook, so Carmel essentially pushed on knowing the defense would make enough plays.
It was a smart move.
Carmel has been coming up with big stops all season long and was unrelenting on Saturday during a 28-7 win at Port Chester even without the emotional spark that’s been present for most of this four-game winning streak.
Wearing out an opponent isn’t exciting, but it’s way better than losing.
“The last three weeks we were good offensively,” Carmel running back David Vega said. “We came in here and didn’t play great. That’s on us. We’ll go home and fix it and the defense will keep on doing what it’s doing.”
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Both teams are in the qualifying round of the Class AA playoffs next weekend. Carmel hosts Mamaroneck at 7 p.m. on Friday and Port Chester visits John Jay-EF.
Nick Heis capped the first Carmel possession when he plowed through a string of tackles and scored on a 29-yard run. Port Chester was looking to answer in the final minutes of the first quarter when defensive back Mike Telesco came up with a critical takeaway. Vega dove across the goal line 12 plays later and it was a 14-0 advantage.
That is where the offense began to sputter. Blocks were missed. Snaps were missing the mark.
“Our defense has been playing well all year long,” Carmel coach Todd Cayea said. “We kept getting some big stops, but those Port Chester kids are scrappy, tough kids. They play extremely hard. We just wore them down.”
A 50-yard touchdown run from Jordan Wiley made it a one-possession game in the final minutes of the third quarter, but Port Chester had already lost three starters to injury.
“We don’t take any pride in knocking players out of games, but we do like the physicality that we play with,” said Heis, who also plays linebacker. “We like to come out hard and set a tone for the game.”
Carmel answered with a pair of clock-killing drives to lock down the win.
Players of the game: Telesco and Mike Demme. Instead of highlighting a headliner, the two role players deserve a nod for stepping up. Telesco kept Port Chester off the board early with his strip and return. Demme caught a 26-yard scoring pass from Kyle Shilling to give Carmel a 21-7 lead with 8:51 to play.
Turning point: After letting Wiley get to the end zone on a 50-yard scoring run, Carmel got stubborn, giving up just one more play for positive yards.
Stat line: Port Chester was held to 93 total yards and had four turnovers. … Carmel had three sacks. … Vega ran for 98 yards on 26 carries. … Brandan Pagan had the final Carmel touchdown, a 5-yard run.
Quotable: “We had to find the passion,” Heis said on the difference between Carmel’s 0-2 start and 4-0 run. “We came out in our third game against Mahopac and really wanted to win and we’ve been building on that every day.”
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Carmel’s Mike Telesco breaks up a pass intended for Port Chester’s Shaun Blackburn during a varsity football game at Port Chester High School Oct. 8, 2016.
Carmel’s Nicholas Heis beats Port Chester’s Jordan Lewis for a 29-yard touchdown run to open the scoring during a varsity football game at Port Chester High School Oct. 8, 2016.