CARMEL — Whenever you mention the M.I.C. always use the term “Battle Tested.” It’s the best conference in football in the state of Indiana and in my Quick Draw McGraw voice, “DON’T YOU EVER FORGET IT.” The Carmel Greyhounds loss three ball games in the regular season with two of those coming back to back in conference play to North Central and then the following week they got beat at Ben Davis.
It was all a part of the maturation process of preparing for a state championship run. You have to play the best to become the best right? Well playas…Carmel beat the brakes, doors, windows, back seats and transmission off of visiting Merrillville on Friday night to advance to the Class 6A state title game against conference rival Center Grove next week.
The score wasn’t indicative of the beat down Carmel put on these cats. It was 17-3 at the break and then they pulled up in a big body Chevy and unloaded 21 more points in the third quarter to make it 35-3. At that point IHSAA rules implement a running clock to keep a boy from embarrassing a team. It was over in three quarters and then it was a matter of formality.
It’s funny that the narrative around the state was that the M.I.C. was down this year because there was no clear favorite in the conference. They essentially beat each other up all season and that’s why there was a four-way tie for the conference title. That’s the reason the Greyhounds showed up on Friday night BATTLE TESTED and unfazed by what Merrillville brought to the table.
Carmel had to go without starting quarterback Christian Williams who suffered an ankle injury in the first half of their regional win last week. Senior Gab Quigley took over the reigns and handled his business leading the Greyhound to a rout of the Pirates. He finished with 79 yards rushing on just 8 carries and went 8/11 for 123 yards passing.
Senior running back Dylan Downing finished the night with 79 yards rushing on 7 carries. His longest came on a 51 yard scamper on their second possession to put the Greyhounds up 7-0. It was Chris Brown from that point on, “On and Poppin’.”
It’s going to be crazy next week when the two M.I.C. rivals show up to play for all of the marbles. Carmel meets Center Grove and in my Bart Scott voice, “Can’t Wait!”
Playas Thesaurus:
1) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific.
2) Big Body Chevy: noun – the 1985-90 model of the Chevy Caprice Classic
