INDIANAPOLIS — When you see the Carmel Greyhounds in the streets just walk up on them, give them a pound and keep it movin’. Don’t spend too much time trying to talk to them about the great Class 6A State Championship that they won on Saturday night over conference Center Grove 20-17. Why? Because it’s just what they do. Sure, they’ll be excited about it but knowing them they’ve moved on to next year by now. When you’re a great athletic program it’s hard to stay in the moment because in order to continue being great you’ve got to be thinking about the next move even in the present.
Last year Carmel took a beaten in the Class 6A state title game against Warren Central only to come back a year later to get what they left at Lucas Oil Stadium the year before. With 1:20 left in the third quarter the Greyhounds were up 20-3 only to get out of the joint with a 3-point victory.
Well the name of the game is to score more points than the next guy right? So 20-17 wins the state title and adds more hardware to the already crowded trophy case at Carmel.
I predicted that the Greyhounds would win this game simply because of their experience. They’d played at Lucas Oil last year and loss the title and all of that experience had to count for something. Sure, Center Grove was a beast with all of those underclassmen but they’d never been there before. That makes a huge difference in winning a championship.
That’s why Carmel was up 20-3 late in the third quarter. Turnovers were killing the Trojans three to be exact. Once they finally settled down they were roaring back into it but there’s only 48 minutes allowed to play this thing out. Time ran out and the Carmel Greyhounds were walking out of the joint with the trophy.
Coach John Hebert did an excellent job of coaching this year and especially in this championship battle. When you see him give him a big pound and keep it movin’.
The Greyhounds understood that if they were going to get out of the joint alive they needed to be able to run the football and that they did. They put up a total of 235 yards on 44 carries burning crazy clock. Dylan Downing led the Hounds with 104 yards on 10 carries. In my Ice Cube voice, “Today was a good day!”
Don’t get it twisted, Center Grove toted the rock too for a total of 172 yards on 38 carries led by the War Horse himself, Carson Steele, with 104 yards on 23 carries.
The difference in the ball game was turnovers and Carmel’s experience was able to capitalize on them. Congrats Carmel on a great season and an even greater win on Saturday night for the Class 6A State Championship. Stop me when I start lyin’! And oh yeah, Center Grove will be back in 2020 for all of the marbles because they’ve got everybody coming back. They’re going to be a problem in these football streets.
