CARMEL — When the smoke cleared at the end of the regular season there was a four-way tie for the M.I.C. title and the Carmel Greyhounds were holding a piece of the trophy. Now they’re about to host the Semi-State championship on Friday with more confidence than ever before. They’re battle tested and in my big momma voice, “Ret-to-Go!”
The Greyhounds faced the gauntlet known as the M.I.C this year which had more parity than I’ve ever seen. According to head coach John Hebert, “The strength of the conference is what makes it great because you have to go through it. Everybody gets better. They’re forced to get better because the competition level is so high and the parity was the best it’s ever been. You may be at one level before the M.I.C. season starts and you’ll end up in a completely different place when it’s over. So every team in the M.I.C. got significantly better by the end. There is no alternative.” That’s the definition of being battle tested my friend.
The Greyhounds stepped off of the bus in Week 1 and got hit in the mouth by Louisville Trinity on the road 41-14. However, they showed the maturity to bounce back and win the next four games. Then they loss two straight dropping ball games to North Central and Ben Davis. Those losses were a wake up call for John Hebert’s team.
According to Hebert “those two losses really stung but they also really forced our hand into making decisions on the direction that we wanted to go and part of that was we settled on quarterback Christian Williams. He was perfectly unselfish and a really smart player making great decisions. He was the reason why we were able to hit our stride.”
He went on to say, “I still think that the strength of our team is running the ball. We’ve got three running backs Dylan Downing, JD Rogers, and Zach White that can all really do some things that help our whole team.”
On Friday the Greyhounds host the Merrillville Pirates that literally have no idea what they’re walking into. Carmel is 9-3, battle tested out of the M.I.C. and they’re accustomed to being in HUGE ball games like this. The moment won’t be too big for the Greyhounds I can tell you that.
If Carmel is playing at the level they’ve been playing at the past few weeks it’s going to be a problem for the kids from up north. In the past four weeks according to Hebert, they’ve had 19 offensive possessions and they’ve scored on 14 of them. That’s called being potent. In Hebert’s words, “We’re in a good rhythm and we want to try to keep it going.”
We haven’t even talked about how good their defense is. That’s always been the staple of the Carmel team. They’ve got probably the most disciplined unit in the M.I.C.
They’ve literally locked boyz down since those back to back losses earlier in the season. They shut out Warren Central the following week beating them 24-0 and has only given up 35 points in the last four weeks. That’s NUTS!!!
Carmel’s purrin’ like a kitten right now and I sure wouldn’t want to run into them in a lit football stadium in Carmel, Indiana on Friday night at 7pm. At the beginning of the season their motto was Carpe Diem. It’s a Latin aphorism, usually translated “seize the day,” taken from Book 1 of the Roman poet Horace’s work “Odes.” The Greyhounds interpret it as “Seize the Moment!” It’s used to urge them to make the most of the present time and give little thought to the future.
Well playas….it’s time to seize the moment! Good luck fellas!!!
