Senior wide receiver Jimmy Deacy was the opening target of the first pass thrown Friday night by Mount Carmel quarterback Blainey Dowling. It was the first, but not the last.
Those expecting to see a bevy of beginning runs right up the middle or a continuous ground game that churns up yardage slowly, surely and steadily came to the wrong place.
It’s a whole new Caravan.
“People used to always think of Mount Camel football as a run-first program,” Deacy said of the noticeable change. “Now, the offense is modernized to fit the team’s ability.
“We have 15 guys, second or third string or not, who can all go out and make a play.”
One of them for Mount Carmel was Deacy, who caught two passes for 63 yards as the Caravan scored on all five possessions in the first half for a 41-17 victory over St. Ignatius.
Deacy and the rest of the starters only played in the first half but that was more than enough for Mount Carmel (5-0) to flex its overwhelming power and strength.
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Dowling, who completed 13 of 17 passes for 184 yards, threw for two touchdowns and scored on a 21-yard scramble in the closing moments of the second quarter.
That gave the Caravan a 35-3 halftime lead.
Deacy’s 52-yard catch set up the third TD, a 15-yard dart from Dowling to junior running back Darrion Dupree, who opened the game with TD runs of 2 and 8 yards.
The Caravan operated exclusively out of the shotgun and used formations with four wide receivers.
An efficient and effective vertical attack saw Mount Carmel average 15 yards per pass attempt in the first half. The Caravan needed just over 13 minutes to score the five TDs.
The passing game optimizes the different pass catching and running abilities of the different receivers, according to Deacy.
“I started a couple of games last year, but this is really my first year playing full time and starting,” Deacy said. “I didn’t score at all last year. It feels good to be out there.”
Denny Furlong, a senior who had four catches for 68 yards Friday, pointed to the rapport and chemistry between Dowling and his receivers.
“I have a great connection with him,” Furlong said. “We’ve been best friends since we were 10 years old. I think the only way to describe our attack is just that it’s electric.”
At home games on the scoreboard, Mount Carmel shows a special four-minute highlight reel from the Caravan’s 13 state titles. It provides a backdrop to the pageantry.
The new era of coach Jordan Lynch, however, marks a different style and look.
Turning that tradition upside down has been a thrilling experience for Deacy or sophomore tight end Danyil Taylor, who delivered an 8-yard TD catch in the second quarter.
“It’s nice now being known as a pass-first team,” Taylor said. “We have talent everywhere. Even the backups are capable.
“We all work hard for this. We work on emphasizing on blocking schemes and setting up plays that create yards down the field. That’s what we did (Friday).”
Taylor’s TD catch illustrated the adaptability of the different players. He broke off his route and waited for Dowling to find him.
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“I thought he was going to take the post, but the corner opened up,” Taylor said of Dowling. “He made a nice pass to the outside shoulder.”
At 6-foot-3, junior wide receiver Darrion Gilliam has the size and length to go up and get any ball thrown his way.
He worked the sideline routes against the Wolfpack in catching three passes for 15 yards. Two catches came on third down, helping to produce scoring drives.
‘We watch a lot of film too see how the defense is going to play against us and then we make the adjustments,” he said. “We have great plays that we use to penetrate the defense and then we can use our weapons.
“We have plenty of them.”
Patrick Z. McGavin is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.