MCA vs. SCA  – Live

Game Notes for Southern Columbia II – 2023

       By Jose Gonzalo, MCA Statistician

      The Mount Carmel Area Red Tornadoes are taking the field for the 131st year representing Mount Carmel Area High School. They have a record of 899 wins, 342 losses, and 59 ties in their 1300 games. (71.5%) The 899 wins represent the most in the state of Pennsylvania and ranks 6^th in the country. Looking at 900 this week! MCA improved their margin over Easton to 21 games with The Rovers being idle last week.  (Although there are many different numbers being thrown out for Easton, we have settled on 878 as the number used most often) MCA is now participating in the post season for the 34^th time in the last 41 years since 1983 and 28 of 31 since 1993 and had participated in the postseason for 13 consecutive years up until the 2020 season.  

MCA has played 143 different opponents

Playoff record overall is 62 wins and 27 losses

11 and 8 in Eastern Conference (8 championships)

30-16 in Districts (8 championships)

19-3 in state playoffs (6 championships – 5 modern day)

MCA at home – 517-143-24(77.3%) and away is 381-199-35(64.6%)

      They are led by Head Coach John Darrah who is in his 9^th year at the helm with a 72-33 record, having qualified for playoffs in 8 of his 9 seasons MCA will be playing rival Southern Columbia for the 34^th time since 1996 with the Tigers holding a commanding 23-10 lead. MCA has, however, won 2 of the last 3 games contested. This will be the 6^th time that the two teams have played in the postseason since 2017 with the winner going on to the District IV AA Championship.  

      Cole Spears continued his assault on the MCA record book and now stands 6^th in career completions with 214, 6^th in career TDs with 37, 8^th in career yards with 3204. His 121-season completion ranks 3^rd, his season TD passes of 24 ranks 6^th while his season yards of 1928 ranks 3^rd and he can become only the 3^rd passer in MCA history to surpass 2000 yards in a season. The only QB’s ahead of him in most categories include Mark Wasilewski, David Shinskie, Joe Buchinski, Mike Higgins, and Greg Doviak – all MCA legends.

     Xavier Diaz added 139 more all-purpose yards and now has 1883 yards on only 125 total touches – 15.1 yards per touch His 6 receptions for 46 yards last week gives him 891 yards receiving this season and finally surpasses Frank Niglio’s 886 established 57 years ago in 1966. He has 49 receptions and can join Steve Matzura (53), Joel Gonzalo (52 and 51) and Matt Moroz (52) as the only MCA receivers over 50 in a season.

     Luke Blessing’s 1325 yards rushing this season-even though he missed last week’s game- is on the cusp of John Ayres 1356 in 2018 and the 10^th place spot for season rushing. Only Jon Veach (3), Brett Veach (2), Gary Diminick, Kyle Karycki and Luke Klingerman have run for over 1500 yards in a season.

    Ben Miller and Max Karycki continued to lead the defense with 98 stops each with Maddox Reed close behind with 95. Matt Balichik has 8 QB sacks with Karycki at 6,5 and Freshman Jaylen Delaney with 4 interceptions.

    Only Colin Menapace (64), Mike Sinkovich (50) and Rosolino Mangiapane (50) have made more PAT’s in a season than Bobby Schoppy (45). Wayne Brokenshire, Matt Kufta, and Drew Yagodzinskie also made 45.

    When MCA scored 43 points last week in its game with Wyalusing, it marked the 7^th consecutive game in which the Tornadoes have scored 40 points or more. No other team in 131 years has accomplished the feat. 1970 had 5 consecutive.     

      The Tornadoes are averaging 465 yards in total offense per game and are scoring at a 44.3 point per game level. Should they continue at this pace, they will establish all-time marks for MCA in both categories. (42.6 pts per game last year and the 1969 have averaged over 40 points per game.) 1966 averaged 426.2 per game while the 2022 team averaged 417.2 per game.