Some starts are fast. Some make you wonder if a team’s water jugs are filled with jet fuel.
So when Mt. Carmel’s Tim Brown crossed into the end zone 19 seconds after Saturday night’s game with Loyola had begun, ferrying the opening kickoff 95 yards the other way, it seemed the Caravan was about to have a super-premium-unleaded type of night.
An eventual 32-14 victory over Loyola at Gately Stadium actually featured some sputtering along the way, but No. 2 Mt. Carmel (6-0, 3-0 Catholic Blue) was able to siphon off some of that full-throttle start for a needed push at the end.
Indeed, 19 unanswered Caravan points to start the game didn’t quell Loyola completely.
The Ramblers (5-1, 2-1) awakened to post 14 straight of their own, making it a one-score game midway through the third quarter. But Mt. Carmel had one final thrust left in its jets.
A 55-yard touchdown reception from Ron Newcomb. An interception by Keith Lewis at the Caravan’s 10-yard line, as Loyola neared another score.
Then Eric Ramirez’s second touchdown, followed by a holding penalty on a Loyola fourth-down play late in the fourth, sealed it.
“We just held on,” Caravan linebacker Steven Filer said. “We just started to knuckle down and get our focus back.”
The start provided the buffer. With Brown’s kickoff return and a 37-yard Ramirez run, Mt. Carmel had a 13-0 lead after two offensive snaps.
Brown made it 19-0 on a 1-yard dive midway through the second quarter.
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bchamilton@tribune.com
