DEKALB — Almost a year ago, the foundation was laid for another football championship for the program that’s won more of them than anyone.
“We started this journey back in January,” Mount Carmel coach Jordan Lynch said after a 20-3 win over Oswego Dec. 3 in the Class 8A final at Northern Illinois University’s Huskie Stadium.
“It’s been almost 12 months of Caravan tough with these guys, waking up three, four days a week … at 5 a.m. Some of these guys travel to get there, (they’ve) got to leave their house at 4:15 a.m. to beat some of this traffic. And they did that for eight months or so and here we are.”
Where are the Caravan? Atop the state for a state-record 17th time in the 51-year history of the IHSA football playoffs. This win capped the second four-peat in program history, matching the 1988-91 teams.
This championship — in Class 8A after three straight 7A titles — capped an unusual final week of the season. The Class 5A through 8A finals were scheduled for Nov. 29 at Illinois State University’s Hancock Stadium, but were postponed when a snowstorm shut down the ISU campus.
That led to a Wednesday night final moved to NIU on a frigid night with wind chills barely into double digits.
It meant a game where defense and special teams overshadowed offense, though senior quarterback Emmett Dowling capped his prep career by running for one touchdown and throwing for another.
In between, junior Cullen Winters blocked an Oswego punt and senior Gavin Conjar returned it 11 yards for a TD that made it 14-3 at 8:19 of the third quarter. The teams combined for 17 punts, nine by the Caravan’s Dean Kemph.
“It was a great feeling to have, making a big play in the game,” Winters said.
“I came off the ball, I (saw) Cullen make the block,” Conjar said. “The ball hit the ground, bounced right up to me. Looked back, there’s no one in sight. There’s no better feeling.”
Dowling won a title as a starting quarterback three years after his brother Blainey did the same to start this title run. They talked before this game,
“He just said, ‘Play your game,'” Dowling said. “‘It’s not going to take a superhuman effort, just your best.'”
Down 3-0, Dowling gave the Caravan (14-0) the lead when he powered over from less than a yard out with 1:30 left in the second quarter.
His second TD was a 4-yard pass to sophomore Marshaun Thornton with 2:43 remaining in the third.
Dowling finished 16-of-31 for 109 yards with no interceptions. He also ran nine times for 23 yards. Jamari Brown had seven catches for 56 yards.
“We’re going to get everyone’s best game,” Dowling said. “They played us tough. We started off slow; that’s not where you want to start. (But) we finished pretty strong.”
Oswego’s only points came on a 38-yard Kaleb Stumpenhorst field goal with 2:14 left in the first quarter. The Panthers (11-3) drove to the Mount Carmel 6 late in the third quarter when they trailed 14-3. But a turnover on downs ended that drive. Oswego finished with 143 total yards.
“There’s a lot of good football in the state of Illinois,” Lynch said. “We won 7A the last few years and a lot of people were talking that we couldn’t win 8A.
“But what makes this group special is a lot of these kids are legacy kids. … It’s a tight-knit group. A lot of them come from the same Catholic (grade) schools and competed against each other growing up. … Their brothers played here, their dads played here. They understood the culture of Mount Carmel.”