East St. Louis dominates the second half, ends Mount Carmel’s 19-game winning streak

NORMAL, Ill.—College scholarship offers don’t win games. Mount Carmel has a historic number of college-bound players, but the Caravan couldn’t find a way to beat East St. Louis on Saturday at Hancock Stadium.

Mount Carmel turned the ball over twice in one minute early in the fourth quarter, and the Flyers cashed both in for touchdowns and went on to win 42-23, snapping the Caravan’s 19-game winning streak.

“Losing sucks,” Mount Carmel coach Jordan Lynch said. “We have to grow as a program. We are lazy, undisciplined all over. It is Week 1 struggles for sure. When you play a team like that that is well-coached, that travels and plays the best of the best, it is a great challenge for your program. I have great respect for [East St. Louis coach Darren Sunkett].”

The Caravan have won four consecutive state championships and opened the season as the favorite to win Class 8A again. The Flyers play in Class 6A.

It should be noted that East St. Louis also has a load of college-bound players, including some of the most talented prospects in the country. Mount Carmel entered this matchup as a slight but not overwhelming favorite.

“[This win] means something,” Sunkett said. “We hear we couldn’t win. We had something to prove. We have been at state seven years in a row. Win or lose we were there. It is tough to win in the state of Illinois. We came out with a chip on our shoulder. We wanted to show that we could play with Mount Carmel and beat them.”

Both teams were without key players in the second half. East St. Louis was without running back Myson Johnson-Cook, an Auburn recruit. He had 12 carries for 88 yards in the first half but didn’t play in the second half.

“When Myson went down, it would have been easy to drop our heads,” Sunkett said. “[Ronnie Gomiller] came and said to put him in at running back. We listened to him and he came out and made some big plays for us.”

Gomiller, a Cincinnati recruit, had 13 carries for 91 yards. He ran for three touchdowns in the second half and caught a 16-yard touchdown pass in the first half.

“Thanks to my teammates,” Gomiller said. “There was a point in time when my head was down. They had to help me through it. I had to come out and show who I could be.”

Mount Carmel starting quarterback Ryder Startz was injured in the first half and did not return. Senior Brady Cloherty, a Plainfield East transfer, split time with Startz in the first half and played the entire second half. He was 14 of 30 for 233 yards with two touchdown passes and two interceptions.

Cloherty actually ended last season with a loss to East St. Louis in the first round of the playoffs when he was at Plainfield East.

“This is going to give us a lot of hunger,” Cloherty said. “They haven’t felt this feeling in a long time. It will give us more motivation to go out there and get that state championship.”

The Caravan led 23-14 after junior Marshaun Thornton’s 78-yard kickoff-return touchdown with 1:33 left in the third quarter. Mount Carmel opened the fourth quarter with the pair of turnovers, and Gomiller scored three consecutive rushing touchdowns to put the Flyers (1-0) ahead 35-23.

Florida recruit Raheem Floyd sealed the win for East St. Louis with a pick-six with 2:56 to play.

“[Cloherty] got a lot of reps in the summertime, but Ryder took the majority, about 70% of the No. 1 reps going into this game,” Lynch said. “[Cloherty] was prepared though. He took a lot of mental reps and had a great attitude. It is hard to come here and play.”

East St. Louis quarterback Reece Shanklin was 13-for-19 for 185 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

Nathan Samuels had 19 carries for 88 yards for Mount Carmel and Thornton finished with five catches for 138 yards and two touchdowns.

“We pick up games like this because we want to be challenged,” Lynch said. “It is going to make us stronger in November.”