Jack Elliott burst onto the scene as a backup quarterback when he was just a sophomore, throwing a key pass on a fake punt that helped Mount Carmel beat Loyola.
When he took over for Blainey Dowling as the starting quarterback the next season, Caravan coach Jordan Lynch and Elliott’s older teammates had an unusual amount of confidence in their new, inexperienced quarterback.
That’s all been proven wise. Elliott led Mount Carmel to the Class 7A state championship last season and has picked up right where he left off this year.
Elliott isn’t the biggest or fastest player on the field. But he’s one of the strongest and is a natural football player. He’s also usually good for a solid progress reports on his teammates.
After the Caravan’s 56-33 win against visiting Nazareth on Friday, the focus was on wide receiver Cooper Lehman, a transfer from Neuqua Valley.
“He’s ready to go,” Elliott said. “This was his breakout game. We were working out and hanging out together as soon as he got here in the summer, developing the connection. He has all the physical tools to be a great receiver and he showed it today.”
Lehman caught eight passes for 255 yards (a single-game school record) including touchdown passes of 85 and 49 yards. The second TD showed how in sync Elliott and Lehman have become. Elliott made a few defenders miss and Lehman changed the direction of his route.
“That was all [Lehman],” Elliott said. “I had to make a [player miss on a blitz] Cooper realized that and turned it into a little sail route and was wide open.”
Elliott was 17-for-25 for 424 yards and six TDs. He connected with Quentin Burrell (four catches, 71 yards) for two TDs, and Danyil Taylor Jr. and Stephen Winkler each caught one. The six TD passes tie Mount Carmel’s single-game school record set by Jack McBride against Mendel in 1968.
“[Elliott] is the best quarterback in the state, the best quarterback in the Midwest and the most underrated quarterback in the country,” Lehman said. “So it makes it easy for me. We have the connection.”
Winkler, a junior tight end/defensive back, turned the game’s tide. Mount Carmel (2-1) led 35-33 when Winkler caught a 53-yard TD. On the next play from scrimmage, Winkler intercepted a pass from Nazareth quarterback Logan Malachuk. The Caravan scored the next two touchdowns.
Taylor Jr. had 18 carries for 105 yards and one TD. Le’Javier Payne also had an interception. The senior safety has a knack for making big plays in big games.
Malachuk was 15-for-35 for 192 yards with four TD passes and two interceptions for Nazareth (2-1). Jake Cestone was his favorite target with six catches for 111 yards and three TDs.
Mount Carmel has won back-to-back Class 7A state titles and Nazareth back-to-back Class 5A titles. The schools had met just once before. The Caravan beat Nazareth and junior JJ McCarthy in the 2019 Class 7A title game.
“I wanted to see my team demonstrate toughness, effort and resiliency and I definitely witnessed that tonight,” Roadrunners coach Tim Racki said. “Obviously the second half got away from us. But credit to Mount Carmel, that’s a tremendous football team.”