MOUNT CARMEL – When you can’t hold onto the ball for very long, unless you have several explosive and quick scoring plays, it’s difficult to win a football game.

That was Montoursville’s problem on Friday at Mount Carmel, and although the Warriors can score in chunks, they only had one explosive play that came far too little and too late and Mount Carmel rode a huge advantage in time of possession and rushing yards to a 21-7 win over Montoursville.

“They executed really well. That’s a heck on an offense to stop, when you have that size, and we aren’t as big up front,” said Montoursville coach Mike Boughton. “All you can ask sometimes on defense is to get a team to drive the length of the field. They did that and did it consistently, so when you’re getting a team to drive the length, that’s all you can ask for, but we just couldn’t get the stops when we needed them.”

Mount Carmel controlled the ball for over two-thirds of the game – 34:50 to just 13:10 for Montoursville. The Red Tornados’ three scoring drives featured a combined 41 plays and over 21 minutes of possession. Mount Carmel’s three scoring drives went for 77, 90 and 87 yards, respectively.

Montoursville had just 168 yards of total offense, of which 132 were rushing yards by Rocco Pulizzi on just 10 carries. However, 112 of those came on just two carries, 84 of which were on a touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter after Mount Carmel had gone up 21-7.

“It’s tough when you don’t have the ball much offensively, you can’t use all your offensive weapons,” said Boughton. “We struggled up front offensively as well and couldn’t get Maddix Dalena enough time blocking-wise and we just need to improve in those areas.”

Another 28 yards for Pulizzi came on a run midway through the second quarter after Montoursville took over at midfield following an interception by Matthew Conklin – the game’s only turnover. Montoursville then marched all the way to the Mount Carmel 1-yard line. But the Red Tornados put together a goal line stand to keep the Warriors out of the end zone, and then proceeded to run out the clock on the first half and go into halftime with a 13-0 lead.

That lead came as a result of two long drives in the first half. The Red Tornados took the opening kickoff and started at their own 23 and put together an 11-play, 77-yard drive – 10 of which were rushes – that took nearly half the first quarter, and Julien Stellar capped it with a two-yard touchdown. Mount Carmel faced only a single third down on its opening drive.

The Warriors were then forced to punt, and Mount Carmel took over at its own 10. This time, the Red Tornados put together an even longer drive, this one 12 plays and 90 yards, all but one of which were runs. Stellar capped it again with a nine-yard run early in the second quarter.

“Sometimes, your offense can be your best defense and we really enjoyed the first half when we just held the ball most of the half,” said Mount Carmel coach John Darrah. “We’re going to run the ball so much, that’s part of our strength to keep it away from them, and we were able to execute that.”

Montoursville went three-and-out after receiving the second half kickoff, and from there, the Red Tornados put on probably the most impressive of their three scoring drives. They took over with 9:41 left in the third quarter, and put together an 18-play, 87-yard drive, of which 17 plays were rushes, that was capped by Michael Farranato’s 15-yard touchdown run with 11:10 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Farranato was a big contributor in the running game as well, as he finished with 78 yards on 12 carries. Feliciano led the way as he went for 139 yards on 17 carries, while Stellar finished with 70 yards on 18 carries. On the Red Tornados’ 18-play drive in the second half, Mount Carmel was 4-for-4 on third downs, and Feliciano converted on three of those, two on runs of his own and one on a pass completion. For the game, the Red Tornados converted on 10-of-12 third downs.