Chicago Sports

Fire midfielder Fabian Herbers is a fan of MLS’ new broadcast deal with Apple TV that takes effect next season. And he has a very personal reason for supporting the pact: it will make matches easier for his father to watch back in Germany.

“Sometimes the VPN doesn’t work, so he has to put his location into the United States so he can watch the game,” Herbers said. “So I was just happy personally for my dad, for my family, so it makes it easier overall globally to watch the games and I think for MLS it’s a huge step forward to get consistency in the games.”

Beyond Herbers’ family, the 10-year agreement has significant implications for the league and Fire.

Announced in June, the $2.5 billion deal pairs MLS with one of the world’s most global brands and one known for technological innovation. The agreement also ends digital blackouts and makes it easier for MLS fans to know where to watch their teams, as every game will be available on the same platform. The league is also expected to carve out separate deals with traditional English- and Spanish-language networks for a smaller handful of matches – that would still be simulcast on Apple TV – to maintain some exposure on broadcast television.

“We like the deal with Apple very much,” Fire owner Joe Mansueto told the Sun-Times in July. “It’s a transformative deal for Major League Soccer. I don’t think you could find a better partner than Apple in creating a world-class consumer experience to view our games, and in exposing the club to a vast global audience.

“I’d underscore that global audience; MLS has never really had that, and now will be available in 100-plus countries around the world.”

The deal, though, has some potential drawbacks.

The MLS package will be available on a subscription basis. And perhaps most crucially for the Fire, the deal means the end of local broadcasts, taking them off WGN after effectively replacing the Cubs, Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox on the channel in 2020.

“I guess the negative is I have loved being on WGN in Chicago,” Mansueto said. “We have, I think, a best-in-class broadcast team in Tyler Terens, Tony Meola, Arlo White [and] the quality of production. Being on Channel 9 has a special meaning in Chicago. Formerly the home of the Cubs, what I grew up watching on Channel 9, the Blackhawks have been on it. It’s just kind of been the sports channel in Chicago. It’s free, available to everybody, and so I’ll certainly miss being on WGN.”

The subscription nature of the deal could potentially limit the chances for casual fans to find a match and enjoy what they see, which might hurt the Fire’s efforts to get viewers to sample their product. One of Mansueto’s major objectives since taking over for Andrew Hauptman has been to reintroduce the Fire to the city, and along with shifting back to the lakefront, WGN was a significant part of that initiative as the team’s viewership has been building on the station.

Mansueto will miss the potential “serendipity” from WGN, and he said friends of his came across the Fire and loved it after watching some action.

“That’s one of the negatives of the Apple deal from my perspective, that we’ll miss being on WGN, having it free to all Chicagoland,” Mansueto said. “We’re trying to build the Chicago Fire brand here in Chicago and WGN was phenomenal for that. Free, people can stumble across it, get hooked. That’s going to be a little harder, candidly, in the short term with the Apple deal.”

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Glenbard North quarterback Justin Bland knows he can count on his teammates in the crucial, stressful final minutes of close games. And he knows how to lead them.

“I told everyone to calm down and take a break on the last drive,” Bland said. “We just had to lock in and hit our two-minute drill. Stay focused and stay humble, lock in and execute.”

The No. 17 Panthers took advantage of Kenwood’s mental mistakes to pull out a 21-18 victory on Saturday at Gately Stadium.

Damarion Elliston’s three-yard touchdown run with 1:29 to play put Glenbard North ahead for good.

Bland connected with Johnnie Robertson on a 21-yard touchdown pass with 7:22 left to pull the Panthers within a score.

“We just can’t shoot our own toes off,” Kenwood coach Sinque Turner said. “We made some boneheaded mistakes. And it was our decorated players that made the mistakes. That’s unexpected.”

Kenwood (0-1) led 18-7 at halftime but lost starting quarterback Nacari McFarland to an injury in the third quarter. That essentially ended the Broncos’ passing attack.

Last season Glenbard North (1-0) advanced to the Class 8A state quarterfinals. The Panthers lost to Lockport, the eventual champs, by just six points.

“It helps a lot to have so many returning starters from the last two years,” Bland said. “We have the chemistry from winning in the playoffs before.”

That’s where Kenwood’s program wants to get. The Broncos have several highly-recruited players. Junior defensive lineman Marquise Lightfoot, who has offers from most of the Big Ten and Notre Dame, was a dominant force throughout the game. But his roughing the kicker penalty on a punt in the fourth quarter allowed Glenbard North’s final drive to continue.

Bland was 7-for-14 passing for 115 yards. He threw one touchdown and an interception and had 13 carries for 34 yards. Robertson had four catches for 82 years.

“I have to give Glenbard North credit,” Turner said. “They fought all four quarters. They were gritty and played smashmouth football and hung around. Then they took advantage of the opportunities we gave them.”

Kenwood quarterback Nacari McFarland left with a hand injury in the third quarter. He was 7-for-11 passing for 120 yards and one touchdown.

“He’s probably out for now but his backup is pretty good,” Turner said. “We’ll be ok. The guys were used to McFarland but [Kevari Thunderbird] has taken a ton of reps.”

McFarland connected with Omarion Lewis for a 40-yard touchdown in the first quarter. Taylen Goodwin (four carries, 30 yards) scored for Kenwood on a 17-yard run in the second quarter.

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Nebraska vs. Northwestern – Game Summary – August 27, 2022 – ESPN

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When the White Sox lost shortstop Tim Anderson to a hand injury earlier this month, Lucas Giolito noted to reporters that “we’ve been dealing with that kind of stuff all year.”

Just days earlier the Sox had finally gotten Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Jose Abreu, Yasmani Grandal, Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert into the lineup together for the first time this season. The honeymoon didn’t last long before Anderson’s injury threw the latest wrench into things. He’s expected to be out at least another two weeks.

That’s the kind of campaign it’s been so far for the White Sox, who haven’t had quite as many injuries as other teams but have, at times, felt them more acutely given the level of talent sidelined, according to data from Baseball Prospectus’ Injury List Ledger. The Cubs haven’t been much luckier.

The range of games missed for MLB’s 30 teams so far hammers home how the injury gods dispense luck differently. The Reds, one of the league’s worst teams, have seen players miss a combined 1,652 games this season, per BP’s stats. On the flip side you can see part of why the Guardians lead the AL Central: Their players have only missed 510 games, a small fraction of what some other teams have faced.

The White Sox and Cubs, meanwhile, rank among the most injured teams in the big leagues so far this year. Players for the North Siders have missed 1,444 games, the third-highest total in the league behind the Reds and Rays. Sox players have missed 953 games, 13th in the league.

But what separates the Cubs’ plight from their peers on the South Side is that their injuries happened often to players with lower expectations anyway. Relievers like Brad Wieck, Ethan Roberts and Manuel Rodriguez hitting the 60-day IL didn’t upend the team’s daily lineup, even if losing Wieck in particular thinned out the bullpen.

The White Sox haven’t been so fortunate despite being relatively more healthy.

Baseball Prospectus also calculates an estimate of how many Wins Above Replacement Player each team has lost due to injuries.

In that statistic, which weighs both volume of games missed and the projected performance of each player who’s out, the Sox rank fourth in WARP lost at 5.78, very narrowly behind the Reds (5.90) and Dodgers (5.82). The Rays, in part due to Wander Franco’s health issues, have lost 7.22 WARP to injuries. The Cubs (4.50) rank 11th in WARP missed.

Compared to the Guardians, who have lost just 1.33 WARP to injuries, the White Sox have lost an extra 4.45 wins to injuries this year. That’s bigger than the gap that separates the teams in the standings right now.

This is something teams can overcome: Just look at the Rays and Dodgers, first and third in WARP missed, respectively. The former is on track for the playoffs, while the latter is on pace for nearly 113 wins. A more healthy Dodgers team might on pace for the best season in league history.

But for the White Sox, now third in a tight divisional race with the Guardians and Twins, those lost wins could be the difference between a playoff trip and an early offseason.

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The Farmer’s Almanac defines “the dog days of summer” as a period of particularly hot and humid weather occurring during the summer months of July and August in the Northern Hemisphere. Well, that doesn’t sound fun. And to me, dogs are only fun.

My dog, Casey, is truly one of the joys of my life. I love him, and I hate hot and humid weather. So, there you go. Casey is by my side as I write quizzes, books and emails. (I will share any emails from you with him.) My dog was named for Casey Stengel and for the star of “Casey at the Bat.” I have had only two doggies in my life (I don’t call myself a “dog owner” since they own my heart), and I truly feel they have made me a better person. They say that a dog is a human’s best friend, and I don’t disagree.

However, I spend each day trying to be Casey’s best friend. If you have a dog or even know a dog, make sure the pooch has plenty of water on these hot days, give the dog a treat, tell the pup it’s from the quiz master and see if you get a quizzical look.

1. I need to give a loving remembrance to the first dog in our family, Mookie, named for the outfielder Mookie Wilson. Many years ago, I met Wilson and showed him some pictures of our wonderful Wheaton Terrier. He told me that he would frequently get mail from someone who named their pet after him and that he felt so honored to be a part of so many families. Wilson is a part of World Series lore, and he’s associated with which former Cub?

a. Anthony Rizzo

b. Bill Buckner

c. Davey Lopes

d. Greg Maddux

2. At the same time that Mookie was a part of our family, we had a wonderful cat named “Wilson.” It was then that I fully understood George Carlin’s great line, ” ‘Meow’ means ‘woof’ in cat.” A recent inductee to the Baseball Hall of Fame went by the nickname of “Kitty.” Who is he?

a. David Ortiz

b. Jim Kaat

c. Minnie Mi?oso

d. Tony Oliva

3. My first cat was named “Mickey Charles Mantle Chuck.” My dear friend Lorelei named her cat “Mickey Charles Mantle Chuck Jacob.” Mickey Mantle (the Yankee) first learned to play baseball at 319 S. Quincy St. in Commerce, Oklahoma. From the time he was 4, Mantle waited six afternoons a week for his father to come home from the coal mines at 4 p.m. to play baseball, and he learned very well. In his career, Mantle hit 72 of his 536 homers against the White Sox. He never played against the Cubs. What was Mantle’s dad’s name?

a. Snoop-Dog Mantle

b. Mutt Mantle

c. Schnauzer Mantle

d. Jock Mantle

4. Year after year, on the top-10 list of most popular dog names is “Max,” which happens to be my wife’s name (it’s really Maxine, but she hates that). One of the great pitchers in the game today is Max Scherzer, who has a non-debilitating condition called Heterochromia Iridis. His dog has it, as well. What is this?

a. Left-handedness

b. Excessive drooling

c. Color blindness

d. Each eye is a different color

5. What makes Chicago fans great baseball fans is their respect for talent, no matter what team the opponent plays for. With that in mind, here’s a shout-out to Yadier Molina, who is Hall of Fame-bound (IMHO). Yadier is one of three Molina-catching brothers who have been inhabiting the majors since 1998. One of his brothers is Jose. What is the name of the third Molina brother?

a. Snoopy Molina

b. Bengie Molina

c. Odie Molina

d. Jock Molina

6. In Walnut Creek, California, Tony and Elaine La Russa have created a terrific organization to rescue dogs and cats before they run out of time at shelters. Its unique, dual mission of People Rescuing Animals … Animals Rescuing People(R) is a model for many other organizations. What is the acronym for the establishment?

a.WOOF

b. ARF

c. ARK

d. RELIEF

7. There was a wonderful time in my professional life when I worked for the Brockton Rox, an independent league team in Massachusetts. There’s a special kind of fun for the fans with independent baseball (I presume you’ve heard of the Savannah Bananas?), and I encourage you to enjoy the experience by seeing the Chicago Dogs, managed by Butch Hobson, who played eight years in the big leagues, mostly with the Red Sox. There are many doggies named “Butch,” but few go by Hobson’s given name, which is what?

a. Clell Lavern Hobson

b. Cletis Shirley Hobson

c. Bear Bryant Hobson

d. Dogg Snoop Hobson

8. “Blue” is another name that frequents the top 10 of popular dog names. The two baseball Blues that immediately came to me were Vida Blue and Blue Moon Odom, both of whom achieved fame pitching for the A’s in the early 1970s. One of them ended his career pitching for the White Sox. Which one?

a. Blue Moon Odom

b. Vida Blue

9. On the TV show “Frasier,” the well-trained Jack Russell Terrier was named “Eddie.” Which of the following Eddies is not a Hall of Famer?

a. Eddie Murray

b. Eddie Stanky

c. Eddie Mathews

d. Eddie Collins

ANSWERS

1. Let me quote the great Vin Scully from Game 6 of the 1986 World Series: “So the winning run is at second base … with two out … three and two to Mookie Wilson. Little roller up along first … BEHIND THE BAG! IT GETS THROUGH BUCKNER! HERE COMES KNIGHT, AND THE METS WIN IT!”

2. Jim “Kitty” Kaat won 16 consecutive Gold Gloves pitching for five teams (including the White Sox) over a 25-year big-league career. He also has been an outstanding broadcaster.

3. Mickey’s dad was Mutt Mantle.

4. The right-hander’s left eye is brown, and his right is blue. Heterochromia Iridis causes color differences in the iris (the colored part of the eye). Scherzer has adopted dogs with the same characteristic.

5. It wasn’t exactly the movie dog Benji, but Bengie Molina was close enough for me.

6. Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) can be found on the web at https://arflife.org/.

7. Clell Lavern Hobson played football for Bear Bryant at Alabama.

8. On July 28, 1976, while pitching for the White Sox, Blue Moon Odom combined with Francisco Barrios to no-hit the A’s. Odom allowed no hits but issued nine walks in five innings.

9. Eddie Stanky started his career with the Cubs and went on to manage the White Sox. That’s his consolation for not being in Cooperstown.

A quick astronomy lesson before departing today: This period of sweltering weather coincides with the rising of Sirius, the Dog Star. Sirius is part of the Canis Majoris constellation, aka the “Greater Dog.” Not including our Sun, Sirius is the brightest star in the sky. Have a great week and be cool. Send questions for and about the quiz to me at [email protected].

Check out Bill Chuck’s new book, ”In Scoring Position: 40 Years of a Baseball Love Affair,” a love letter to the game of baseball from sports columnist Bob Ryan and our favorite baseball historian and statistician.

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The Fire are up against it. Their hopes of making the MLS playoffs for the first time since 2017 are vanishing quickly, and they’ll need to reel off more than a few wins to stay in contention.

Unfortunately for the Fire (8-12-6, 30 points), there are numerous factors that make a postseason return unlikely.

There’s not enough depth

Midfielder Gaston Gimenez is out for the year after undergoing hamstring surgery. Salary debate aside, he was an important cog in the Fire midfield to help link the back line to the attack.

That underscores how much the Fire needed to find a reinforcement in the midfield or the center of their defense before the transfer deadline. Center back Wyatt Omsberg could be out for the year after tearing ligaments in his left foot, fellow CB Carlos Teran has had trouble staying on the field, and Mauricio Pineda can’t play on defense and in the midfield at the same time.

Yet sporting director Georg Heitz didn’t get anything done, leaving the spine of the team vulnerable. To compensate for Gimenez’s loss, coach Ezra Hendrickson might move Jairo Torres to a central role after he’s played this season on the wing.

Because of Heitz’s inactivity, further attrition up the middle could be fatal.

The schedule won’t help

The Fire got themselves back into the race with four wins in five games, but the last two matches have shown where they really rank in the league hierarchy.

East-leading Philadelphia ended that run with an easy 4-1 win, and then defending-champion New York City FC had little trouble during a 2-0 victory over the Fire. The latest loss is more concerning for the Fire, since NYCFC was coming off a mid-week game, had been winless in its last four and has dropped from its title-winning level after losing championship coach Ronny Deila and star Taty Castellanos to Europe.

Things don’t get much easier for the Fire. Saturday’s match at Soldier Field is against second-place CF Montreal (14-8-4, 46 points), which is followed by a mid-week game at New England then a trip to Columbus. New England currently sits outside of the playoffs but set a league record for points last year, and Columbus has traditionally been a difficult place for the Fire.

Judging by their performance against Philadelphia and NYCFC, it’s possible the Fire could be all but done by the time they host Inter Miami on Sept. 10 in Bridgeview.

The math doesn’t work

Entering Saturday, the Fire are 12th in the East and five points behind seventh-place Columbus. Not only will they have to leapfrog five teams, but the Crew also have a game in hand over the Fire.

Last week, Hendrickson said 45 or 46 points could be enough for a playoff spot. Sitting at 30, the Fire would need to average two points per match over their last eight to hit 46.

Even if the schedule wasn’t tricky, that would be a difficult benchmark. Only Los Angeles FC is averaging more than two points per game, and over a full season that pace would put a club in contention for the league’s best record.

There’s little indication the Fire can play that well, regardless of the opposition.

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Derek King was sitting around his Florida vacation home in June when Kyle Davidson called with news: He had hired someone else to be the Blackhawks’ new coach.

But Davidson told King to sit tight for a few days before looking for other job openings.

“I waited,” King said Friday. “Then, all of a sudden, I had great conversations with Luke [Richardson], and he asked me if I’d be willing to come aboard and help them. I guess Kyle and the rest of the staff had a lot of good things to say about me and felt I could still contribute. So after that, it was a piece of cake. We just hashed out the contract negotiations, and here I am, back with the Hawks again.”

Behind the scenes during the days in between, Davidson — the general manager who appointed King as interim coach last November — had approached Richardson, his new choice as coach, about the possibility.

“When we brought Luke in and [started] developing a profile of the coaching staff, we wanted really good people,” Davidson said last month. “We wanted a group that’s -going to drive a really positive culture. Derek is someone that’s emblematic of that endeavor. [To] Luke, we said, ‘We really value Derek, but we’re not going to force anything on you. This is your staff.’ “

It’s rare for an interim coach to return to the same organization the following season in a lesser role — in this case, as one of three assistant coaches. Egos typically get in the way, in both directions. Ex-interim coaches often don’t want to start reporting to someone else, and new coaches often want a clean slate to bring in their own assistants.

Of the six other interim coaches besides King around the NHL last season, three (Edmonton’s Jay Woodcroft, Vancouver’s Bruce Boudreau and Montreal’s Martin St. Louis) dropped the interim tag, while the other three (Florida’s Andrew Brunette, Philadelphia’s Mike Yeo and Winnipeg’s Dave Lowry) didn’t return and thus left for different organizations (New Jersey, Vancouver and Seattle, respectively).

But King’s flexibility, humility and affability are also rare traits in NHL coaches, and they make him better-suited than anyone else to navigate this unusual transition.

He admitted he felt some initial disappointment about not keeping the top job. Still, he wanted to stay in northern Illinois, since the area has become home for his family — although they are moving from Rockford closer to Chicago this summer — and he saw no issues with an assistant role.

“[In my] conversations with Luke, I felt really comfortable, and I felt that he felt comfortable, that we could work together and I’d be a good fit for him,” he said. “I wasn’t upset. I wasn’t not going to talk to him because he got the job. I have no ego about it. I wish I would’ve got the job, but I’m more than happy and privileged to be part of the organization.”

King and Richardson seemingly know half the hockey world, but their social spheres barely included each other before this summer. Their reminiscing so far has primarily been about playing against each other in the OHL in the mid-1980s. The same goes for King and new fellow assistant Kevin Dean.

King does know the Hawks’ other new assistant, Derek Plante, fairly well. They played together in 2001-02 with the Munich Barons in Germany.

The four coaches’ philosophies and visions align well nonetheless, and they’ve begun to roughly divide duties, although more specific job descriptions will be “etched in stone” between now and the start of training camp Sept. 21.

King and Plante, as forwards during their playing careers, will focus more on the offensive side, while Dean, as a former defenseman, focuses on the opposite end.

“Luke’s fairly similar to me,” King said, “[in that] we’ll have job details but we’ll all work together, help each other out and throw in our opinions on things.”

An assistant role with more hands-on coaching opportunities and a narrower -column of responsibilities could play more to King’s strengths, too.

He was thrown into the fire last year, his first as an NHL coach in any capacity, when he inherited a poorly constructed, mentally broken team abruptly 12 games into a lost season. He did a much better job than predecessor Jeremy Colliton did, restoring morale in the locker room and guiding the Hawks to a respectable-given-the-circumstances 27-33-10 record the rest of the way, but the situation still challenged his abilities.

Asked to reflect on the knowledge he gained, King — humble as always — was quick to point out his mistakes.

“The biggest thing I learned was to take more control over the team,” he said. “You’re busy as a head coach. You’re dealing with all these different people from the outside. And I maybe got a little bit away from the coaching part of it.

“It [requires] talking to the media, talking to [team services director] Tony Ommen, talking to the trainers, making sure everybody’s good to go, talking to the doctors, making sure everybody’s healthy. And by the time practice is ready, you’re like, ‘You know what, I’ve still got to go over the practice plan with the coaches.’ “

The experience did convince King, who previously had always seen himself as a purely minor-league guy, that he does have the chops — and the ambition — to be an NHL head coach. That thought clearly -lingers somewhere in the back of his mind.

“If I got that opportunity again, I’d take more time to do those little things that I’ve always done,” he said. “I’ve always done some video [analysis]. I’ve always broken games down. I’ve always been a lot more involved with the coaching part of it.”

But for now, he’s wholeheartedly looking forward to his first camp and first full season as an NHL assistant, even if the route he followed to this milestone wasn’t exactly conventional.

“It’ll be a lot easier,” he said. “I’ll have a lot more time to do what I like to do: sit one-on-one with forwards and show them clips and work with them after practice. Stuff like that.”

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There will be a plan in place to try to keep Bulls guard Alex Caruso as healthy as possible this season — crash helmet not included.

That’s because Caruso’s playing style too often is better suited for a gladiator arena than the hardwood. With that comes collateral damage. Unfortunately, it has come at Caruso’s expense far too often.

A quick glance at his injury report since 2020 reads like an anatomy class. There’s a neck, then a wrist, then a few days in the health-and-safety protocols, then a hand, then a concussion.

In Caruso’s first year with the Bulls, he was dinged with wrist, ankle and hamstring injuries during the first half of the season. But the big injury setback was a fractured right wrist, courtesy of Bucks guard Grayson Allen deciding to tackle him in midair.

Caruso eventually returned, only to suffer a concussion in Game 4 of the Bulls’ first-round playoff series against the Bucks. He was sidelined for Game 5, when the Bulls were sent home for an extended spring break.

So what’s the solution? That’s where it gets tricky.

The Bulls need Caruso to be disruptive and play a hard-nosed style, especially because they have so many high-priced players who don’t necessarily do so all the time. But they also need him to stay healthy and active in the rotation.

What Caruso can do is to armor himself up with a little more muscle. That’s what this summer has been about for him.

”Just trying to gain a little weight, a little muscle on the lower extremities, a little bit on my back,” Caruso told NBC Sports this month. ”And then just, you know, grinding on my game. I’ve been in the gym [for the] last month, month and a half.”

What the Bulls and coach Billy Donovan can do is control his playing time. Load management isn’t in Caruso’s vocabulary, so forget trying to get him to sit out games. If he’s healthy, he’s playing. But what the Bulls found out last season was that, because he plays so hard, less from Caruso in terms of minutes was actually more.

When Caruso was healthy and playing, he averaged 27.5 minutes in games the Bulls won and 28.6 minutes in those they lost. It was like that with the Lakers during the 2020-21 and 2019-20 seasons, too.

A statistical anomaly? Unlikely, especially when you watch game film. Caruso is a high-energy player on both ends of the floor and plays with a fiery edge. But that fire only burns so long.

That’s one reason the Bulls’ drafting of Dalen Terry in June made sense. Like Caruso, Terry is a high-energy defender who doesn’t mind playing the role of irritant. He is expected to earn a spot in the rotation, and maybe three or four of his minutes will come at the expense of Caruso’s playing time.

Either way, Caruso not only is hoping that he can stay healthy but also that the entire roster can do so. He saw enough last season to know a healthy Bulls roster can be a dangerous one.

”I don’t know if we got to see our full potential,” Caruso said. ”Having as many guys as we did having to miss as many games, Lonzo [Ball] not being able to come back and play in the playoffs . . . just big pieces that hurt the symmetry, the chemistry, the ability to build habits throughout the season.

”But I think we’re a really good team with some really good pieces that I think has a chance to be really special if we can put the work in and get to where we need to get to.”

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There are high school football hotbeds all over the area, schools and communities that gather to socialize and celebrate before and after games.

Mount Carmel’s new on-campus stadium doesn’t have a reputation like Glen Ellyn or some other places, but it is only a matter of time until the Caravan’s home-field advantage is appreciated throughout the state.

It’s a truly special gameday experience. The walkway around the convocation center to the field is full of vendors hawking food and merchandise and lined with tributes to the 13 state championship teams.

The stadium itself is a hornet’s nest. Fans are closer to the field than anywhere else in the area.

That’s the scene No. 6 St. Rita walked into on Friday. And the Mustangs were starting a rookie quarterback.

The top-ranked Caravan dominated, winning 35-3.

“Ever since we started watching film on them we knew we were the better team,” senior linebacker Danny Novickas said. “It just depended on if we came out strong or not. I might sound a little bit cocky but we know ourselves better than anyone.”

Junior Jett Hilding, the Mustangs’ quarterback, was 1-for-4 passing for one yard.

“We [wanted ] to let him know what he was getting himself into,” Novickas said. “Mount Carmel defense doesn’t get better than that.”

St. Rita (0-1) is expected to have a strong running game this season, but without an aerial threat, the large and quick Caravan defense was able to contain juniors Ethan Middleton and DJ Stewart (eight carries, 31 yards).

It was a statement, breakout game for Mount Carmel quarterback Blainey Dowling. He’s always been a dependable leader and solid player, but the senior is now a star.

Dowling was 19-for-21 passing for 318 yards and five touchdowns. He connected with seven different receivers.

The biggest strikes were a 54-yard touchdown pass to Dennis Furlong and a 48-yard touchdown pass to Darrion Gilliam.

Gilliam, an unknown heading into the game, was an eye-opening talent. The junior receiver is 6-5.

Furlong had three receptions for 92 yards and Damarion Arrington had four catches for 76 yards.

“[St. Rita] was leaning heavily on the run, which opened up the passing game,” Dowling said. “You have to give the ball to your athletes to make plays.”

Junior Darrion Dupree had six carries for 34 yards and caught four passes for 36 yards. Marist transfer Alonzo Manning made an immediate impact for the Caravan with 12 carries for 75 yards.

“This is one of the most packed games I’ve played in,” Dowling said. “It was fun being out there. The crowd was awesome and we played good as a team.”

It was the 100th meeting between the rival South Side Catholic schools. The loss will sting for St. Rita, but they recovered from an opening loss to the Caravan last season and made it to the state championship.

“It’s a learning experience,” Mustangs coach Todd Kuska said. “We knew these guys were really good. We knew it could go sideways on us. We showed some promise in the second half. We have to find our identity on offense. We’ll be alright. It’s Week 1. We’ve been down this road before.”

St. Rita scored on a stunning 51-yard field goal by Alabama recruit Conor Talty.

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