By Maddie Lee<\/p>\n
Mount Carmel had just tied the game 7-7 when Loyola Academy kick returner Jonah Isaac caught the ball at the edge of the end zone. He saw his hole open up. He darted through it. He flew.<\/p>\n
Touchdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was unreal,\u201d said Isaac.<\/p>\n
With less than two minutes left in the first half, the senior did it again. After Mount Carmel pulled within a touchdown of Loyola, Isaac scored on a 97-yard kick return. Loyola led 28-14 at halftime en route to a\u00a0\u00a049-21 home victory Saturday. The Ramblers\u00a0finished\u00a0the conference season undefeated.
\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was huge,\u201d Loyola coach John Holecek said of the TD returns. \u201cTo answer like that, it\u2019s so disheartening for the other teams. And that\u2019s real motivation for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mount Carmel coach Frank Lenti said he\u2019d never seen the Caravan give up two kick returns for touchdowns in one game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the first time in 32 years that\u2019s ever happened,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery time we do something good, they come back and do something better.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the game essentially\u00a0decided before the fourth quarter, Loyola fans were left counting down the yards before senior Dara Laja would surpass\u00a0the school record of 2,110 career rushing yards, set byPat Naughton, Loyola’s current receivers coach, \u00a0in 1995.<\/p>\n
He broke the record on a nine-yard touchdown carry, with just over four minutes left in the game, which brought him to 2,112 career rushing yards.<\/p>\n
The Loyola fans jumped to their feet chanting his name.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt amazing,\u201d Laja said. His voice shook ever so slightly. \u201cIt was very emotional for me. It definitely means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the other side, Mount Carmel lost five fumbles and never led the game.<\/p>\n
Loyola\u00a0clinched the Catholic Blue Conference title (9-0, 4-0), and is\u00a0seeded first in the state tournament.\u00a0They have been Catholic Blue champions five times, all since 2010, and have one state title.<\/p>\n
The Caravan has won the Catholic Blue Conference eight times since its formation\u00a0in 1996. They\u00a0won the state championship in 2012 and 2013, and holds 12 state titles.<\/p>\n
Mount Carmel (7-2, 2-2) also will advance to the state tournament and will host Glenbard North in the first round of Class 7A playoffs. Loyola (Class 8A) will host West Aurora. Both teams play at noon Oct. 31.<\/p>\n
Lenti said, \u201cI\u2019m glad they\u2019re in 8A and we\u2019ll be in 7A.\u201d<\/p>\n
By Maddie Lee Mount Carmel had just tied the game 7-7 when Loyola Academy kick returner Jonah Isaac caught the ball at the edge of the end zone. He saw his hole open up. He darted through it. He flew. Touchdown. \u201cIt was unreal,\u201d said Isaac. With less than two minutes left in the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":18933,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[509,31],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-18931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2015","category-sports","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"\n