MT. CARMEL — MT. CARMEL - The return of Trey Parsons sparked an offensive explosion for the Washington Hatchets at Mt. Carmel on Friday.
Unfortunately for the visitors, though, the Golden Aces had even more powerful bomb in their arsenal.
Parsons was spectacular in his return to the Washington (2-4, 0-4) lineup, but Mt. Carmel's Reece Metcalf was even better as the Golden Aces downed the Hatchets 60-41 in Big 8 Conference football action.
After being suspended for the first five games of the season, Parsons, Washington's senior running back who gained nearly 1,500 yards on the ground as a junior, picked up right where he left off a season ago. Parsons ran for 251 yards on 32 carries and three touchdowns, and added a 32-yard touchdown reception on a pass from quarterback Jake Brashear against Mt. Carmel (4-1, 3-0).
Parsons scored on runs of 68 and 54 yards in the first half as the Hatchets led a wild affair 35-32 at the half. Wideout Tyler Walls also scored on a 77-yard end around, while Tyler Edmiston added a one-yard touchdown run in the opening two quarters. Overall, Washington had set single game season highs for points and yards by halftime on a night when the Hatchets would gain 488 yards of total offense, with 411 of those yards coming on the ground on 57 attempts.
The addition to Parsons to the Hatchet lineup was a huge lift to a team which was shutout last week at Mt. Vernon.
"He can make a few plays, I think," Hatchet coach Kelly Brashear deadpanned about Parsons after the game. "He's a really good athlete. I will be anxious to see on film ... I think we blocked well tonight, but I want to see how many plays he made on his own because his field vision, and his ability to move laterally and cut is phenomenal.
"But he's also one of those kids who will step right in there on a power play and go right at you too," said Brashear. "I thought he did really nice job of running the football tonight."
But Metcalf, the Golden Aces' junior quarterback, executed Mt. Carmel's spread offense to near perfection. Metcalf himself ran for 70 yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns, and threw for an additional four touchdowns - to four different receivers - on 14-21 passing and 258 yards. Mt Carmel racked up 545 yards of total offense, with running back Sam Wampler netting 126 yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns. Jared Piper ran for a pair of scores as well for the Golden Aces.
Mt. Carmel led 14-7 after one quarter before the big second quarter gave WHS the halftime lead. Washington won the toss and elected to receive the kickoff to begin the second half, but a Mt. Carmel fumble recovery in Hatchet territory on that possession put Metcalf in business at the WHS 27. Three plays later the Golden Aces were in the end and back in front, and Mt. Carmel wouldn't trail again. Mt. Carmel scored three times in the third quarter and fronted 52-41 heading into the final 12:00 of action. Overall, the 101 combined points is a record total for a Mt. Carmel football game dating back to the 1920s.
Though disappointed with the loss, Brashear was happy with many aspects of his team's play. Washington got a strong effort from Edmiston, who added 73 yards on 13 carries and also ran in for a 2-point conversion. Walls converted all three of his extra point attempts, rushed for 84 yards on three carries, and returned two kickoffs for 42 yards. Dalton Devine added 74 yards on four kickoff returns for the Hatchets.
"We got better tonight, we really did. I do not like the way that it ended," said Brashear. "We did have a little let down there at the beginning of the third quarter, but we did get better tonight. I was proud of the way the kids competed. Mt. Carmel is a fine football team."
Washington returns to Hatchet Hollow on Friday
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