The Caravan vs. The Hilltoppers: The 2024 Edition
Through the years many very memorable games between the Caravan & Hilltoppers have been played. I for one am thrilled for the players and coaches on this year’s squads to be able to play in such a storied rivalry. Both Head Coaches and many assistants have had this experience as players and/or coaches. School sponsorship by the Carmelite Order for both and not being an annual event, in some ways it makes this rivalry uniquely special.For a little color, a few excerpts on the rivalry from the book The Triumph & Tradition of Joliet Catholic Football: Hilltopper Pride and the former Joliet Catholic Football website, are pasted below.
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First year Hilltopper Coach John Carroll’s undefeated (5-0) 1926 squad established what will remain an unbreakable record and serve as a goal of all Hilltopper teams: They shut out every opponent. Under Carroll’s leadership the 1928 Hilltoppers played Mount Carmel and scored a 12-0 victory in the inaugural game of what has become one of the most intense rivalries in the nation.
By accounts written in the Sunday, October 21, 1928 Joliet Evening Herald News, “a crowd of 1,600 persons, fully 200 of whom were followers of the Chicago team, witnessed the conflict which was a series of thrills from the start to the final toot of the referee’s whistle.” The article went on to give passionate detail of how amidst fumbles, interceptions, holding and slugging, this rivalry was born at a pitch on Joliet’s southeast side.
In the November 14, 1994 issue of Sports Illustrated, in which writer John Walters covered the nation’s best High School Football rivalries in the article Unrivaled Rivalries, Joliet Catholic versus Mount Carmel was one of eleven cited. Of note reads the sentence: “This series was suspended for eight years in the 1980s after a fight nearly erupted between the schools’ priests.”
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In 1933 the Christian Brothers concluded that the pressures of the school’s growth, the realities of the Great Depression and their Order’s 1932 opening of Lewis College just North of Joliet, combined to make it no longer feasible for them to run the High School.
Cardinal George Mundelein invited the Carmelite Fathers of Mount Carmel High School to take over the growing Catholic High School for boys in Joliet. The Cardinal recommend splitting the staff at Mount Carmel into two groups whereby ½ were to remain at Mount Carmel and the other ½ were to go to Joliet. When the Carmelites declined the invitation, the Cardinal came back with an alternative: Take over the school in Joliet or lose permission for the Carmelite Order to operate within the Archdiocese of Chicago, hence, lose Mount Carmel. Fr. Arthur Snaman, O. Carm packed his bags and headed to Joliet that night.
In August of 1933 the Carmelites purchased the school and in a tribute to the people of Joliet, renamed the school Joliet Catholic High School. During the De La Salle years the school colors were Purple and Gold, the team had no official nickname, but was sometimes referred to as the “Irish.” Following their arrival, the athletic teams adopted the Brown and White colors of the Carmelite Order and at that time also took on the nickname “Hilltoppers” to represent the location of the school and officially recognize a moniker that had been associated with the school’s teams through the years.
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The 1982 playoff game was the game made famous by Mount Carmel removing the shoulders pads and jerseys as time ran out to display T-shirts proclaiming that they had beaten Joliet Catholic. Recall what Sport Illustrated captured so well in so few words. Legend is that during the post-game Carmelite reception at the Joliet Catholic High School Priory, what could best be described as an impassioned “in-family” disagreement arose in the parlor. Strong willed Carmelite leaders with deep convictions had differing opinions of where the post-game T-Shirt incident fell within the spirit of sportsmanship. Later, it was agreed that it was best for both institutions to end the early season series
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The 1992 season opened with four-time defending State Champion Mount Carmel posting a 27-6 victory over the Hilltoppers in Joliet. The inexperienced Hilltopper team matured as the season progressed as a strong Defense carried the team while the Offense gained experience and confidence with each passing week. The Hilltoppers ended the regular season 8-1, posting four (4) shut outs along the way. After two more shut outs in the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Hilltoppers stopped a very talented Bloomington team in Round #3.
The football gods set up a rematch with Mount Carmel in the Semifinal game in Joliet. The Memorial Stadium crowd of 10,000 saw the Hilltoppers’ stiff Defense bottle up the explosive Mount Carmel Offense. The Caravan was held to 3 points through the first three (3) Quarters. The Hilltoppers scored a TD on a long run early in the 3rd Quarter and took a 7-3 lead. After continuing to get big 3rd Down stops against the Caravan, the Hilltoppers mounted a drive in the 4th Quarter and ran in an 8-yard TD with just under 3 minutes remaining. With the score 13-3, the Mount Carmel Offense struck quickly with a TD and two-point conversion to cut the lead to 13-11. The Hilltoppers were able to cleanly field the ensuing kickoff and run out the clock for the victory. That day the Hilltopper Offense ran the ball on 46 of 49 plays. This win prevented Mount Carmel and coach Frank Lenti from becoming the first team in state history to win five-(5) straight state titles. The two Carmelite schools were then tied with each school having won four in a row.
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(In 1996) A rematch versus Mount Carmel was set for the 5A State Championship game. The crowd at Illinois State University’s Hancock Stadium saw a defensive struggle most of the way. Mount Carmel led 7-6 at Halftime and though the yardage statistics ended near even, Mount Carmel scored 7 points in the 3rd Quarter and put up a 4th Quarter Field Goal to win the State Title 17-6. It was a remarkable run for a Hilltopper team many had given up for dead after week #6. Mount Carmel was the #6 team in the final USA Today national poll.
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When the 1999 Hilltoppers took the field for pre-season practice, Dan Sharp believed he may have developed something special. An old familiar face was around in the 1999 season as Gillespie had agreed to return and serve as Sharp’s Offensive Coordinator. The Hilltoppers opened the season with a stunning and inspired 10-7 victory over defending 5A Champion Mount Carmel at Gately Stadium. The hard-hitting Hilltoppers held the Caravan to just five-(5) 1st Downs and 105 total yards.
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(2000) After a convincing 47-21 win on the road, the Hilltoppers returned home to host Mount Carmel in week #2. The Caravan had eyes on avenging their previous season’s opening game loss. The Hilltoppers had other plans and jumped to a 22-8 Halftime lead. In the 3rd Quarter the Caravan cut the lead to 22-20. With less than 5 minutes remaining in the game, the Hilltoppers closed out the scoring on an 18-yard TD pass.
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The Hilltoppers entered the 2001 season as Illinois’ top ranked team and with a USA Today Top 10 Preseason national ranking. Mount Carmel was the week #2 opponent at an oversold, sold-out Gately Stadium. Because of CMC readjusting scheduled for year’s end, this would be the last game between the Carmelite schools for the foreseeable future. Many spectators who had tickets were turned away at the gate that day as the stadium was filled to capacity 20 minutes before kickoff. The Caravan jumped out to an early lead and had bottled up the Hilltopper offense. The Caravan’s dominance continued and they built 28-0 lead, shocking all in the crowd. After the “Overrated” chants started from the home bleachers, the Hilltoppers scored 21 unanswered points within a 6-minute span at the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th Quarter to cut the lead to 28-21. Half of the crowd became concerned that a sleeping giant had awakened while the other half hoped it had. At this point genuine cheering returned from both sides and the Caravan scored on a TD run to close out the scoring and post a 35-21 win and snap the Hilltoppers’ 29 game winning streak. As disappointing as the loss was, the monkey was now off of the back.
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The 2006 season saw the Hilltopper vs. Mount Carmel series renewed after a four-(4) year hiatus. The game was played at Chicago’s Soldier Field as the first of the triple-header “Preseason Prep Bowl Kick-off Classic.” The Chicago Park District (stewards of Soldier Field) estimated that over 15,000 people witnessed the renewed rivalry. The brown and white colors of the Carmelites were evident from the moment the teams entered the field for pre-game warm ups. One end saw the Tribune’s #2 ranked Mount Carmel attired in brown jerseys with white numbers, brown pants with white leg stripes and white helmets with “MC” in brown on either side. At the opposite end stood the Tribune’s #7 ranked Hilltoppers donning their familiar road uniforms of white jerseys with brown numbers, solid white pants and brown helmets with the white Victory Light emblem on each side. Adding more fanfare were widespread reports that many long time Caravan followers believed that the level of talent on the Caravan squad rivaled the best Caravan teams of the late 1940s-early 1950s era.
Though the game was scoreless at Halftime, the intensity common in the classic games of the series was present. Missed opportunities plagued both teams, though one could attribute these to the spirited, determined and heads up defensive play of both teams. The 1st Quarter saw the Caravan drive to the Hilltopper 10-yardline but stall when they were stuffed on the 4th Down play. Later in the quarter a fumble near the Hilltopper goal line left the Caravan empty again. In the 2nd Quarter the Hilltoppers drove to the Mount Carmel 9-yardline only to have the Caravan force and recover a Hilltopper fumble. Mount Carmel continued to move the ball between the 20s but as they entered the Red Zone, the Hilltopper Defense stiffened forcing the Caravan to settle for two missed field goal attempts. Hilltoppers opened the 3rd Quarter by driving into the Caravan Red Zone via an air and ground combination but turned the ball over on downs. As the 3rd quarter wound down, the Hilltoppers put the game’s first points on the board with 70-yard TD pass. The PAT failed and the score stood at 6-0. On this afternoon Mt. Camel executed the Caravan’s most prolific passing game in over 10 years by completing 12-of-20 for 255 yards. Midway thru the 4th Quarter the Caravan tied the score 6-6 on a 15-yard pass completion along the back line of the end zone. The Hilltoppers blocked the PAT and the score remained 6-6. Near the two-minute mark, Mount Carmel again scored via the air on a 21-yard pass and the PAT made it 13-6. The Hilltopper’s hurry-up offense was smothered in the last minute and the Caravan emerged as the victors.
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For the second straight year, the Hilltopper vs. Mount Carmel opener was held at Soldier Field. The Chicago Tribune’s preseason #2 Hilltoppers took on #6 Mount Carmel in a game that produced the intensity, emotion and drama that the series produces. Early in the 2nd Quarter, the Caravan failed to convert on a 4th-&-2 at the Hilltopper 12-yardline. On the next play, the Hilltoppers misfired as Mount Carmel intercepted the ball near midfield and returned it to the Hilltopper 10-yard line and then scored on a 10-yard TD pass and PAT to take a 7-0 lead. Over the next 7 minutes, the Hilltoppers went 62 yards on 13 plays before scoring on 4-yard TD run with just under 2 minutes left in the Half. The PAT failed. The Caravan returned the ensuing kickoff to their 24-yardline and six plays later, scored on a 3-yard run with just 23 seconds left on the clock. A successful PAT made it 14-6 at the Half.
The 3rd Quarter opened with the Hilltoppers going to the run on 17 straight plays that covered 86 yards and consumed over 8 minutes, ending with a 1-yard TD run. The runner slipped while making his cut for the end zone on the two-point conversion attempt, and the score stood at 14-12. The Hilltopper Defense then delivered the first of three 3-and-out series of the 2nd Half. The Hilltoppers mounted a 13-play scoring drive on the ground, capped by a 4-yard run and successful 2-point conversion run to take a 20-14 lead with just over 5 minutes left in the game. The Defense followed with one of its 3-and-out stances, sending numerous Mount Carmel spectators to the exits. The Hilltopper Offense continued to consume time by keeping the ball on the ground. When facing a 4th Down near midfield with just over 2 minutes left, the Hilltoppers elected to punt in hopes of pinning the Caravan deep and force a length of the field drive. In the 2nd Half, the Hilltoppers had held the Caravan to just 16 total yards on 10 plays. When Mount Carmel faced a 2nd-and-10 at their own 20-yardline, what a Chicago Tribune reporter later dubbed as “The Miracle of Mount Carmel” occurred. On an option play that was moving left, while being tackled, the Caravan Quarterback pitched the ball side-armed. The ball bounced well behind the pitchman and rolled toward the goal line. A swarm of Hilltoppers pursued the loose ball. The Caravan pitchman beat the Hilltoppers to the bouncing ball at his own 8-yardline. Amidst all of the confusion, the pitchman blindly heaved the ball down field as he was drilled by a Hilltopper Linebacker; later revealing to reporters that he never saw anyone down field. A pair of Mount Carmel players stood alone at the 30-yardline and as one player caught the wounded-duck pass and headed for the end zone, the second peeled back to block the lone pursuing Hilltopper to seal the crazy 80-yard TD. The PAT was good and in a matter of seconds, the Caravan led 21-20 with 1:38 remaining. The Hilltoppers returned the ensuing kick to their 25-yardline and with two timeouts remaining, marched to the Caravan 35-yardline before Mount Carmel halted the last Hilltopper drive and left the field victorious.
The 2007 Hilltoppers ended the 2007 State championship season at 13-1 amnd on the year 1broke the state’s all-time record for most yardage in a season by posting 6,651 total yards. The 5,033 yards rushing and 1,598 yards passing combined to break previous record by 260 yards. The year end USA Today national poll ranked the Hilltoppers #19, marking the program’s 6th USA Today Top 25 national finish. The final CBS Sports MaxPreps national power-ranking listed the Hilltoppers at #17. In both national polls, the Hilltoppers were Illinois’ highest ranked team.
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The 2024 story will be written by the current players & coaches!
