Mt. Carmel Sundevils 27, Valhalla Norsemen 14

The #1 seeded Valhalla Norsemen hosted the #4 Mt. Carmel Sundevils in the Division 2 Semifinals.  This game proved to be a showdown up until the last play of the game.

The first quarter was sloppy, there were 2 turnovers committed by both sides within the first 3 minutes.  In the first half overall, Lucas Johnson threw 2 interceptions and Valhalla had 2 fumbles lost.

 Mt. Carmel got on the board first with Lucas Johnson’s 5 yard TD run on the QB keep, however the PAT was no good. Another 18 yard TD pass from Johnson to Dane Hines extended the Sundevils’ lead to 13-0 going into the half.

Early in the 3rd quarter, Valhalla scored with a TD run by Jerome Johnson going for 11 yards.  Two more scores by the Sundevils put them up 27-7 over the Norsemen.  A TD pass from Phillip Nasseh to Connor Chamberlain for 16 yards cut their lead to 27-14 and Valhalla was looking for a comeback.

Unfortunately for the Norsemen, their offense was wearing thin and they had no timeouts left.  On the last play of the game, Chimeka Ochi came up big with a sack for an 8 yard loss to seal the win for Mt. Carmel.

The Sundevils were victorious by a score of 27-14.  They will go on to face #2 Rancho Bernardo in next week’s Division 2 Championship game.  The Sundevils and the Broncos played each other during Week 9 of the regular season, Rancho Bernardo walked away with the 45-20 win. 

PREVIEW: This Friday’s assignment will take us to Valhalla High School to watch the Norsemen take on the Mt. Carmel Sundevils in the Division 2 Semifinals.   Mt. Carmel is 8-3 and ranked 4th while Valhalla is 9-2 and seeded 1st.

The Sundevils beat Westview last week by a score of 48-14.  Silver Pigskin nominee Lucas Johnson had 4 TD passes.  Mt. Carmel’s defense held the Wolverines to only 2 scores on the night, an impressive feat considering the Sundevils had narrowly beat them 28-22 just two weeks prior to that night.  The Sundevils’ offense consistently puts up big numbers, they’ve had 5 games this season where they’ve scored more than 40 points.

Similarly to Mt. Carmel, the Norsemen defeated Christian, 48-17.  Though the Patriots took an early lead, Valhalla had 41 unanswered points.  Junior RB Rahshaun Sharpe scored 3 TD’s and fellow junior RB Jerome Johnson added 2 scores of his own.  With the Norsemen’s offense led by their run game, look out for the Sundevils’ defense to come up big at the line of scrimmage.  Valhalla’s defense isn’t too shabby either, they’ve beaten opponents all season by a margin of 323-78 and posted 2 shutouts.

The last time these 2 teams faced each other was in the first round of playoffs in the 2010 season.  Mt. Carmel came away with the win, 27-23. 

The winner of this matchup will go on to play against the winner of the Otay Ranch (6th) and Rancho Bernardo (2nd) game.

Who will walk away victorious in the D2 Semifinals? Watch the Prep Pigskin Report on KUSI every Friday night at 10:30pm to see highlights from this game and all the playoff action around San Diego County.