09/25/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
MT. CARMEL - Mt. Carmel junior quarterback River Deisher (pronounced Dasher) was something else on Friday night in a game against Little Illini Conference rival Olney Richland County.

Not unlike some of his predecessors who played the position, Deisher showed the leadership qualities that have been in place in the program's long standing history.

When his team needed him to step forward and lead them to victory, he did just that.

Deisher rushed for 159-yards and four touchdowns on 22-attempts and his final score came on a two-yard dash and subsequent two-point conversion as the Golden Aces stayed undefeated on the season with a 38-30 overtime victory in front of a Homecoming crowd at Riverview Stadium, a.k.a The Snake Pit.

Coach Michael Brewer's club overcame its mistakes and is now 6-0 on the season, surpassing last season's five-win total and are all alone in first place in the LIC at 3-0.

The victory snapped Olney Richland County's 17-game league winning streak dating back to the beginning of the 2024 campaign.

“The turnovers were brutal. There were some things defensively that we tried to fix at halftime. I think we got a little better but our contain on our pass rush wasn't good enough,” said Coach Brewer. “We didn't take care of the football tonight. This is what I told the kids at the end of the game tonight. If I could pick one attribute for a team to have, it's that you have no quit in you. Hat's off to them. They didn't quit and they kept playing.”

Deisher was just 6-of-16 passing the ball on Friday night but he did throw a fourth quarter touchdown pass to tie the game to send the contest to an extra session.

Meador came up with perhaps the biggest defensive play of not only the game but the season so far for Mt. Carmel.

Olney Richland County had a chance to win the game late in the fourth quarter.

Tigers' place kicker junior Levi Hefferman, who had already kicked a 38-yard field goal in the first half and had not missed a field goal attempt in 2026, lined up to kick the potential game winning kick with 1:28 left in regulation.

However his 35-yard attempt was blocked by Meador, who got through the Olney Richland County offensive line.

“Their kicker (Hefferman) is really good so the blocked kick was huge,” said Coach Brewer. “No doubt he is probably going to make that because he is a good kicker. It was a huge play by Shain (Meador). In the crunch time moments we got it done.”

“I'm proud of our guys. They fought hard. This is a tough place to play, they (Mt. Carmel) are a great team with a great coaching staff,” said Coach Carmody. “I wish we could have gotten the field goal blocking a bit better. We had a chance at the end of regulation. Anytime you get in a battle like this, you just tip your hat to them. You try to keep your guys up and get ready for the next one.”

The Golden Aces overcame their own mistakes on the night and, as most good teams do, found a way to win.

Deisher coughed up a pair of fumbles and, after the blocked field goal, he was hit in the arm on a pass by Richland County defender Carson Fox and intercepted by Tiger teammate Gentry Hough at their own 39.

The game didn't start out well for Coach Luke Carmody and his Tigers.

Richland County fumbled on their first play from scrimmage and Mt. Carmel recovered at the Tigers' 31.

Six plays later, Deisher scored his first TD of the night on a nine-yard run.

He added a PAT run for an 8-0 lead with 9:57 left in the first quarter.
Richland County went 65-yards on 13-plays to score its first touchdown.

They were helped by a pass interference penalty.

Tiger quarterback Owen Cycholl, facing a third down and 18 from the Aces' 25, threw a pass to junior receiver Mattey Sanders.

Sanders broke through a Mt. Carmel attempted tackle and finished the play with a 25-yard touchdown.

Hefferman booted the extra point leaving Olney Richland County down 8-7 with 2:30 remaining in the first quarter.

The first major mistake from the Aces came on the following kickoff.

The Aces misplayed the kick and sophomore Grayson Sterchi recovered the live ball at the Mt. Carmel 27.

On the first play after the turnover, Cycholl found junior wide out Brody Snyder in the endzone near the right sideline.

The 6-5, 175 junior jumped up and grabbed the pass while being defended by Aces' cornerback Isaac Pierce.

The catch resulted in a 27-yard score and the successful Hefferman kick made it 14-8 Olney Richland County.

After an exchange of punts, Mt. Carmel evened the score.

Deisher led the Aces on an 88-yard drive in the second quarter on nine-plays.

The QB was responsible for four of the running plays during the scoring march, culminating the drive with a four-yard run up the middle where he scored despite getting grabbed by his face mask by Tigers' linebacker Carson Fox.

Deisher, however, was stopped short on the PAT run as the game hit the 5:31 mark before halftime even at 14-14.

The next possession by Olney Richland County resulted a drive that stalled at the Mt. Carmel 21-yard line.

The Tigers got there on the strength of a 28-yard pass from Cycholl to junior running back Gentry Hough.

Hefferman showed off this kicking skills by nailing a 38-yard field goal to give Olney Richland County a 17-14 advantage with just 2:15 left before halftime.

Deisher took less than two minutes to lead his squad down the to take back the lead before intermission.

A big return by Meador set the Aces up at their own 47-yard line.

Deisher completed a key pass in the possession, finding junior Chase Wiggins for 17-yards to the Tigers' 36.

He ran the ball five of the final six plays of the drive, scoring on a two-yard run up the middle for a score with just :14 left.

His two-point conversion run sent the teams to halftime at 22-17 Aces.

While the defenses improved in the third quarter, Olney Richland County took the lead late in the third quarter after a Deisher turnover.

The Tigers recovered his fumble at the Mt. Carmel 35.

A seven-yard scoring pass from Cycholl to senior Cooper Hires gave Olney Richland County back the lead.

The Tigers decided to go for a two-point conversion instead of a kick with the score at 23-22.

The PAT pass was incomplete which left Coach Luke Carmody's club up by a point with 1:58 left in the third quarter.

That decision proved to be costly at the end of regulation.

The Tigers got another stop off of Deisher's second fumble of the quarter as freshman linebacker Tucker Beard took the ball away from the Aces' QB, which set up Olney Richland County with the possession at the MC 45.

Eight running plays took the Tigers to the Aces' endzone.

Hough broke past an Aces' defender and finished the drive on an 11-yard score.

The PAT kick made it 30-22 with 9:09 remaining in regulation.

After a pair of third quarter turnovers, the Aces and Deisher were unfazed.

It took this quarterback and his teammates less than two minutes to tie the score.

Deisher completed his longest pass of the night, a 33-yard pitch-and-catch to Meador that moved the ball to the Olney Richland County 23.

Three runs by Deisher got the ball to the Tigers' seven.

After an incomplete pass, Deisher found Meador on a slant pass near the goal-line and the senior got into the endzone while being tackled by Hough.

The two-point conversion run by Deisher evened the score at 30-30 with 7:26 remaining in regulation.

The Tigers appeared to be ready to escape Wabash County with a win.

Cycholl moved his team down the field and the stage was set for a game-winning kick.

But Meador got through to block the Hefferman kick to keep the game tied.

Olney Richland County came up with a defensive play on the Aces' next possession to send the game to overtime.

The Fox rush and the Hough INT got the Tigers to the OT coin toss.

The Tigers won the flip and elected to play defense.

Mt. Carmel took just three plays to score from the 10-yard line.

All three running attempts were by Deisher, who followed his offensive line.

Deisher scored from two-yards out and added the two-point conversion to take a 38-30 lead.

“He (Deisher) is tough as nails. We could tell he was hurting late in the game but he just kept running, kept fighting,” said Coach Carmody.

Olney Richland County didn't gain a single yard on its overtime possession.

Four consecutive incomplete passes by Cycholl ended the contest and the LIC winning streak for the Tigers.

Cycholl finished 12-of-25 in the air for 146-yards and two scoring strikes.

Hough was the top Tiger on the ground, rushing 15-times for 67-yards and a score while Cycholl rushed 22-times for 41.

One of the keys to the game is that Olney Richland County running back Xavier Owusu- Gyan rushed just three times in the first quarter before leaving the game with an injury.

The Aces got other contributions from senior running back Eki Militoni, who carried the ball 11-times for 70-yards and junior Paul-Ray Garrett rushed for 38-yards on four-attempts.

The 6-0 Aces are eyeing a seventh-consecutive playoff berth and the program's 44th overall.

With the start of the season, Mt. Carmel now has 690-victories in its 107th season.

The Aces will travel to Casey-Westfield next Friday to face the 3-3 Warriors.

Olney Richland County will have work to do, falling to 3-3 on the season, 3-1 in the LIC.

The Tigers will also be on the road next Friday night at Paris, who is 4-2 after a loss to Newton.

“Football is a funny game. Sometimes you look up on the scoreboard and it seems like you are running out of time and you can have two more possession and you just got to play and good things happen,” said Coach Brewer. “So I'm really proud of them for that. We have to play better than that, obviously. It was an ugly game and we had a good week of practice so it was just one of those deals. We will be better next week. I'm proud of our kids and their mental toughness.”