“Very proud, honored, flattered.” These words were trending from family and friends as they watched their sons sign their letters of intent to play collegiate football. The Caravan had 12 students sign letters of intent, 11 as football players and one as a student manager for the St. Norbert College football team.

The event took place with words from the Athletic Director, Dan LaCount, congratulating the signees on their high school success. LaCount concluded his message with a playful remark calling Mount Carmel, “the haven of high school football.”

Mount Carmel’s president, Fr. Tony Mazurkiewicz, and Head Coach Frank Lenti also spoke to the signees and their families. In their remarks, both commended the student-athletes on their hard work and success in the classroom and on the field.  Fr. Tony also reminded that they will always be a part of the Caravan.

The ceremony continued with the former Caravan football players signing for various colleges. After affixing their signatures to the letters of intent, the players were met with appreciative clapping and cheering from family and friends.

A question and answer session followed with student broadcasters from CBN and journalists from the Caravan newspaper.

Chris Accetto, an offensive lineman for the Caravan, spoke with pride as he explained why he had signed with Wisconsin Lutheran College. “The school was tight like a family. Just like it was at Mount Carmel.”

Steve Wirtel (Iowa State), LaVelle Houston and Mark Mudd (both Missouri Southern State),  echoed Acetto’s reason, also speaking highly of the family atmosphere they found at their respective colleges.

Anthony Thompson and Tyler Egan spoke next about the handwork required in playing football for Mount Carmel, but how much it was worth it, as both look at bright futures at Northern Illinois University and North Central College respectively.

In their remarks, Matt McKay (Augustana), Kevin Kurasz (University of Dayton), and Andrew Guerra (Wisconsin-Platteville) went a different route, and even got a few laughs as they admitted that they were ready to move away from home, with McKay conceding that Augustana is “the right distance away.” Even though all three are ready to branch out from family and friends, they still will find it hard to say goodbye to Mount Carmel.

Good friends Matthew Robinson and Avery Saffold identified academics as being a huge factor in their commitments. Robinson will be attending University of Chicago next fall, while Saffold will attend Amherst College.

The last person to speak, Henry Lansing, who served the MC football program as Student Manager for four years, will be greatly missed.  Coach Lenti offered high praise, recalling that Lansing “was like another coach for us.” Lansing will continue his academics at St. Norbert College as well as becoming a manager for the football team.