One thing is for certain - no matter what happens during the remainder of the 2016 season, this season for the John Carroll Blue Streaks will be revered by football fans nationwide for years to come.
For the second time in four weeks, the Blue Streaks have gone on the road and defeated a perennial national title contender. On Saturday in Whitewater, Wis., John Carroll's 31-14 victory sends the Blue Streaks to the national semifinals for only the second time in program history.
The OAC champion Blue Streaks (12-1) will play their Week 1 opponent, UW-Oshkosh, in next weekend's semifinals. The site for the contest will be announced on Sunday.
John Carroll struck first with an emphatic first quarter scoring drive. Ro Golphin finished off an eight play, 87 yard drive with his 11th rushing touchdown of the season. Anthony Moeglin found Marshall Howell twice during that drive, including the first half's most explosive play on a long 44-yard post route over the middle. John Carroll dominated the line of scrimmage early on, but UW-Whitewater's defense responded nicely as the first half progressed. Golphin finished the afternoon with 18 carries for 60 yards and one touchdown.
The Blue Streaks only mistake during the first 30 minutes came on their own half of the field. Moeglin was looking for Nico James, but the ball deflected off the senior wide out's hands and into the waiting arms of Warhawks' cornerback Famus Hasty. UW-Whitewater (12-1) took over on the JCU 23-yard line and moved the ball inside the 2, but they had to work for their game-tying score. On 4th and goal from less than one yard out, sophomore quarterback Cole Wilber pushed across the goal line. Will Meyer's extra point tied the game at 7-7 with 11:22 left in the half.
At that point, both defenses took over. The final nine possessions of the half resulted in eight punts and John Carroll running out the clock. Moeglin started the afternoon 5-of-6 passing for 75 yards, but finished the half 7-of-14 for 76 yards. Conversely, Cole Wilber completed only 3-of-12 through the air for 16 yards, but the Warhawks' offense tallied 27 carries for 98 yards. The Blue Streaks managed just 33 yards of total offense on 21 plays outside of their first quarter scoring drive and they did not convert a third down in the first half.
Even though the offense had sputtered, the Blue Streaks knew the game was far from over and they opened the second half with the ball.
Tom Arth's team came roaring out of the gate with a 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive to take a 14-7 lead. Anthony Moeglin found Nico James in the back of the end zone for his seventh score of the season. James also scored his fourth touchdown in three post-season games. In his third career post-season appearance, Moeglin completed 16-of-29 passes for 159 yards. The TD pass to James was his only one of the afternoon.
As soon as UW-Whitewater came back on the field, Michael Hollins got the ball back for the Blue Streaks with his sixth interception of the campaign. The Blue Streaks kept the ball on the ground over the next few plays, before Sam Kukura punched in his 13th rushing score of the year. John Carroll extended the lead to 21-7 with 3:24 left in the third quarter. Kukura ran the ball nine times form 30 yards and two touchdowns on the afternoon.
After amassing only 120 yards of total offense during the entire first half, the Blue Streaks moved the ball 129 yards and put two touchdowns on the board during their first two drives of the second half.
"We didn't make any big half time adjustments," Arth said after the contest. "I just think our execution was better. We had a pretty good pulse on the way they were playing and we knew we had to stick to our game plan to be successful. But at the end of the day, it's not about what plays we call. It's about these guys going out there and executing. The plays are the plays, but players win football games."
On the first play of the next Warhawks' drive, Reese Armstrong intercepted his fourth pass of the season. As the Blue Streaks offense took the field, the Blue and Gold faithful who made the trip to Wisconsin began to feel what might lie ahead. While the Blue Streaks weren't able to find the end zone, Matt Danko's 31-yard field goal put John Carroll out front 24-7 with 1:17 left in the third quarter.
The Warhawks scored an early fourth quarter touchdown to tighten the John Carroll lead to 24-14, but the Blue Streaks defense wouldn't budge the remainder of the game. Kukura raced for the pylon from 10 yards out late in the fourth quarter to ice the game and send John Carroll to the national semifinals for the second time in program history.
"Wisconsin-Whitewater is incredibly well-coached and this was a tremendous opportunity for our program to come up to Wisconsin and play an opponent as great as Whitewater," said Arth. "I'm so proud of our team, our program for the way that they fight and believe in themselves. Their resiliency is something special. I think it's very rare and I could not be more grateful to coach a better group of young men."
Blue Streaks shut Warhawks down to advance to quarterfinals
/seasons/2016/boxscores/20161203_np5b.xml
2016
John Carroll
31
UW-Whitewater
14
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 6 John Carroll (12-1) | 7 | 0 | 17 | 7 | 31 |
| No. 2 UW-Whitewater (12-1) | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 14 |
Dec 03, 2016