"I said to the guys, 'it's 9 to 7 ... does that sound familiar?' " said head coach Regis Scafe."We stressed to our team to go out and win the second half, and if we do, we'll win this. Our approach was that we were losing 2-0, so let's just get back to playing one play at a time and don't try to do too much."
The Blue Streaks opened up the game with a successful drive, going 59 yards in 12 plays that was capped by an 11-yard pass by junior Mark Petruziello to Peter Spachner for the touchdown. Senior placekicker Josiah Kedzior put John Carroll ahead 7-0 with the extra point.
Marietta responded right away with a 57-yard kick return by Garrett Banks. The good field position would pay off with a 28-yard field goal by junior Pat Lane.
A turnover on John Carroll's next drive resulted in a second Lane field goal, this time a 22-yard effort.
The Blue Streaks would survive yet another miscue -- a fumble on the ensuing kick return -- but could not hold off an energized Marietta team on the next possession. Marietta's best drive of the night, a 12-play 55-yard march, ended with a Lane 40-yard field goal that gave the Pioneers a 9-7 advantage that they would take into the locker room.
The tide began to turn in the third quarter. After both teams traded non-productive drives, Marietta would begin a series of three consecutive drives that ended in turnovers. The first and third mistakes did not cost the Pioneers, but the second would.
A Marietta fumble recovered by Michael Nettling on the Pioneers's 15-yard line led to a 23-yard field goal by Kedzior that helped JCU regain the lead.
John Carroll would break the game wide open with 17 fourth quarter points. Petruziello found Rebere Sparks on a 47-yard touchdown pass to push the lead to 17-9. On the next drive, which came after Nadhal Eadeh returned a Marietta fumble to the Pioneers' 11-yard line, Kedzior punched through a 20-yard field goal for a 20-9 JCU advantage.
Petruziello found Spachner for a second touchdown, this one from 34 yards out, for the game's final score in the final two minutes.
It was not a tidy game by any stretch, as the teams combined for eight turnovers. All five of Marietta's miscues occurred in the decisive second half.
Petruziello finished the night with 236 yards on 18-31 passing. He had three touchdowns and one interception. Spachner was the favorite target this evening with 77 yards and two touchdowns on six receptions
Tyler Gingrich helped JCU rediscover the ground game, as he finished the night 99 yards on 19 carries.
"Tyler stepped it up and he did a great job," Scafe commented. "We have three really good running backs, but Tyler had the hot hand tonight."
The JCU defense, after giving up 133 yards and nine points in the first half, stopped the Pioneers from scoring in the second half and limited the Pioneers to 83 yards total offense. Ken Bevington sacked Marietta quarterback Dexter Hughes twice and was credited with three quarterback hurries. Doug Mayer and Dominique Fischer each had an interception while Mike Nettling had two forced fumbles, one recovered fumble and a team-high 14 tackles.
The Pioneers were led on offense by Joe Webb, who ended his night with 92 yards rushing on 22 attempts.
Defensively, Grant Cowell and Clay Ream each had 10 tackles, with Ream adding a first half intercption to his credit. The Pioneers also had three quarterback sacks.
John Carroll moves to 4-2 overall and 3-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while Marietta slips to 1-5 overall and 1-4 in the OAC.
