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John Carroll rolled up nearly 500 yards of total offense while keeping visiting Wooster off the scoreboard in a 24-0 season opening victory that would have made legendary Blue Streak coach Herb Eisele proud.
It was sixty years ago this month that Eisele made his John Carroll coaching debut against the College of Wooster. With a team comprised of the likes of Carl Taseff and Don Shula, Eisele's 1947 JCU squad rolled to a season opening 39-0 shutout win.
The 2007 Blue Streaks took a page from Eisele this afternoon at the stadium bearing Don Shula's name. Scoring one touchdown in each of the first three quarters, John Carroll was able to post its 16th home opening victory in the last 17 seasons.
The Blue Streaks started the first quarter off strong, scoring on the first drive of the game covering seven plays and ending with a 22-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Mark Petruziello to senior receiver Vince Doorhy.
"The offensive line played well,” said Petruziello, who would throw for a collegiate personal best 276 yards and touchdowns on 15-23 passing “I had all day to throw. You couldn't ask for any more than that.”
JCU had a chance to increase the lead on its next drive, but the possession came to a halt inside the Wooster ten-yard line, and a bad snapped foiled a field goal attempt.
While Wooster could manage just two first downs on its first four possessions – the last of which started after a fumbled punt return by the Blue Streaks – the John Carroll offense piled up yards but not points. That would change on a second down play from the Wooster 47-yard line. Petruziello would find sophomore receiver Frank Ross 20 yards down field, and Ross did the rest by outracing the Scots defenders for JCU's second touchdown.
John Carroll's final score of the half was set up when junior defensive end Ken Bevington forced a fumble that was recovered by senior linebacker Matt Siracusa at the Wooster 25-yard line. Senior Josiah Kedzior would cash in for a 27-yard field goal that made the score 17-0 at the half.
John Carroll's defensive efforts yielded just 71 yards ands five first downs in the opening half.
“I give a lot of credit to our defensive coordinator Brian Cochran,” said John Carroll head coach Regis Scafe. “He had those guys coming off the ball hard and he's stressed that from day one.”
In the third quarter, with 7:32 left, JCU's first year running back Rai Stover rushed for what what would be the final points of the day from nine yards out. The extra points would make the score 24-0 with 7:32 to play.
Stover had a stand-out debut at Shula Stadium, since he had not played intercollegiate football for the past three years. Stover rushed for 68 yards to go along with the one touchdown.
“I don't know every single play yet,” said Stover. “I hope in a couple of weeks I'll get in the swing of things. It feels great to be back on the field.”
“As he got more carries you could see his abilities,” Scafe commented. “Tyler Gingrich ran well for us also. It is great to have a 1-2 punch like that to balance an offense.”
The only drama left was preserving the shutout, which John Carroll did thanks to opportunistic plays. Wooster's best chance to score came in the middle of the fourth quarter, when the Scots had first-and-goal at the two-yard line. But a tackle for a loss, followed by a 12-yard sack by sophomore Matt Hodges, led to a third-and-long play from the 16-yard line that resulted in Wooster sophomore quarterback Austin Holter being picked off on the second consecutive possession by JCU junior linebacker Michael Nettling.
Dating back to last season, John Carroll has now posted shutouts in four of its last five games. The victory by JCU also halted a string of 16 consecutive non-league regular season wins by Wooster.
