Box Score

There have been several games this year where John Carroll had the misfortune of committing turnovers when scoring opportunities were available.

The Blue Streaks reversed that trend in a major way Saturday at Marietta, forcing six turnovers to roll over Marietta, 31-6.

John Carroll treated Marietta to feast or famine on the Pioneers' first nine posessions of the game. Six drives unded with a turnover, two ended with a field goal and one ended on downs.

In the opening quarter, John Carroll began its second possession on its own 25-yard line following an Alex Mileskiewicz interception and drove the length of the field in nine plays to put the first points of the game on the scoreboard. The drive was capped by a 17 yards pass from #Tyler Gingrich# to Mark Petruziello. #Josiah Kedzior# added the point after to give JCU a 7-0 lead at the 6:03 mark.

Aided by a personal foul on John Carroll, Marietta reached the JCU 18-yard line on its second drive to set up Corey Lemke for a 36-yard field goal. his kick with 2:09 left in the quarter cut the Blue Streaks' lead to 7-3.

The Blue Streaks suffered its only turnover of the game early in the second quarter when Petruziello fumbled on a running play, and Maroietta appeared ready to turn that into six points. The Pioneers drove to the John Carroll five-yard line, but on a second-and-goal play, Derek Buell picked off Dexter Hughes pass in the end zone.

Marietta kept the pressure on as Lemke made his second field goal of the game, this time from 32 yards out, to make the score 7-6 with 3:17 to play in the half.

The play that may be looked back on as the turning point occured next, when Marietta attempted an onside kick. John Carroll recovered the kick at the Marietta 41-yard line, and an illegal procedure call moved it up to the 36. Faced with a short clock and good field position, the Blue Streaks' offense took full advantage. Needing just seven plays, John Carroll would use up just over two minutes to score its second touchdown. Again, it was a Petruziello-to-Gingrich hook up, this time covering ten yards.

Marietta attempted to answer, but Carlo Melaragno forced a fumble recovered by Pete Honsberger near midfield to snuff out the final Pioneers drive of the second quarter. John Carroll would take a 14-6 advantage into the locker room.

The Blue Streaks would outscore the Pioneers 17-0 in the second half to pull away. Reigning OAC Defensive Player of the Week Michael Nettling would get the ball rolling by intercepting a pass at the JCU 41-yard line and then returning it to the Marietta 39.

Nettling would end the drive as well. After the Blue Streaks drive stalled at the Pioneers' seven-yard line, John Carroll lined up for a field goal, but holder Frank Ross flipped the ball to Kedzior, who then loften a pass to a wide open Nettling in the end zone for six points. Kedzior then went for a tradition kick on the extra point to increase the Streaks' lead to 21-6.

A second Nettling inetercption in the fourth quarter set up a 40-yard Kezior field goal, and the final points would be courtesy of a Petruziello five-yard run with 6:32 left in the contest.

Both teams would amass over 300 yards of total offense in the game, but Marietta was done in by its turnovers, three of which occured inside the Blue Streaks' 25-yard line.

Petruziello gained 267 yards through the air on 24 completions. Seven different receivers had at least two catches, with Ross (6-77); Gingrich (5-50, 2 TD), Tim Lynch (3-37) and Peter Spachner
(3-24) leading the way.

Nettling had another solid day, amassing a team-high 13 tackles to go along with two picks. Mileskiewicz, Buell, and Michael O'Neal also had interceptions for JCU.

With the win, John Carroll is now 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the OAC. Marietta falls to 1-4 and 0-4 in league play.