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A touchdown play on fourth down tied the game, and a successful two-point conversion won it for John Carroll, as the Blue Streaks produced a thrilling season-ending 35-33 triple overtime victory over Otterbein College Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium in Westerville, Ohio.

John Carroll trailed by a 20-13 score with less than four minutes to play when the offense put together a game-saving scoring drive. The Blue Streaks would march 74 yards in ten plays, capped by a Mark Petruziello three-yard touchdown strike to Frank Ross with 16 seconds left in regulation. The key play was a 26-yard Petruziello pass to Chuck Sroka on a fourth down play at the Otterbein 29-yard line.

Josiah Kedzior added the extra point to tie the score at 20-20.

The Blue Streaks gambled on the ensuing kickoff as Kyle O'Laughlin executed a pervect onside kick that was recovered by JCU. Petruziello completed two passes to set up a 46-yard field goal, but Kezior's kick was wide left -- setting up John Carroll's third overtime game of the 2007 campaign.

In the first overtime, both teams would miss 35-yard field goals. John Carroll would put the first points of overtime on the scoreboard on its second possession. Petruziello connected with Tyler Gingrich on a 13-yard scoring play. Kedzior's point after made the score 27-20 in JCU's favor.

Otterbein answered with a one-yard plunge by quarterback Jack Rafferty. Alek Shirvanian added the tying extra point, making the score 27-27 heading into the third overtime period.

The Cardinals had possession first and needed just one play to score as Rafferty ran for 25 yards and a 33-27 lead. With the mandatory two-point conversion rule in effect, the Cardinals were unable to complete a pass, leaving the door open for the Blue Streaks.

Petruziello and the Blue Streaks charged through the dor. Using six plays to record the tying points, Petruziello hit Peter Spachner from seven yards out to tie the score at 33-33. The winning points would come on the two-point conversion as Sroka was on the receiving end of a Petruziello pass.

John Carroll looked as if it would race away from Otterbein early on as it built a 13-3 lead in the first half. On the first drive of the game, the Blue Streaks would move 67 yards in 12 plays, with Ross on the receiving end of a three-yard touchdown pass.

Otterbein sliced the JCU lead to 7-3 when Shirvanian nailed a 35-yard field goal with 4:39 to play in the first quarter. That score would hold up until JCU's Nadhal Eadeh recovered a fumble and raced 65 yards for a touchdown. The extra point was blocked, however, and the score stood at 13-3 heading into the intermission.

The Cardinals still trailed 13-6 before scoring two fourth quarter touchdowns. The second of the two scores was a 36-yard pass from Rafferty to Dan Gendron that gave Otterbein a 20-13 lead with 3:58 left in the second half.

John Carroll ends its season with a record of 6-4 overall and 5-4 in the OAC, marking its 19th consecutive winning record in league play. Petruziello was 31-44 for 291 yards and four touchdowns in the game, with Ross (12-99, 2 TD), Sroka (5-76) and Spachner (5-33, 1 TD) his favorite targets. Ross would end the day with 188 all-purpose yards.

The loss dropped Otterbein's record to 5-5 overall and 5-4 in the OAC. Rafferty rushed for 55 yards and passed for 301 yards on 13 completions. Scott DeLong surpassed 1,000 yards receiving for the year as he hauled in six catches for 138 yards.

The two teams combined for 841 yards of total offense and 45 first downs.