Box Score

John Carroll had been the benificiary of turnovers the last two weeks, but on Saturday against Ohio Northern, the Blue Streaks turned into victims of the turnover battle in suffering a 21-14 loss to the Polar Bears at Don Shula Stadium.

After causing 15 turnovers in the last two weeks, John Carroll produced just one takeway against Ohio Northern while giving the ball away four times.

JCU started the game with the ball, but went three-and-out on the opening drive. Ohio Northern, however, was much more effective on its opening drive. The Polar Bears used ten plays to move 60 yards, and capped the possession with a four yrad touchdown run by Kenton Sneed. Kyle McNulty added the extra point for a 7-0 lead in favor of the visitors.

The Blue Streaks were forced to punt again, but Hayes Cooper came away with a fumble recovery on the Ohio Northern 21-yard line when Brock England could not handle the ball on the return. The opportunity was wasted however, when JCU missed a 31-yard field goal.

John Carroll would return the favor on the subsequent punt. After Polar Bear punter Jake Heaphy retrieved an errant snap, he raced around the JCU rush and booted a deep ball the was fumbled downfield by the Blue Streaks.

Ohio Northern turned the miscue into points, as the Polar Bears needed just six plays to go 23 yards for their second score. Kyle Simmons dove in from one yard out to give Ohio Northern a 14-0 advantage.

JCU responded with a 59-yard drive for its first points. Mark Petruziello jumped over the pile on a one-yard plunge to cut Ohio Northern's lead in half.

The Blue Streaks had one last drive before the half reach the 21-yard line of the Polar Bears, but JCU had to settle for a 43-yard field goal attempt. The kick, however, went wide left to leave the score at 14-7.

Ohio Northern increased its lead to 21-7 when, on a fourth-and-one play from the John Carroll 14-yard line, Brent Donley took a pitch and raced around the left side for the touchdown. The score capped a 72-yard drive that took 12 plays to traverse.

The Blue Streaks put the final points of the day on the scoreboard on the final play of the third quarter. Petruziello found Scottie Williams from 19 yards out to make the score 21-14 with one period left to play.

ONU never threatened to put points on the board in the fourth, but JCU did with its first possession of the quarter. The Blue Streaks drove down to the 13 yard line of the Polar Bears, but were turned away on a third down play in which Petruziello was sacked by Jon Griffo. the sack turned into a fumble, and Ohio Northern recovered to end the threat.

The final JCU possession ended on an interception at the Blue Streaks' 34-yard line.

Ohio Northern (3-4, 3-3 OAC), which won its third consecutive game after an 0-4 start, was outgained 261-218. The Polar Bears, however, did gain 157 yards rushing and possessed the ball almost five minutes longer than the Blue Streaks.

Brent Donley was leading ground gainer of the day, amassing 99 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries.

Gabe Washington led the defense with 12 tackles, while Josh Horn had ten tackles and four sacks.

John Carroll (5-2, 4-2 OAC), which had its four-game winning streak snapped, received 161 yards on 17-27 passing from Petruziello. Frank Ross was the main target with 91 yards on six catches.

Freshman Hasun Dennis led the JCU ground game with 77 yards on 16 carries.

Derek Buell had a team-high 12 tackles for the JCU defense.