Box Score

It was not one thing that spelled doom for the Blue Streaks.

It was a litany of factors that played into the equation of John Carroll's 21-17 loss to Baldwin-Wallace in the 20th annual Cuyahoga Gold Bowl game Saturday night in Berea.

"If you want a textbook case on how turnovers can kill you, just look at our effort tonight," said Regis Scafe, head football coach for John Carroll. "We did so many things well, but just enough things wrong to cost us the game."

The Blue Streaks had a first quarter fumble at the Baldwin-Wallace seven-yard line, an interception in its own end late in the second quarter that set-up the first Yellow Jackets touchdown, a fumble at the B-W 23-yard line on its first drive of the second half, and a fourth quarter interception at the Yellow Jackets' 21-yard line.

"We left a lot of points on the field tonight," said Scafe. "At the same time, I want to give all credit to Baldwin-Wallace. They made the plays they had to make, and they made them when it counted most."

In front of 7,176 fans at Tressel Field at Finnie Stadium, JCU would strike first at the 13:26 mark of the first quarter when senior quarterback Mark Petruziello threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Rebere Sparks. A Josiah Kenzior extra point gave the Blue Streaks a 7-0 lead.

The lead held until the aforementioned second quarter interception and a subsequent personal foul on JCU gave Baldwin-Wallace a short field. Yellow Jackets junior quarterback Anthony Gardner threw a three-yard scoring strike to senior wide receiver Matt Lepley to cap a three-play 15-yard drive. The PAT made the score 7-7.

John Carroll had one last chance to put points on the board at the end of the half as it drove the length of the field and gained a 10-7 lead at halftime when Kedzior made a 32-yard field goal. The key play on the drive was a 20-yard completion from Petruziello to Frank Ross that put the ball at the B-W 15-yard line with four second left in the half.

After a scoreless third quarter, JCU increased its lead to 17-7 when Petruziello threw an eight-yard scoring pass to junior running back Mark Elsaesser at the 9:45 mark of the fourth quarter.

The game would dramatically change in the final 9:45. Baldwin-Wallace put together its two longest scoring drives of the next on back-to-back possessions. Gardner threw a six-yard scoring pass to junior receiver Matt Dash at the 6:57 mark to cut the John Carroll lead to 17-14. The pass capped a 10-play, 67-yard march down field.

Then the Yellow Jackets took their first lead of the game at 21-17 when Gardner hooked up with Lepley on a flea-flicker play from 24 yards out. 

Offensively, JCU was led by Petruziello, who completed 29 of 44 passes for 301 yards. He had two touchdowns (giving him 40 for his career) and two interceptions. The top Blue Streak receiver was junior Ross, who finished the night with nine catches for 95 yards. On defense, the top John Carroll tacklers were senior linebackers Mike Nettling and Derek Buell, each of whom ended up with a game-high 12 stops.

Baldwin-Wallace now leads the all-time series, 23-21-4, and the Cuyahoga Gold Bowl series, 11-9. this was the 14th time in the 20 game of the Cuyahoga Gold Bowl that was decided by ten points or less.