When measuring 12 yards, it doesn't seem like a great distance. But when 12 yards stands between defeating a rival, it can seem like a mile.

Especially when just six seconds remain on the clock.

A valiant comeback bid that featured a big kick return, a late touchdown, a recovered onside kick and a visit to the red zone ended a painful 12 yards short as John Carroll fell short in its bid to retain the Cuyahoga Gold Bowl, dropping a 45-37 decision to host Baldwin-Wallace Saturday afternoon at George Finne Stadium in berea, Ohio.

Box Score

Whenever John Carroll meets western cross-town rival Baldwin-Wallace on the gridiron, you can usually expect nothing other than a great football game.   Saturday's rivalry matchup between these OAC rivals at George Finnie Stadium was no exception.    

After fifty-nine minutes and four seconds of football, Saturday's contest between the Blue Streaks and the Yellow Jackets came down to one play.  Baldwin-Wallace was leading 45-37, and the Blue & Gold had the ball on the Yellow Jackets' 12-yard line. 

Two timeouts later, one from each team, the Blue Streaks came out in a shotgun formation, spreading the field with five wide-receivers hoping to score a touchdown to put themselves within a two-point conversion of tying the game. 

Blue Streaks quarterback Devin O'Brien then took the ensuing snap with six seconds left, and then threw the ball down the middle of the end zone hoping to find an open man.  Unfortunately, the ball fell incomplete, giving BW its first Cuyahoga Gold Bowl victory against John Carroll since 2008, and a 12-11 all-time advantage in the Cuyahoga Gold Bowl series. 

The Blue & Gold pretty much trailed the Yellow Jackets throughout the entire day.  John Carroll only had the lead once in the entire ballgame when they led 15-14 with 4:33 remaining in the second quarter. 

BW eventually would go on to score twice before the halftime gun, making the score 24-15 BW at the half. 

The Blue Streaks would continue to stick with the Yellow Jackets when they started the third quarter with a 14 yard touchdown pass from Devin O'Brien to Casey Rouch (his first career touchdown catch), that cut the Yellow Jackets lead to two, 24-22. 

Then, BW run specialist/backup quarterback Andrew Dziak would respond with a touchdown of his own, capping off a four play, fifty-eight yard drive that gave the Yellow Jackets a 31-22 advantage with 3:34 remaining in the third. 

At the onset of the fourth quarter, JCU would answer right back with a Devin O'Brien one yard touchdown run making the score 31-29 BW.  BW again would respond with two touchdowns on two consecutive scoring drives capped off with two touchdowns from goal-line specialist Nolan Sordyl.  BW as a result led 45-29 with 2:56 remaining, their largest lead of the afternoon.

On the ensuing Yellow Jackets kickoff, when all apparent hope was lost for JCU, Blue Streaks wide receiver Lane Robilotto took the Yellow Jackets kickoff 78 yards down to the BW seven yard line.  Devin O'Brien then capitalized on the great field position with a two play scoring drive that ended with his one-yard touchdown run, his second rushing touchdown of the game and fourth touchdown of the afternoon making the score 45-35 with 2:18 remaining in regulation.   

O'Brien would then add two more points to the Blue Streaks score on the successful two point conversion run to make the score 45-37. 

Then with 2:18 remaining, the Blue Streaks needed to get the ball back if they wanted any hopes of tying the game being down by eight.  Sure enough, Kresimir Ivkovic delivered the Blue Streaks' first successful onside kick of the season.  Senior special teamer Chris Creel recovered the kick at the JCU 47-yard line with 2:15 to go, as the offense trotted back onto the field down by eight hoping to complete the heroic comeback.

The Blue Streaks, as mentioned above, would march down the field until they reached the Yellow Jackets' 12-yard line with six seconds remaining when Devin O'Brien's desperation pass fell incomplete, giving BW a potential at large bid to the NCAA tournament, as well as a Cuyahoga Gold Bowl victory for the first time since 2008.    

Even though the Blue Streaks failed to score a touchdown on their drive that followed the successful onside kick, such events that transpired with under three minutes to go exemplified the theme of the 2011 season, resiliency, fighting adversity, and never giving up.    

“[Our players] have been fighters all year, we've never quit ever in any ball game,” said Blue Streaks head coach Regis Scafe.  “I'm proud of them, I mean it doesn't feel good to lose obviously, but the credit goes to Baldwin Wallace, they played a very good game.”

“We fought hard, [and] we fought as a team," said Blue Streaks quarterback Devin O'Brien.  "We just ran out of time.” 

John Carroll (5-5, 5-4 OAC) and Baldwin-Wallace (8-2, 7-2 OAC) combined for a total of 843 yards of offense, 514 of those yards being on the ground. 

The Blue Streaks for the sixth time this season ran for over 200 yards as a team finishing with 227 yards.  The Blue & Gold were led by Devin O'Brien's 173 yards rushing in his final game in a Blue Streaks uniform. 

The Blue Streaks also finished the season with 2,128 rushing yards, the second consecutive season the Blue Streaks have amassed 2,000 yards in a season. 

The Yellow Jackets were led by running-back Tyler Lohr who had 122 yards rushing and a score.  Goal line specialist Nolan Sordyl added three touchdowns of his own.    

Despite the loss to BW, history was made Saturday afternoon when Blue Streaks linebacker C.J. Seitzinger became the seventh player in Blue Streaks history to record 300 career tackles.  He recorded the historic tackle on BW's first offensive play from scrimmage.  He finished the game with eleven tackles. 

With the loss the Blue Streaks will head into the offseason with a final record of 5-5, while the 24^th ranked Yellow Jackets are hoping their 45-37 victory over the Blue & Gold is enough to earn them a spot in the NCAA tournament. 

The Blue Streaks will open up the 2012 regular season on the road in Dublin, Ireland as part of the 2012 Global Ireland Football Tournament.  They will face off with the Green Knights of St. Norbert College over Labor Day weekend on August 31^st, 2012.