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Week 6 Football Preview: No. 22 Blue Streaks Prepared for Clash with Explosive ONU

| By: Luke Potosky, Senior Staff Writer
The JCU Defense has been red-hot thus far this season.
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- This Saturday, the No. 22 John Carroll Blue Streaks (3-2, 3-1 OAC) host the Ohio Northern Polar Bears (4-1, 3-1 OAC) in an Ohio Athletic Conference contest.

John Carroll Football Head Coach Rick Finotti best summed up this week's matchup.
 
"This is a playoff-type game for both teams. It's always a tough battle with Ohio Northern because our programs are so similar."

Despite hiccups against two top 15 teams (#4 Mount Union and #12 Washington & Jefferson), the John Carroll Blue Streaks have performed solidly with a trio of 20+ point victories over Otterbein, Muskingum, and, most recently, a 38-7 triumph over Capital.

For the third consecutive week, the Blue Streaks remain No. 22 in the D3Football.com Top 25. In addition, JCU re-enters the top 25 with the final spot in the AFCA Coaches Poll.

Going into Saturday, the Blue & Gold have won five of their last seven against the Polar Bears; the two losses both being single-digit losses in University Heights. Surprisingly, the away team has won five of the last six contests between the two schools as well.

The last time ONU and JCU squared off, back on October 19, 2019, John Carroll stalled the five-game winning streak for away teams with a convincing 44-10 home victory.

Going into this week though, Finotti expects the emerging winner to be the one who puts together the best all-around effort. 

"Ohio Northern is a well-coached football team; they do things the right way. If we want to win, we have to play a complete football game."

Ohio Northern has begun their Fall 2021 campaign with a stout 4-1 start; the lone setback being a 33-31 defeat vs. Muskingum. Besides that, they have a 24-point win over Denison and two 35+ point victories over Wilmington and Otterbein. But in their last time out, it took until the last ten seconds for the Polar Bears to take down Marietta 34-33 in their Homecoming game.

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Game Notes

JOHN CARROLL OFFENSE vs. OHIO NORTHERN DEFENSE
In Week 5, the John Carroll offense started slowly with an interception on the first play of the game and a failed 4th down try in the red zone, culminating in a 14 point effort in the first 30 minutes. However, a dominant 24-point outburst in the second half proved to be the biggest difference-maker.

The Blue & Gold put together another balanced offensive performance as they finished with 307 passing yards and 244 rushing yards. They will look to continue their rhythm in blending both the running & passing games this week.

Third-year starting quarterback Jake Floriea is 87-of-144 passing with 1,117 yards and nine touchdowns this season. Last week against Capital, he threw for three touchdowns, including a career-high 307 yards. He is protected by a stalwart offensive line.

The Blue Streaks' two-headed rushing attack may have turned into the Three Musketeers last week. Senior Demerius Goodwin (67 carries, 386 yards, five TDs; six receptions, 42 yards) and junior Matthew Buser (46 carries, 270 yards, three TDs; seven receptions, 46 yards) remain the lead backs. But the surprise showing last week came from freshman Evan McVay (32 carries, 269 yards, one TD; three receptions, 15 yards) who gained 193 yards on the ground and scored his first collegiate touchdown.

JCU's receiving core has been spurred by the trio of Brennan Fugh (20 receptions, 501 yards, five TDs), Devin Limerick (16 receptions, 119 yards, one TD), and Keyshawn Colmon (12 receptions, 140 yards). In particular, Coach Finotti had some high praise for Fugh, who put together a masterful seven-catch, 242-yard, three-touchdown performance last week. 

"Brennan has a lot of good qualities. He's really athletic, deceiving, big, and strong. He's been great when the ball is in the air and has shown some excitement."

According to Sports Information Graduate Assistant Noah Tylutki, the 193 rushing yards from McVay and 242 receiving yards from Fugh made them the first duo in Blue Streak Football history with 100+ rushing yards and 200+ receiving yards in the same game.

The Ohio Northern defense will look to improve from their 33 points allowed last week and 44 points allowed against JCU back in 2019. 

In the trenches, ONU will have junior Tyler Irigoyen (15 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, one forced fumble) and fifth-year senior Jarrett Sitton (25 tackles, two TFLs, one sack). On the ends will be juniors Nical Johnson (18 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss) and Josh Bever (24 tackles, 2.5 TFLs, two sacks, two fumble recoveries, one blocked kick), who Finotti says are as tough as they come.

Leading the Polar Bear linebacking core are three of the team's leading tacklers; sophomores Peyton Wilson (33 tackles, 1.5 TFLs) & Trevon Salter (26 tackles), and Johnny Rupp (39 tackles). 

Finally, manning an athletic Ohio Northern secondary are Elijah Harris (three tackles, one interception), Matt Eller (six tackles, one fumble recovery), Jevon Taylor (27 tackles, one fumble recovery, two interceptions), and Nate Dean (three tackles, four passes defended). Also seeing time will be sophomore Ed Manning, who leads the team with six passes defended.

JOHN CARROLL DEFENSE vs. OHIO NORTHERN OFFENSE
The matchup that many will have their eyes on this week is the Blue Streak defense and the explosive Polar Bear offense.

Something will have to give, as through five games this season, the Blue Streaks have not allowed more than 30 points in a game. 

But on the other side, the Ohio Northern offense has scored at least 30 points in their first five games.

The Blue Streak defense allowed a touchdown on the opening drive last week against Capital; albeit on a short field because of an opening turnover. But after the opening drive, it was business as usual. 

The Blue & Gold limited Capital to a mere 180 yards of offense in 51 plays. On top of that, they forced two interceptions & a fumble and also blocked a field goal. Coming up big when they needed to, they gave their offense plenty of room to operate and hope to do the same thing this week.

The JCU defense starts with defensive ends Jack Burton (11 tackles, 2.5 TFLs) and Ross Valenti (15 tackles, 4.5 TFLs, & team-high three sacks). Also receiving playing time and emerging in recent weeks is junior Bricker Thiel (eight tackles, one TFL) who had three tackles and a TFL against Capital.

The interior defensive line features Ben Grafton (seven tackles) and Mentor natives Kyle Ulshafer (three tackles) and Daniel Garcar (20 tackles, three TFLs, two sacks). Garcar put up a solid performance last week with five tackles and a sack.

Senior linebackers Hunter Orlando (33 total tackles, two TFLs) and Luke Brown (33 total tackles, three TFLs, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries) anchor an experienced and active linebacking group. Fifth-year athletes Tyshawn Jones (team-high 37 tackles, 1.5 TFLs, two fumble recoveries) and Brian Robinson (nine tackles, 1.5 TFLs) will be heavily featured as well. Another emerging threat in the linebacking core is Tyler Thimons (six tackles).

The Blue & Gold's secondary continues to be led by senior defensive captain Nate Leopold (15 total tackles, two TFLs, one INT) and Alec Wallace (ten tackles, one INT, one forced fumble). Senior Jake Bunofsky (14 tackles, two TFLs), and sophomore Elijah Chungu (12 tackles, four pass breakups) each got their first interception of the season last week, and look to carry their momentum going forward.

On the other side, the experienced and volatile Polar Bear offense is engineered by five-year starter Brody Hahn, who spent his first three seasons at Muskingum. Hahn, a senior, leads the OAC with 1,725 passing yards and 19 touchdowns through the air. He also has 193 yards and three scores on the ground, giving him dual-threat capabilities. His offensive line features the likes of Jared Ritenour, Josh Andrews, Zach George, Aidan Thompson, and Cordell Wyatt.

The Polar Bear rushing attack will be spearheaded by senior Brock Martin (87 carries, 351 yards, four touchdowns, seven receptions, 49 yards) and the quarterback Hahn.

The receiving core of Ohio Northern is as good as they come. Leading the conference in many receiving stats is senior Austin Eick (36 receptions, 619 yards, eight touchdowns). Paired with him are Chase Rose (23 catches, 467 yards, five touchdowns) and Jack DiMario (17 catches, 280 yards, one touchdown). Eick, Rose, and DiMario all had 100+ yards receiving in their last contest against Marietta, so look out for the passing game.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Finally, in terms of special teams, John Carroll senior punter Andy Han (23 punts, 811 yards, five inside the 20) and graduate student kicker Grant Gonya (3-6 FG, 17-17 XP, 23 kickoffs, 1330 yards, seven touchbacks) lead their respective units. JJ Olivera (six returns, 96 yards) and Nate Leopold (seven punt returns, 74 yards) will lead the return units.

For the Polar Bears, Dom DiFalco (5-8 FG, 28-29 XP) leads the kicking unit and was OAC Special Teams Player of the Week last time out. Aaron Everhart has only punted 10 times this season for 379 yards and placed three kicks inside the 20. The Polar Bear returnmen will be Brock Martin (seven returns, 182 yards) and LJ Payton (seven returns, 101 yards).

All in all, the keys to this week's game will be who can be efficient on first & third downs on offense, and who comes out of the gate fast.
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