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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Torok TD vs. BW
JCU trailed by 18 in the fourth quarter before mounting a crazy comeback. 
29
Winner John Carroll JCU 7-3 , 7
28
Baldwin Wallace BW 8-2 , 7
Winner
John Carroll JCU
7-3 , 7
29
Final
28
Baldwin Wallace BW
8-2 , 7
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
JCU John Carroll 3 0 7 19 29
BW Baldwin Wallace 0 21 0 7 28

Game Recap: Football | | Drezdan Dale, Staff Writer

Wild Saturday in Berea: Football Upsets Baldwin Wallace in Legendary Comeback

BEREA, Ohio -- On the road, down by 18 points with 11:52 to play with the playoffs out of reach in the final game of the season, most teams would have given up and quit.

Not this John Carroll University Football squad led by head coach Rick Finotti. 

The Blue Streaks never gave up and emerged with a 29-28 comeback victory over Baldwin Wallace in the Cuyahoga Gold Bowl on Saturday afternoon in Berea, thanks to a last-minute touchdown pass from Jake Floriea to Joe Torok.

"It really was a brotherhood victory, and that was what we wanted as the outcome. It wasn't going our way, and that's just a credit to our players and our coaches," Finotti stated. "They just kept battling, and they never gave up, never gave up."

To start the game, both offenses were forced to punt on their respective opening possessions.

However, on Baldwin Wallace's second drive of the game, JCU defensive lineman Nick Costanzo forced a fumble, and Jack Burton was able to corral it for the Blue Streaks deep in BW territory. After a few plays, the John Carroll offense was unable to convert on a goal-to-go situation, and they settled for a Grant Gonya 24-yard field goal to make it 3-0.

After the teams traded three and outs, Baldwin Wallace quarterback Keagan Armitage found receiver Darius Stokes for a 32-yard touchdown strike to give BW the 7-3 advantage early on in the second quarter. 

On the ensuing John Carroll possession, BW's Frank Soukup sacked Floriea and forced a fumble, which was recovered by Mason Levasseur, allowing the Yellow Jackets to set up shop at the JCU 27-yard line. Just six plays later, Armitage kept the ball on a QB power run, and burst into the endzone for a 14-3 lead.

John Carroll responded by driving down the field to the Baldwin Wallace 13-yard line. Facing a 4th and 2, Blue Streak running back Mason Sullivan was stuffed at the line of scrimmage, giving the ball back to the Yellow Jackets after what looked to be a promising drive.  

"Offensively, we struggled early on. We did not convert on that fourth down," Finotti said. "We haven't really converted many fourth downs, but I believed in it."

With time winding down in the first half, Baldwin Wallace used a 10-play, 87-yard drive capped off by a 29-yard touchdown pass from Armitage to receiver Iyan Mitchell for a momentum-boosting 21-3 lead heading into halftime. 

After a first half that saw John Carroll struggle in all facets of the game, the second half got off to a much better start. 

On their second drive of the half, after going three and out and then forcing a BW three and out, the Blue Streaks mounted a 12-play, 63-yard drive that ended with a Floriea touchdown pass to Devin Limerick. Limerick was able to knock over the pylon while being tackled out of bounds, making the score 21-10 in BW's favor midway through the third quarter. 

Unfortunately, that great start to the half came to a halt for John Carroll. After each team traded punts, Baldwin Wallace received possession at the JCU 49-yard line. They used the great position to their advantage, driving down the field into a goal to go situation that started at the JCU 2. 

After three rushing attempts that were unsuccessful, the Yellow Jackets kept their offense on the field for fourth down, a play in which Armitage kept the ball on a quarterback sneak to get across the goal line for the touchdown, bringing the score to 28-10 BW. 

Down by 18 points and with only 11:52 left on the clock, things were not looking very promising for the Blue Streaks. 

"We started slow, but we just said 'One score at a time.' And that's what we did," Floriea proudly said after the game. "We bonded together, we said we were going to make some plays and win this game."

As the leader of the Blue Streaks offense, Floriea stepped up his play for the rest of the game, beginning with the ensuing JCU possession. Floriea connected on two key third downs and found receiver Brennan Fugh for a 48 yard completion, which led to an Evan McVay 1-yard rushing touchdown. After a failed two-point conversion, the score stood at 28-16 in Baldwin Wallace's favor with 8:21 left in the game.

Needing a three and out to give the ball back to the offense, the JCU defense forced the Yellow Jackets into 3rd and 2 from BW's 33-yard line. Burton and fellow defensive lineman Daniel Garcar combined to stop Armitage in the backfield for a one-yard loss, forcing a BW punt.

The Blue Streaks took over at their own 43-yard line. Facing a third and five with the clock ticking, Floriea found Fugh open on a slant, but Fugh dropped the pass, bringing up 4th down. Floriea lost no confidence in the star receiver, who hauled in a 5-yard reception to extend the drive on the very next play. 

Two plays later, Floriea connected on a screen pass with running back Evan McVay, who took the pass 33 yards to the house for a touchdown, making the score 28-22 with only 4:02 remaining.

After a Baldwin Wallace first down on their next possession, the Blue Streaks defense stopped two BW rushing attempts and then forced an incompletion on third down to get off the field once again, giving the ball back to the offense with 2:11 left on the clock. Had the defense allowed another first down, it was very likely that the Yellow Jackets could have drained the rest of the clock.

Three pass plays later, and the Blue Streaks faced a 4th and 1 at their own 27-yard line. Floriea found Fugh again for a 13-yard completion, giving the offense life once more. After back-to-back penalties by the Baldwin Wallace secondary, Floriea dropped back and found Torok for the game-tying 25 yard touchdown pass. Gonya came on and drilled the extra point to give the Blue Streaks a 29-28 lead.

"I just had a corner route. We were trying to get the ball to Fugh, but they ended up rolling towards him, there was no one over the top of me," Torok said. "Jake saw it, made a great play - a great throw - and we ended up getting a touchdown."

With 45 seconds remaining in the game, Baldwin Wallace would have one final opportunity. While they did allow a first down, John Carroll's defense rose to the occasion once more.

On the final play of the game, Armitage completed a quick pass to Elijah Arnett, who tried lateralling the ball around in a last-ditch effort. This was unsuccessful as a host of Blue Streak defenders swarmed him, recovered the lateral, and sent the John Carroll sideline into celebration.

"We had the tempo and kept pushing it, and playing with that nothing to lose mentality," Finotti exclaimed. "We were able to come through."

Floriea finished the game 25-for-40 for 281 passing yards and three scores, while Armitage completed 12 of his 21 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns, adding two more on the ground. 

Fugh finished with 12 receptions for 144 receiving yards, which moved him into second place in John Carroll single-season history with a season total of 1,114 receiving yards, trailing only Marshall Howell (1,126 yards - 2014).

On the defensive end, Burton finished with 11 tackles, two tackles for loss, and the fumble recovery while Nick Urbanowicz tallied 10 tackles and one for loss.

This thrilling game, which keeps the Cuyahoga Gold Bowl trophy in University Heights for a ninth consecutive year, wraps up a Blue Streak season that sees the team finish 7-3 (7-2 OAC). 
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