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Week 4 Football Preview: Blue Streaks Look to Keep Rolling at Wilmington

| By: Garrett Siegel, Senior Staff Writer
The Blue Streaks will look to keep the winning streak going against a much-improved Wilmington team. 
WILMINGTON, Ohio -- The Blue Streaks travel to face the Wilmington Fightin' Quakers on the road on Saturday October 1. Wilmington is 3-1 (2-1 OAC) coming off two straight one-possession victories against Otterbein and Capital.

The Quakers' lone loss of the season came in their OAC and home opener against Baldwin Wallace, 13-12. John Carroll is 2-1 (2-0 OAC) after impressive victories against Baldwin Wallace and #19 Heidelberg. With both of those wins coming at home, this will be the first road OAC contest of the Blue Streaks' season. 

While the Blue Streaks have an all-time record of 24-3 against WC, this looks to be a much improved Fightin' Quakers squad. 

The Offenses

John Carroll
The Blue Streaks will be led by quarterback Joe Collins, who has shown constant improvement this season. Last week, he threw for 176 yards and two touchdowns, and has gone two weeks in a row without an interception. Collins was a vital part in the Blue Streak win last week over nationally ranked Heidelberg.

Collins' two favorite targets have been Brennan Fugh and Tadas Tatarunas. Each played a huge part in the Blue Streaks converting 14-of-20 third downs last week, as Fugh had three conversions, including a pair of one-handed catches on the sideline. Fugh and Tatrunas each had a touchdown last week, as well. Tatarunas has a receiving touchdown in all three games thus far. 

The John Carroll ground game has continued to be a dynamic duo of Evan McVay and Demerius Goodwin. Goodwin had 54 yards and a touchdown last week, and McVay had 91 yards and a 6 yard reception. The combination and balanced JCU offense was key to JCU's time of possession success with over 41 minutes with the ball. Looking at Wilmington's offense that averages 32.5 points and 423.8 yards per game, JCU could implement a similar strategy and have the horses and confidence to do so. 

Wilmington
The Fightin' Quakers have a fast paced, lethal offense that has been on a tear this season. The Quakers average 32.5 ppg, an impressive stat considering in their lone loss they only scored 12. 

Wilmington averages 338.5 yards per game through the air behind sophomore Adam Dixon. Dixon has 14 touchdowns and five interceptions with 1358 yards in just four games. 

Dixon has four main targets in a wide receiver group composed of mostly upperclassmen. Senior Ace Taylor leads the team with 20 receptions plus a touchdown. Seniors Gavin Foushee and Itika Wynn Jr. each have 15 receptions. Wynn Jr. leads the Quakers in touchdowns with five. Junior Lathan Jones leads the team in both yards (498) and average yards per catch (41.5). It is clear Wilmington wants to and can throw the ball, but they also can be strong in the run game. 

The Fightin' Quakers also have two strong backs. Ben Hobbs leads the team with 200 rushing yards and a touchdown, and freshman Nehemiah Jenkins has 175 rushing yards. As a team, Wilmington averages 85.3 yards per game. 

The Defenses

John Carroll
The John Carroll defense is led by a defensive front that's constantly improving, and ball hawks in the secondary. 

Tyler Thimmons leads the team in tackles with 23 as a stout linebacker. Bricker Thiel is playing incredibly well and leads the team in tackles for loss with 3.5. Ben Grafton had a stellar week vs. Berg with two sacks, which leads the team. 

The back end of the JCU defense will certainly be tested this week. Josh McLean leads the secondary and is second on the team in tackles with 18. Alongside him are Kiefer Askew, JonMarcus Roland, and Dohntay Williams. Each have interceptions as well, as the JCU secondary has been stellar, allowing just 7 points in each OAC game this season. 

Wilmington
Sophomore Jarod Lee is having a breakout season. Lee leads the team in solo tackles (22) and total tackles (46), has 3.5 tackles for loss, and an interception to go with three pass break ups, all in just four games.

 The defensive backfield has also been playing pretty well. Zac Schmidt tops the defensive backs in tackles with 35, which is second on the team, along with two pass break ups and an interception. Quentin Davis leads the secondary with six pass breakups, while adding a sack. Jalaun Covington also has four pass break ups. The secondary has played well allowing less than 200 yards through the air per game, but 135 rushing yards a game, something that could play to JCU's favor. 

Special Teams
Both teams have lethal special teams weapons. Grant Gonya, JCU's punter, has made the D3football.com Team of the Week two weeks in a row now after being a huge part of the field position game. Gonya's big leg helped JCU to two straight home wins to open OAC play. For Wilmington, kicker Seth Best is 5-of-6 in field goals with a long of 35 yards, and is 15-for-15 in extra points. 

Kickoff is 1:30 pm tomorrow in Wilmington, as the Fightin' Quakers will look to take down JCU for the first time since 2009. JCU will return home next week against Marietta on October 8.
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