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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
27
Winner Wis.-Whitewater UWW 1-0 , 0-0
23
John Carroll JCU 0-1 , 0-0
Winner
Wis.-Whitewater UWW
1-0 , 0-0
27
Final
23
John Carroll JCU
0-1 , 0-0
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
UWW Wis.-Whitewater 0 3 14 10 27
JCU John Carroll 6 7 3 7 23
Matthew Buser rushing
© 2023 Samuel Herr
Matthew Buser led the Blue Streaks' offense with a nice day on the ground.

Game Recap: Football | | Danny Gibel, Staff Writer

Football Falters in Home Opener to #11 UW-Whitewater Despite Strong Effort

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS -- After an offseason that ushered in a new era of John Carroll Football with new head coach Jeff Behrman '95 and new Director of Athletic Brian Polian '97, the Blue Streaks were hoping to kick 2023 off with a win. 

Unfortunately, the #11 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks stood in their way. 

The Warhawks and the #19 Blue Streaks traded punches in what turned out to be a phenomenal football game, but ultimately, someone had to lose it. 

"I thought our effort was tremendous. I thought our guys played from the start to the end," said Behrman. "There wasn't a lapse in their focus when it came to that. We challenged them to play relentless football for four to six seconds each and every play and they did."

The difference in the game was a grueling 85-yard UWW drive that ended in an acrobatic touchdown catch by Nick Wind. 

Wind's touchdown catch, which was even tipped by the outstretched hands of a JCU defensive back, came with just 39 seconds left in the game and gave the Warhawks a 27-23 lead. 

The potential game-winning drive that followed for John Carroll failed after Collins was intercepted at the UW-Whitewater 36-yard line. 

The Warhawks received the opening kickoff after the Blue Streaks won and deferred. UW-Whitewater got some early momentum but the Blue Streaks then settled in on defense and forced a fourth and four at their own 38-yard line. 

The Warhawks decided to gamble and attempt the fourth down conversion with 12:42 left in the first quarter. The gamble did not pay dividends, as junior Jake Phillips batted down Alec Ogden's pass and sent Don Shula Stadium into a frenzy. 

After the turnover on downs, the Blue Streaks were set up with great field position for their first offensive possession of the season. The new-look offensive for the Blue Streaks executed a methodical drive fueled by Evan McVay, who wore down the Warhawks' defense with a steady dose of runs up the middle and receptions out of the backfield. 

Once the Blue Streaks had marched down to the UW-Whitewater 32-yard line, Joe Collins took the top of the Warhawk secondary with a 32-yard strike to Brennan Fugh for six. JCU missed the PAT attempt and the Blue Streaks jumped out to an early 6-0 lead with 9:15 left in the first quarter. 

After the early excitement, both offenses fell silent and the defenses took over. 

The signature defensive play for the Warhawks came when Parker Bruenig picked off a JCU pass on a deep ball intended for Tyler Mintz. The takeaway occurred at UW-Whitewater 26-yard line. 

Alijah Maher-Parr brought the Warhawks' offense back to life with a 42-yard sprint from all the way down to the John Carroll 17-yard line. In a situation that looked grim, the Blue Streaks dug in on defense and forced the Warhawks to kick a 28-yard field goal with 2:56 left in the first half that cut the John Carroll lead in half, 6-3. 

The first half began with fireworks for the Blue Streaks' offense and it ended in a similar fashion. 

On the first play of the drive for the Blue Streaks, McVay dashed down the sideline for a 50-yard gain down to the Warhawks' 25-yard line. Then, six plays later, Collins found Buser on a screen pass and Buser dove across the goal line for a touchdown. 

Following the late score, John Carroll opened up a 13-3 lead with just 20 seconds left in the half. 

While the Blue Streaks received the kickoff to start the third quarter, first blood was drawn by the Warhawks. 

In a rare occurrence of blown coverage by John Carroll, Ogden capitalized and found Steven Hein wide-open down the middle of the field for a 37-yard score to make it a 13-10 John Carroll lead. 

On their next drive, the Blue Streaks looked primed to answer with a touchdown of their own after a 40-yard return by Mintz on the kickoff and two straight runs by Buser for a combined 35 yards. 

But the drive fizzled out at the UW-Whitewater 7-yard line after a shot to the endzone fell incomplete. Yanni Volas then trotted out and nailed a 24-yard field goal to give the Blue Streaks a 16-10 lead with 8:12 remaining in the third quarter. 

The Warhawks were quick to respond with a touchdown on their very next drive. With 6:23 left in the third quarter, Ogden lined up in the slot, received the ball on a jet sweep, and ran it 46 yards for a touchdown. The smart play call gave the Warhawks their first lead of the game, 17-16. 

The response by the Blue Streaks was nonexistent, as they were forced to punt after running just five plays. A tough third quarter for the Blue Streaks continued as the Warhawks exhibited an 11-play, 85-yard drive down inside the red zone in the closing seconds of the quarter. 

Then, just a few seconds into the fourth quarter, the Blue Streaks forced an incompletion on third down that resulted in a 20-yard field goal for Wisconsin-Whitewater, giving the Warhawks a 20-16 lead with 14:54 left in the fourth quarter. 

The Blue Streaks were able to respond with a touchdown that capped off an 11-play drive of their own. Collins found Lucas D'Orazio on a bootleg pass from the 4-yard line for the score that put the Blue Streaks back in front 23-20 with 8:53 left in the game. 

Even with the momentum swinging to the Blue Streaks, the Warhawks did not break under pressure and drove down the field for the game-winning touchdown.  

"In the second half, I thought defensively, all but maybe one or two plays, we kept the ball in front of us, so that was solid there from them," said Behrman. "And I thought we won the kicking game, I thought the special teams was definitely a winning advantage for us. I thought our specials did a great job kicking off, and quite a few touchbacks there and then we pinned them deep and played the field position game fairly well."

With Saturday's loss, the Blue Streaks have not won in Week 1 since the COVID season in 2021.

Jeff Behrman's squad will now shift their focus towards OAC rival Baldwin Wallace. The Blue Streaks will travel to Berea on September 16 for the Cuyahoga Gold Bowl after a Week 2 bye.  

Joe Collins finished 17-of-29 for 160 yards, with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Brennan Fugh had three catches for 44 yards and a touchdown, moving up to sixth in program history in career receptions. The stars of the day on offense were Buser and McVay, who finished with 99 and 74 yards, respectively. 

On defense, Chris Golson, Jaheim Peake, Bricker Thiel, and Tyler Thimons all finished with seven tackles. Roland recorded two pass break-ups in the game. Yanni Volas finished with a 49.4 punting average on 5 boots. 

"I think they executed really well. We had them on a third and nine and they were able to pick up the first down there, so that was tough for sure," said Behrman. "But I mean they executed, right? You need to give them credit. They prepare and they're a good program as well, and they did a nice job as well. I think it came down more to their execution."
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Scoring Summary

Scoring Summary
Scoring Play Visiting Team Score Home Team Score
1st Quarter UWW JCU
JCU
09:15 - JCU - Fugh,Brennan 32 yd pass from Collins,Joe ( ) 7 plays, 62 yards, TOP 03:23
0 6
2nd Quarter UWW JCU
UWW
02:56 - UWW - Isotalo-McGuire,Jeff 28 yd field goal 8 plays, 63 yards, TOP 04:09
3 6
JCU
00:18 - JCU - Buser,Matthew 2 yd pass from Collins,Joe (Volas,Yanni kick) 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 02:38
3 13
3rd Quarter UWW JCU
UWW
10:23 - UWW - Hein,Steven 37 yd pass from Ogden,Alec (Isotalo-McGuire,Jeff kick) 8 plays, 78 yards, TOP 02:55
10 13
JCU
08:12 - JCU - Volas,Yanni 24 yd field goal 6 plays, 33 yards, TOP 02:05
10 16
UWW
06:23 - UWW - Ogden,Alec 46 yd run (Isotalo-McGuire,Jeff kick), 6 plays, 70 yards, TOP 01:42
17 16
4th Quarter UWW JCU
UWW
14:54 - UWW - Isotalo-McGuire,Jeff 24 yd field goal 11 plays, 85 yards, TOP 04:27
20 16
JCU
08:53 - JCU - D'Orazio,Lucas 4 yd pass from Collins,Joe (Volas,Yanni kick) 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 06:01
20 23
UWW
00:39 - UWW - Wind,Nick 11 yd pass from Ogden,Alec (Isotalo-McGuire,Jeff kick) 12 plays, 85 yards, TOP 04:06
27 23

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