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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Devin Taylor vs. Wooster 10-24-26
Jose Figueroa
Devin Taylor
23
Wooster WOO 2-5 , 2-4
69
Winner John Carroll JCU 6-1 , 5-1
Wooster WOO
2-5 , 2-4
23
Final
69
John Carroll JCU
6-1 , 5-1
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
WOO Wooster 0 7 7 9 23
JCU John Carroll 21 21 7 20 69

Game Recap: Football | | JCUSID

On Community Day, JCU Football Dominates Wooster in an NCAC Victory

The Blue Streaks' backups got ample playing time, as nine different players scored TDs

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS – On a beautiful and unseasonably warm late October day at Don Shula Stadium, #14 John Carroll Football fired up a dominant win.

On Community Day, the Blue Streaks corralled The College of Wooster in a 69-23 victory. JCU scored 21 points in the first quarter and never looked back.

With the dominant W, the Blue Streaks advance to 6-1 overall, 5-1 in North Coast Athletic Conference play. 

"We wanted to go out and have fun and fly around. The challenge was to start fast," said Head Coach Brian Polian '97. "Not so much with the fumble on the first drive, but we got going after that. I'm really excited about the amount of players who got in today. Our guys practice so hard and help us prepare. It looked a little uneven at times and we'll get that cleaned up, but I'm pleased with the effort."

Press Conference: Polian
Press Conference: Players

A different back got the ball at the start of the game. On a toss to the right side, Devin Taylor followed his blockers to daylight. The first sophomore bounced outside where he found a significant hole to run right through for his first collegiate score, a 15-yarder. 

John Carroll got the ball back quickly, as Eugene Gibbons hopped on a Wooster fumble to give the hosts the ball at the Wooster 29-yard line. A few plays later, Bryce Tubin ran a counter in for a 1-yard touchdown to the left for a 14-0 lead. 

On the first play coming off a Wooster three-and-out, JCU pulled out the trickery. On a fleaflicker, Tyler Green found a wide open Evan Nelson for the junior's second receiving touchdown of the year on a 54-yard beauty. 

A JCU interception gave Wooster the ball at the 50-yard line, and the Fighting Scots drove into the JCU redzone early in the second quarter. But Thomas Niederst picked off a Wooster pass in the end zone to halt that momentum. On the very next play, Devin Taylor made an 80-yard housecall up the JCU sideline. 

"It felt great to get the opportunity to get out there and show what I could do," said Taylor. "On the handoff, I saw a hole in the middle. I ran into one of my linemen, so the cornerback thought I was being tackled and flew down. So I went outside, and he couldn't catch me.

JCU then forced a four-and-out, getting the ball at the Wooster 31-yard line. On the Blue Streaks' first play, Green lofted a gorgeous deep shot to Nico McBride for a touchdown strike. 

For good measure, the Blue Streaks added to the lead with 5 minutes left in the half. A leaping Jack McDaniels came down with an impressive touchdown catch for 10 yards for a 42-0 lead. Wooster got on the board before the end of the half, so the score stood 42-7 at the break. 

Michael Beiersdorf got the Blue Streaks started off on a nice note in the third quarter, hauling in his second career interception on Wooster's first drive. After another JCU stop, McDaniels dashed 59 yards down the field on a long reception. The next play, Josh Styles skipped 7 yards around the right edge for his first score of the season. 

"We have a great room of running backs and we know that, we trust each other to make plays," said Styles. "We couldn't do anything without the offensive linemen, tight ends, and wide receivers blocking. We know that they have our backs."

After a Wooster TD, JCU replied with a score. One play after a 50-yard Josh Styles run, John Gang hauled in his first collegiate touchdown, as Tubin tossed a nice ball to the sophomore.

The Blue Streaks killed some time in the fourth quarter with a long touchdown drive. With a number of new players getting chances, JCU marched down the field. Nick Dobkowski finished off the drive with an 8-yard reception, the first collegiate TD of the Hinckley native's career. 

The Blue and Gold finished off the scoring with a late pick-six. John Jones picked off a pass near midfield and dashed into the end zone for JCU's second interception return for a touchdown this season. To close out the game, Will Bartley picked off a Wooster pass.

"I was excited, my teammates met me in the end zone. It was a blast," said Jones. "I played wide receiver at Benedictine, and caught touchdowns here [at Shula Stadium] but I didn't get a pick six, so it was different. But it made me miss it a lot. [On the interception] I was backpedaling, he ran a post, I picked up the quarterback when he threw the ball, waited for it, caught it and started running. I saw one guy to the left, broke it outside, got a nice block by Nick Schober and scored the touchdown."

Devin Taylor enjoyed a career day rushing the ball, breaking out with 161 yards and 2 touchdowns. Josh Styles notched 78 yards and a score.

"Devin has a gear that I'm not sure very many on our team have," said Polian. "He's still a young football player who is developing and getting better every week. I have the utmost confidence in him. I'm also happy for Josh to get in there and be productive. He's had some struggles with ball security, so had to earn his reps, and he did that. When he got his chance today, he did an excellent job as well. I'm very proud of those guys."

An impressive 16 different Blue Streaks hauled in catches, including Lee Evans IV, who notched 3 catches for 41 yards. 

JCU outgained Wooster, 664-337, including 267-47 on the ground. 

"We needed to run the ball better and clearly we did that today," said Polian. "We were more productive and had explosives. It's encouraging next week with this performance, but the opponent will be much different."

John Carroll will hit the road next weekend. The Blue Streaks have a huge NCAC showdown at DePauw University on Halloween at 1 pm. 

"We knew when we entered the league that we would need to go there two years in a row," said Polian. "It was a scheduling anomaly, they made it clear to us. So, we can't control it so it's no use fussing about it. I will handle things a little bit differently than the WashU trip, I felt like I put the team in a bad spot with that trip. So there are some things we will be doing differently. We will get as healthy and rested as we can and we will fight our tails off. They're a good football team." 
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