<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4X7LuH_0wEGuPo800" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4X7LuH_0wEGuPo800" width="800" height="450" >UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — In the final contest of the Cuyahoga Gold Bowl as Ohio Athletic Conference foes, the Blue Streaks and Yellow Jackets put on a show. John Carroll used a big third-quarter comeback, a late touchdown drive, and a defensive stand on the final play to defeat Baldwin Wallace, 20-16. This win seals the Blue Streaks 12th straight victory in the rivalry, and fourth straight win this season after a 0-2 start. "The trophy is going to stay upstairs in the Shula Room," Head Coach Jeff Behrman '95 commented about where the Cuyahoga Gold Bowl trophy will live now that JCU is moving to the North Coast Athletic Conference. "Winning this rivalry is a testament to the John Carroll Football program, it's a gritty, blue collar rivalry, so we are really happy that we won this game today."The Yellow Jackets won the toss and deferred to the Blue Streaks and that decision paid off immediately, as JCU went three and out on their first possession. Following the punt, a methodical 13-play drive from the Yellow Jackets stalled on the eight yard line, but a converted 25-yard field goal gave BW the early 3-0 lead. On the ensuing John Carroll possession, they got a quick response as senior wide receiver Tyren Montgomery, on his first carry of the season, took the end around down the left sideline for a 42-yard gain. After three straight incompletions, the Blue Streaks lined up for a 43-yard field goal to tie the game, but Baldwin Wallace got a hand in the air and blocked the kick, maintaining their three point lead midway through the first. Baldwin Wallace continued to dink and dunk their way down the field, until they finally took a shot down the field, but freshman cornerback Dylan Crasi made an incredible play to pick the ball out of the air for his first interception of his career. Only the second interception of the season for Yellow Jacket quarterback Charlie Bubonics. However, the offense continued to struggle outside of the Montgomery run, as they went three and out after the interception. Another defensive stand from the Blue Streaks ended the first quarter with a 3-0 lead for Baldwin Wallace through the first 15 minutes. On the first play of the second quarter, the Blue Streaks' snap went off the helmet of the motion man and was recovered by Yellow Jacket junior linebacker Dylan Naylor. Six plays later, Bubonics found freshman Harley Barmen deep down the right sideline for a 40-yard touchdown and the 10-0 lead. The struggles offensively for John Carroll continued on their ensuing possession, as the Blue Streaks went three and out for the third time in the first half. Baldwin Wallace, on their next drive, turned to their gadget quarterback Xavier Balson, it allowed the Blue Streaks to load the box and sophomore defensive lineman Tony Tirado came through with a big sack and nine-yard loss, forcing a Yellow Jacket punt. "As Coach (Behrman) always says, we can't leave any doubt on the field," Tirado commented about his impact plays with the Blue Streaks facing a deficit. "No matter what the score is or what is going on, we have to play to our fullest."In desperate need of a spark offensively, JCU turned to junior running back Nemo Jenkins, who showed off some speed for a 35-yard run, his longest of the season, setting up the Blue Streaks inside the red zone. After an incomplete pass and illegal formation penalty, again John Carroll's offense stalled in the red area, forcing a 35-yard field goal that would be pulled outside the left upright. Baldwin Wallace then used pass plays of 22, 14 and 10 to get well within John Carroll territory. However, a sack from junior defensive back JP Germano set up a fourth down, and sophomore cornerback Jacob Hufnagel shut down the Yellow Jacket receiver, forcing a turnover on downs. John Carroll would run out the rest of the first half clock, giving the Yellow Jackets a 10-0 advantage through the first 30 minutes of action. This marked the Blue Streaks' first time trailing the Yellow Jackets at half since their meeting in 2021, which saw JCU down 21-3 at the break, but they stormed back to win 29-28. "The locker room was calm," Behrman commented about the feel in the locker room after going down 10-0 at half. "Give a lot of credit to Baldwin Wallace, but we did not execute, and my message was just 'now's not the time to panic.'" Bubonics led the way, distributing the ball to eight different receivers, completing 14 of 18 passes for 131 yards for a touchdown and one interception. Barmen recorded the most yards off his 40 yard touchdown, but Vinny Lomeo had a team high three catches for 28 yards. A bright spot for JCU offensively was their running game as Montgomery, Jenkins and Quincy Newsom combined for 97 yards rushing in the first half. "In the first half, we all kind of felt that we shot ourselves in the foot a lot," Semptimphelter stated about what went wrong in the first half and the adjustments they needed to make. "At halftime, we stayed calm, cool and collected and just focused on playing John Carroll football."The third quarter started the same way the first half did offensively for the Yellow Jackets, with a dink and dunk, methodical drive, but this time the Blue Streaks stepped up. Junior defensive back Tyson Simon made a nice play on a deep pass to force a Yellow Jacket punt. On the next drive, the Blue Streaks picked up their first third down conversion of the game as Semptimphelter found senior tailback Evan McVay for a gain of seven on third and five. That proved to be the play the Blue Streaks needed to get the offense going, as Coach Behrman continued to ride the hot hand of McVay and the senior delivered. An 11-yard run and a 33-yard catch and run setting up the Blue Streaks on the Yellow Jacket 25-yard line. On the next play, Semptimphelter made a beautiful pass to Montgomery for a 25-yard touchdown. Momentum began to swing toward the Blue Streaks. The big plays from the offense carried to the other side of the ball as the Yellow Jackets went three and out on their next drive courtesy of a sack from junior defensive end Ben Day, his fourth of the season. Semptimphelter continued to heat up as he found Dorian Facen Jr for 19 yards and Montgomery for 21, setting up the Blue Streaks within the 5-yard line. On the next play, Jenkins got the carry and punched it in from three yards out, giving the Blue Streaks their first lead of the game at 14-10. The front seven for the Blue Streaks continued to wreak havoc on the Yellow Jackets sophomore quarterback as Tirado got his second sack of the game on the first play of the ensuing BW drive. On the very next play, Bubonics threw up a jump ball and Blue Streak defensive back Thomas Niederst made a crazy athletic play to come down with the interception. However, John Carroll would go empty on their next possession after the Yellow Jacket defense made a big response after the turnover. That would conclude the third quarter, as the Blue Streak big plays give them the 14-10 advantage heading into the final 15 minutes. To open the fourth, the Blue Streak defense made another stand forcing the third BW punt of the second half. The John Carroll offense quickly moved down the field, courtesy of another big pass from Semptimphelter to Montgomery, this one for 43 yards, putting the Blue Streaks on the Baldwin Wallace 2-yard line. However, a 15-yard penalty wiped away a Blue Streak touchdown on the next play. John Carroll could not overcome the penalty, as they attempted a 31-yard field goal, but the kicking woes continued, as the kick was missed wide left. Following their defensive stop, the Baldwin Wallace offense started to pick up some steam, as Bubonics hit Connor Awad for 15-yard first down on third and 10. They would pick up a few more first downs as Bubonics continued to settle in. On a big fourth and nine, the sophomore showed poise in the pocket as he found his target Vinny Lomeo for a 11-yard first down. The Solon product continued to come up big, on a fourth and 13, he layered the football over a linebacker to find Lomeo for a 14-yard first down. Two plays later, Bubonics made a perfect over the shoulder throw to junior wide receiver Tim Conwell for a touchdown. The ensuing point after would be blocked by the Blue Streaks, giving Baldwin Wallace a 16-14 lead with 2:25 left in the contest. After a short kickoff giving the Blue Streaks a short field, the veteran quarterback hit Facen on the second play of the drive for a gain of 16 yards. Two plays later, Semptimphelter stepped up and with a burst of speed ran the ball for 22 yards down to the BW 10-yard line. Then, the Franklin, Tennessee product found senior tight end Kenneth Rawls for a leaping touchdown grab with only 52 seconds left on the clock. After a failed two point conversion, the Blue Streaks gained a 20-16 lead. "It felt amazing, it is still kind of kicking in," Rawls told reporters after the game about how it felt to catch the game-winning touchdown from his lifelong friend Semptimphelter. "He threw me a perfect ball. I trust him and he trusts me."Baldwin Wallace got the ball with under a minute to go, after three straight plays short of the sticks, Bubonics once again stepped up on a fourth down, as he hit Awad for four yards on fourth and two. On the next play, a Bubonics pass fell incomplete, but a roughing the passer call gave the Yellow Jackets a free 15. Bubonics then hit Lomeo for 11 yards on first down, then running back George Linberger for four yards. After a completion to Oliver Kelleher, and an incompletion set up one final play with two seconds. Bubonics rolled to his left, threw the ball up for grabs, and the Blue Streaks knocked it down, clinching the 12th straight victory for the Blue Streaks in the Cuyahoga Gold Bowl.This win pushes JCU to 4-2 overall and 4-1 in OAC play, winning their fourth straight. The Yellow Jackets drop their second in their last three contests, as they fall to 4-2 and 3-2 in OAC play. In the second half, Semptimphelter really responded, as he finished his day completing 19-of-30 passes for two touchdowns and zero interceptions. Four different receivers had four catches, but Montgomery led the way with 88 yards on his four catches and one touchdown. Nemo Jenkins was given the bulk of the workload on the ground for JCU with seven carries for 63 yards and a touchdown. The Blue Streaks combined for 157 rushing yards compared to the Yellow Jackets' 34. "The guys told me before the game that this would be a great atmosphere," Semptimphelter commented on the magnitude of the Cuyahoga Gold Bowl. "They played hard, we played hard and coming out with the win in my first Gold Bowl game was a great experience."Senior linebacker Tyler Thimons racked up a game-high 14 total tackles with three assisted tackles for losses. Hufnagel tallied five solo and eight total tackles with a pass breakup. Tony Tirado caused havoc with 2.5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks.Bubonics completed 32-of-48 passes for 277 yards and two touchdowns. The Solon native also threw two interceptions, he came into the ball game only having one on the season. The Blue Streaks will hit the road next week to take on the Wilmington Quakers, on Saturday October 26 at 1 pm, as they look to keep up their winning ways. </div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Cuyahoga Gold Bowl Staying in University Heights, as JCU Beats BW in Homecoming Classic

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — In the final contest of the Cuyahoga Gold Bowl as Ohio Athletic Conference foes, the Blue Streaks and Yellow Jackets put on a show. John Carroll used a big third-quarter comeback, a late touchdown drive, and a defensive stand on the final play to defeat Baldwin Wallace, 20-16. This win seals the Blue Streaks 12th straight victory in the rivalry, and fourth straight win this season after a 0-2 start.