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Mount Union 35 John Carroll 16 by Dick Ross |
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STOUT HEARTED MEN John Carroll University was founded, in 1886, on the west side of Cleveland, as Saint Ignatius College, by Priests of the Buffalo Mission of the German Province of the Society of Jesuits. The first seismograph, for measuring the intensity of earthquakes, was made by Fr. Frederick Odenbach at Saint Ignatius. I recall that Cleveland TV stations always sent a crew to the basements at John Carroll, whenever there was a tremor, anywhere in the world.
Between 1923 and 1935 the school
purchased land and built facilities in order to move to Warrensville
Township, on the east side of Cuyahoga County. The five story brick
and masonry building at West 30th Street remained as St. Ignatius High
School, well known for both academics and athletics, Alma Mater I've often wondered if, perhaps, someone might have thought of moving the college to the area just east of Lincoln Park and south of the food terminal, in Cleveland. The area between West 11th and West 14th streets, overlooking the Cuyahoga Valley, has a neighborhood with streets named College, University, Professor and Literary. The only sign of a college or university there, however, is Sokolowski's well known University Inn. After being briefly know as "Cleveland University," the school was renamed "John Carroll," in honor of the first Catholic Bishop of the United States, and when the new campus opened, in 1935, the town renamed itself "University Heights." John Carroll came from a prominent and influential Maryland family and was a cousin to Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Starting from Cleveland in a
steady, cold gray drizzle, I turned to John Carroll's radio station, as we
passed through their territory. Any thoughts of pregame "tips" were
drowned out by a rousing accordion concert on WJCU. The rain moderated as we crossed the watershed, near Streetsboro, where I stopped for a coffee and a break. The young lady, who waited on me told me that she had a sister at Mount Union and gave me a thumbs up. "If anyone stops wearing Blue and Yellow," I said, "Tell 'em Alliance is that way" and pointed down the road to Windham. The fellow next to me said, "Hope you have your tickets." I touched my hip pocket and replied, "Since July." As is typical, the emerging fall colors got brighter as we headed south. Because of the residual heat in Lake Erie, first frost and fall colors tend to come later in the Cleveland area. The yellows and greens, on the first leg of the trip became umber, orange and red as we drove through harvested fields on Route 14, until we saw a single tree, just after the turn at Edinburg, that was such a brilliant orange that it almost looked like it was on fire.
Arriving in Alliance, the
combination of the normal student traffic, "Visitation Day" and the "big
game" had people parking as far away as Parkway School. The line for
the buffet was playoff caliber in length. In
After filling my tray, I found a
seat, 'way out in the north "greenhouse" end of the Campus Center. A
good place to keep an eye on the weather and the JCU tailgaters, who had
arrived early, and pitched a tent on the city owned grass semi circle, just
across the street. I had to smile as I watched them, out there in the
rain. I wondered if any one of them knew that the area they had chosen
is where everyone in the neighborhood exercises their pets, and is known
locally as "Dog Poop Island."
The rain started to let up, as
we headed for the stadium, but a stiff breeze from the southwest was still
sending what there was directly into the visitors faces in the Northeast
corner. The Mount Union band did Mount's men poured out of the south tunnel led through the cheerleaders banner by #42 Sr. RB Vince Ilaqua, of Willoughby/Lake Catholic, appearing in uniform for the first time this season, while the band played "On Mount to Victory" standing on the track. #75 Jr. RT Big Larry Kinnard, of Alliance, was one of the last out of the gate, as I wondered if there was some honor involved with both positions.
After a great kickoff return by
#31 Sr. RB Dan Pugh of Norwalk/St Paul, the game opened poorly for Mount
Union with a fumble, recovered by #5 Sr. TE Josh Liddell of Bemus Point, NY
and an interception which gave the Blue Streaks a chance at the Purple
Raiders' 42-yard line. The University Heights team, Carroll's men were able to move the ball only as far north as their own 24 before Stan Watson forced a fumble. The official stats credit the recovery to "team," but I'm pretty sure that I saw #16 Jr. DB Matt Caponi of Pittsburgh/Baldwin come out of the pile with the ball.
The Raider eleven was quick to
capitalize, though it was mostly two guys in the spotlight: #7 Sr. QB Rob
Adamson of Akron/Manchester handed off six times to Pugh and when the
defense got "up close," he dinked one over the line, which Dan squeezed
inside the southwest pylon, for six. #11 So. PK Chad
The attendance, reported as
8,072, is a new record for a college game at Mount Union Stadium. The
previous record of 7,132 was established on October 16, 1999, vs. Otterbein,
the day Mount Union broke the NCAA record for consecutive wins at 48, later
extended to 54. The second quarter opened with Mount's offense at the north end, on the JCU 24, after two runs by Pugh, Adamson hit # 82 Jr. TE Randy Knapp of Kent/Field for a one handed touchdown grab, capping the 10-play, 57-yard drive in the northeast corner for six more.
After a short series by the
visitors, #4 So. WR Jason Cavell of Painesville/Riverside, who has been our
punt return specialist this year, returned one 30 yards to set up the
offense at the "Steaks" 35. Pugh
In a fashion typical of the young men who play for Mount Union, at the end of the interviews with the writers, Randy said softly, "If you use my name it's Randell not Randall." He waited 'till after his first two touchdown day, to ask for the correction. The Blue Streaks marched back, smartly, and got as far as the Mount Union four-yard line, on the south end. With the student "bleacher creatures" in temporary seating, beyond the end line, standees lining the fence, cheerleaders and band in section one, they were facing the D-3 equivalent of the closed end of the OSU 'shoe down there. After a QB "hurry" by Stan Watson and a "knockdown" of an almost certain touchdown pass by #18 Sr. DB Matt Sotcan of Alliance, they had to settle for a field goal.
Things got a bit exciting,
again, when Mount fumbled the short, bouncing kickoff and the Streaks got
another chance from the Mount 40. QB Tom Arth entered the game needing
eight more "attempts" to break a record of "Pass attempts between
interceptions" held by Bill Borchert of Mount Union. By my
count, he broke the record by one attempt, but the next pass went to Mount's
#24 Jr. DB Brad Banfield of Canton/Jackson. Credit "assists" to #40
Sr. DE Chris Carter of Wyoming (Ohio) and #91 Antoine Dillard who were
chasing the quarterback, when he threw the ball, as the streak and the half
ended. Stan
Watson had picked off an Arth pass earlier, but was ruled out of bounds.
By the half the gloom had turned
to brilliant sunshine, at least on the Mount Union side, the band did a
complete show in their bright white uniforms and the cheering squad
reappeared in their black skirt and sweater outfits.
As usual, the Mount Union coaching staff made a few adjustments, also. On the second series #8 So. QB Zac Bruney of Martins Ferry came in, not because Adamson was hurt or had problems, just for a change of pace. On his second play, Zac went into the "shotgun" formation, stepped back, as if to pass and scampered through the middle, danced away from an ankle tackle, and scored from 55 yards out. Things like this just don't happen. I saw guys like Miller, Knapp and #61 Jr. OL Bob Bradley, of Fredricksburg, VA pushing defenders out of the way, well downfield.
In the typical "thrust and
parry" of Mount Union - John Carroll games, the Streaks responded with a
two-play 59-yard drive, including a 36-yard touchdown pass to Brian Shellito
to stay within striking distance.
Mount Union responded with
Bruney at the helm. At the end of an 18-yard sweep, Zac got the wind
knocked out of him, landing on the ball when tackled. Under the rules,
when a player causes an injury time-out, he must come off the field, for at
least one play.
#12 Jr. QB Jesse Burghardt of
Uniontown/Lake came in and one play was all he needed. It was an
instant replay of Bruney's quarterback delayed draw play. Once again,
a special tip of the cap to all those guys with numbers in the sixties and
seventies, whose names you never hear, unless they are carried off. Although Mount Union hasn't lost a game in which they've scored 35 or more points, in a very long time, those of us who've watched these two teams knew that we should not count the team from "up north" out, quite yet.
As the fourth quarter opened,
Arth hit Jeff Lerner, his favorite target, for the first time all day. It's
an old trite saying that these games are won and lost at the line of
scrimmage, but it is true. Mount's defense had
Arth, unfortunately, was injured and did not return, effectively ending the game. My brother talked to one of Mount's defensive linemen after the game who said, "We threw everything we had at them, plus some stuff we made up along the way." FINAL SCORE: MOUNT UNION 35, JOHN CARROLL 16 A game which almost all of us thought would be much closer.
Next week - Mount Union travels
to Bexely to meet Capital, the only other undefeated team in the conference
standings. It's a 2:00 p.m. start at the new Capital Center, which I
haven't seen yet. Ohio State is at home too. Folks I've talked
to recommended traveling south via I-77 and sneaking in by way of the
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addition to "the usual
suspects," I spotted Ric Brienza, creator of MtUnionFootball.com, who
broadcasts the games on WDPN radio, accompanied by Pat Coleman and his crew
from D3football.com who were "webcasting" the game, as the national D3 game
of the week.
their pregame show in purple rain
gear - with matching purple drum covers. The team broke out the "black
nasty" jerseys, usually reserved for the playoffs, with the purple football
pants and tall white sox. Our cheerleaders matched the team with black
"Raiders" windbreakers and shiny purple track style "warm ups" over their
short skirts, appropriate to the lower 50 degree kickoff temperature.
Carroll's contingent came out of the north tunnel with white shirts, yellow
trousers, with black stockings, and their Notre Dame style 
incompletes and a sack by #45 Sr. OLB Stan
Watson, of Austintown/Fitch. Ryan DeGeorge covered most of the
distance to the north end zone to put the visitors up by six, while the two
big forward lines were already trying to beat each other down. Mount
fans were a bit relieved, when the extra point failed, but started to get
"edgy" again when the purple offense stalled after only three plays and a
punt by #14 So. DB/K Steve Watson of Solon, went to the 12. These two
Watsons are not related, though Stan does have a brother on the team.
AND I'LL SOON GIVE YOU EIGHT THOUSAND MORE
rushed for two, and Adamson threw to
Knapp for seven, 13 and 14. The final 14 was Knapp's second touchdown,
dead center in the yellow goalie's box in the north end zone of the new
artificial turf. If you think you're hearing a lot about the tight end
today, we did use two: # 5 Liddell and # 82 Knapp alternated and
were often both in, on the wide side, at the same time. #77 Jr. OG
Brent Miller of Orrville should be credited for keeping the drive alive,
when he fell on a loose ball, midway through the series.
