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Mount Union 57 John Carroll 19 by Dick Ross |
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SHENANDOAH Although temperatures had warmed into the upper 30's through the week, this week's trip started early, as we'd been warned of 2-4" of overnight snowfall. Anyone who's ever lived in the Cleveland "viewing area" is also familiar with the "slightly higher in the eastern suburbs" disclaimer, regarding territory Mom and I would need to pass trough to get to Alliance. Luckily, for us, the forecast snow came as heavy overnight rains, moderating as we headed south and ending with just a trace of light snow, as we crossed the watershed around Twinsburg. As almost always happens, the best weather on the trip, was in downtown Limaville, on the shortcut we use to the west side of Alliance, going straight when Rt-183 turns left after crossing the tracks. This week, we saw a dime sized sun trying to burn through the clouds, a hole that closed quickly as we passed through town. After six stories in five years, I'm starting to run out of original things to say about John Carroll, the Jesuit University in Cleveland. The school was founded in 1886, on the near west side of Cleveland as Saint Ignatius College and renamed John Carroll, as a tribute to the first Catholic bishop of the United States, when the school moved to what was, then, the wide open spaces of University Heights in 1935.
Going into today's game the all-time series, between the schools, stands at
15-2-2. Mount Union's two losses were at Brush High School, in 1989,
and at the then fairly new, Cleveland Lakefront Stadium, in
At the brunch I met many old friends, Alums and player parents, it was great to see red headed former cheerleader, Liz Pugh Raeburn, Dan's sister, and their grandmother, in town for Dan's last home game. I was also introduced to John Carroll's athletic director, former coach, Tony DeCarlo and to the university's President Fr. Edward Glynn, SJ. I had read his "bio" and wondered if his status as a "lifelong Boston Red Sox fan" had prepared him for the recent series with Mount Union. John Carroll University has been in the post season before but had never advanced beyond the early rounds, because they met up with us, again. This year, however, the NCAA "seeded" the playoffs like their basketball tourney and shipped JCU off to the eastern region, where they survived three brutal bus trips and the team that eliminated Rowan, you gotta respect that.
Usually, this time of year, for national semifinals we are playing teams
from a long way away but, for the Blue Streaks, this was their shortest game
day trip since they had walked across Belvoir Blvd., to face Capital in
their final home game, four weeks earlier. The men from "the Heights"
also came to town owning a seven game win streak: four Ohio Athletic
Conference games, since they met us, and three in the With the conclusion of high school football, the departure of Jim Thome and the collapse of the Browns, the JCU string of road victories and the prospect of two northeast Ohio teams in the "final four" ignited Cleveland media coverage of Division III football, to a level that I've never seen before. Mount Union probably got more coverage in Cleveland in the past week, in stories about John Carroll, than we've had in most of our championship years, combined. With the Cleveland media coverage, and the prospect of playing for the national championship, interest at John Carroll exploded. The 2,000+ tickets that we sent them sold out in 90 minutes. In Alliance, portable aluminum bleachers were added in the Northeast corner, for JCU 's pep band and students and more were added for Mount students in a semi circle, inside the track in the south end. With nearly 6,000 seats presold, and other "game day" admissions being sold at the gate, there were long lines at the Hartshorn Street gates. On the way to the gate I passed some rowdy Carroll fans who wanted to razz me on my predominately purple outfit. I pointed out that purple is the color of kings and that, according to Orwell, their "beta" blue was the color of one of the lesser classes. Not sure they bought the argument, but I ended it by smiling and walking away.
Circling the field, it was good to note that there was no snow or rain
evident as the temperature hovered just above freezing and any form of
precipitation could get nasty quickly. It stayed cool but cozy, under
the roof, for a full report on what the weather may really have been like
you'd have to ask someone who sat in the open stands, with the wind in their
faces. Both teams wore the same outfits that they had in the October meeting, John Carroll was in gold pants and white shirts, with blue numerals outlined in yellow, which sometimes made them look green. Mount Union wore the black playoff jerseys and purple pants on both outings. Our cheerleaders dressed to match, but left the big purple flag at home, this time. The U-Heights men won the toss and elected to receive, defend the south end and give the Raiders the north end and the wind, which was mostly from that direction. A good plan, score early, and keep the opponent off balance, except that it didn't work. Carroll's Sr. QB Tom Arth from Westlake, where I live, went three and out and the punt went only 29 yards with a "Halo" penalty which gave #7 Sr. QB Rob Adamson of Akron/Manchester the ball at the "Streaks" 41. Rob, standing tall in the pocket and looking better every week, hit Sr. WR #6 Derrick Leach of Summerfield/Shenandoah running full tilt, on a diagonal into the SE corner. Derrick's only 5'11" and he had to use all of it on a full out diving extension to catch and cover on the four, sliding to a stop well out of bounds. Next play, BOOM, #31 Sr. Dan Pugh from Norwalk/Saint Paul around the right for seven points, down on the Hartshorn end. Those still waiting in line got to see it, two plays, 19 seconds, after the conversion Mount was up by seven and it never got closer.
On JCU's next series, the Streaks quarterback hit Adam Therrien of
Strongsville, who was hit, immediately, by #17 Sr. CB Chris Kern of
Fairbault, MN, causing the ball to bounce into the air where #16 Jr. DB Matt
Caponi of Pittsburgh/Baldwin came down with it, giving the offense its
second straight "short field" possession. After a few runs by Pugh and
a penalty which moved the ball back out into passing After the conversion by #11 So. PK Chad Teague of Orrville and kick off the Steaks headed north as far as the Mount 13 where a field goal attempt failed. The kick went wide left, when the wind failed to catch it, same as one of ours of two weeks ago. The missed kick gave Mount their worst starting position of the day, their own 20-yard line.
From there it was an Adamson and Pugh clinic, with assists from #5 Sr. TE
Josh Liddell and #82 Jr. WR Randell Knapp of Kent/Field, the second teamer
who just happened to get "discovered" midway through the season.
Nine-plays and eight-yards later, Pugh went slashing around the right side
and the ball went flying in the air - players of both teams making all sorts
of conflicting motions. Turns out that it was a touchdown and a loose
ball off the defenders helmet but, since Pugh had crossed the goal line
first, the touchdown counted and the loose ball didn't. Teague upped
the count to 21, his "mates" had left him just enough time for one more
kickoff with the wind behind him.
Down by 21, after only one quarter, the Blue Streaks quickly found
themselves running out of downs just across midfield, when Caponi and some
purple friends "stuffed" a fourth and one for a loss of three,
Now down by 28, JCU tried a bit of trickery with a reverse on the kickoff. At 5'7" 182, Mount's #1 So. CB Jamoni Robinson has to be considered a bit small, even by D3 standards, but when the play came to him, he stood his ground and made a convincing stop. After an exchange of punts Arth managed to put on a Mount Union style drive, two pass plays in 13 seconds with the touchdown to big Antoine Dunklin, covering 47 yards.
The Raiders couldn't seem to move either the ball or the clock and had to
give it back on a sequence of penalty plays which went both ways but which
also didn't move the clock. The streaks got the ball back with only
seconds remaining and tried a halftime "Hail Mary" like the one that had
worked in the '99 game. From the Mount 42, Arth wound up and threw one
well over 50 yards in the air. The end zone looked like a volleyball
game, with all the players on the same side of the net. The ball got
knocked up and around but hit the ground without affect. John Carroll had brought their dance team to relieve the usual halftime boredom. They were introduced and struck their opening poses but nothing happened, no clicks, no clacks, no music, no performance and no explanation as to what had or hadn't happened. As the Carroll girls finally lowered their pom poms and exited back to their own sideline, Mount's pep band played and sang one of their regular season numbers: "I saw her standing there."
If all that wasn't tough enough, the Blue Streaks also had to kick off to
open the second half. After the quick opener to Pugh, Adamson hit
Knapp down the home side. At 6'4" 211, Knapp may now be listed as WR,
but downfield he was running like a fullback. Unlike guys like Marino,
Knapp takes the hits bounces off and keeps going, on this one to the south
end 14, where Pugh finished things off. After a short series and a
punt, Adamson reprised the left side version of the same play, to Knapp, hit
at the 30 Randell bounced, spun away and barged through four guys at the 20
falling forward to the eight, where Pugh took over for his fourth touchdown
of the day. For those keeping score at home, the margin was 42-7
before John Carroll managed a nine-play, 70-yard drive which narrowed the
gap to 42-13, when the kick failed. Mount Union responded with another
Adamson, Pugh and Knapp rotation, 60-yards in five-plays, this one with
Knapp standing in the end zone with the pass reception, at the end.
The gold helmet guys were not done yet, putting another six on the board
before the third quarter ended.
After the highest scoring third quarter in recent memory, the final period
could have been dubbed the Adamson and Pugh farewell tour of Alliance:
10-plays, 58-yards, all by Dan Pugh. It was one of those days,
however, where almost nothing could go wrong. When there was a problem
with the extra point #8 So. QB Zac Bruney of Martins Ferry began the mad
scramble, right, left and back to the right, before he spotted #40 Sr. DE
Chris Carter of Cincinnati standing in the left rear corner of the north
end. That had to be "improv" at this time of the afternoon as there
certainly was no reason to go for two. A surprising outcome over a strong team that had to be road weary, after three weeks of long bus trips. NEXT WEEK: Mount advances to the Stagg Bowl, Division III's national championship game, for the seventh time in ten years. The opponent will be the Trinity Tigers of San Antonio Texas, a big strong team we played in Alliance in 1998. For those who plan to attend, Mount Union will be the visitors and will be in the smaller east side stands - but you're liable to get on TV as the game will be televised, live, on ESPN 2 at 12:00 noon. I don't think that I can make this one, but I'll watch it along with you. For those who are going, be safe through the mountains, and bring home a winner. Happy Holidays and Go Raiders!
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1932. It
was good that we were early to the brunch, as parking was already getting
hard to come by, though many students had completed their exams and had
headed home. Traffic was fairly heavy on the way down but I saw no
evidence of JCU fans. Tailgaters must have gone on earlier and those
just going to the game must have been behind us.
playoffs.
range, Adamson found
#25 Jr. WR Nick Sirianni of Jamestown, NY headed for the single pole post
and a 21-yard touchdown, as the tail end of the record crowd of 8,387 filed
in.
handing the
ball to the purple "O" with a fresh set of downs. Heading into the
wind, Adamson mostly handed to Pugh, keeping the ball on the ground except
for short tosses to #46 Jr. RB Brian Miller of Orrville, who has been the
"other" back, blocking for Adamson and Pugh, almost full time this year.
The final play of the drive was a four-yard pass to Liddell, up by the
disabled section in the NW corner. Pugh hit 100 yards rushing, for the
day, on this series.
