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Mount Union 34 John Carroll 16 by Dick Ross |
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THE HOUSE THAT SHULA BUILT
Mount Union football last visited University Heights in 1999, the famous "triple overtime game." Following that game, in June of 2001, it was announced that Don Shula, JCU Class of 1951, had made a major gift to his school and that the facilities at Wasmer Field would be demolished and totally rebuilt. Shula played and coached in the NFL. Between the old Baltimore Colts and the Miami Dolphins, he accumulated a record of 347 wins, more than any head coach in NFL history. No one, on that level, has ever matched his record 17 straight, perfect Super Bowl season with the 1972 Miami Dolphins. The process of fund raising, demolition, construction, dealing with city hall and the neighbors took much longer than anticipated and led to the off campus "Bedford" game in the fall of 2001. Shula was present for the first "official" varsity football game in the new stadium and spoke at the dedication, halftime, vs. Ohio Northern on Saturday, September 27th. After two weeks on the road, for the Blue Streaks, we are only their second official game in this facility.
The trip to University Heights, from my home in Westlake, is a relatively
short 20-25 minute "outerbelt" excursion around Cleveland, only about a
third of the way to a home game in Alliance. I met Dave Snyder, my old
college roommate, at "Corky & Lenny's" famous Deli, just off the Chagrin
Blvd. exit, for lunch before the game. We decided that arriving early,
parking close, exploring the stadium and killing more than an hour was
preferable to arriving closer to game time, parking at a distance and
arriving at the kickoff, out of breath. John Carroll University is one of 28 colleges and universities operated by the Jesuits in the United States. It was founded as St. Ignatius College, in the building that is now St. Ignatius High School. In 1923 the college was renamed John Carroll, in honor of the first catholic archbishop of the United States. In 1936 the university transferred its operation to what was then a rural area, so proud of its new school that it renamed itself "University Heights." More recently, relations between the expanding university, now 3,600 undergraduate men and since 1968, women, and its encircling city have not been quite as cordial, though signs at the city limits remind travelers where the city got its name.
Closer to Alliance, Bishop Carroll was related to Charles Carroll, both of
Carrollton, MD. Charles was the longest surviving signer of The
Declaration of Independence. On Christmas Day 1832, shortly after the
death of Charles Carroll, Carroll County in Ohio was formed with pieces
"borrowed" from five surrounding counties and the "county seat" was renamed
Carrollton, from Centerville. I believe that there was no "evil
intent" but when a bunch of politicians meet, and take action on Christmas
Day, it does make you wonder....
John Carroll's new stadium is on the site of the old. That and the
"high rise" nature of the home side are two of the few things it has in
common with the stadium that we last visited. The field is now an
artificial grass surface, much like ours, and the home stands now enclose a
multiple story concrete building that includes locker rooms, (eliminating
the need for teams to cross Belvoir Blvd.) training rooms, offices, public
rest rooms, refreshment stands, a Don Shula memorabilia room and, on the
lower level, the home team's baseball dugout. The upper levels are
cleverly designed, with rear facing widows, so that they can be used to
observe and score baseball games or soccer matches on adjacent fields. I'm not good with numbers so maybe someone could help me with this: the published seating capacity of the new stadium is 5,400, of which 1,400 are on the visiting side. From what I saw, the visitors side was almost full, the student sections across the way, were almost totally vacant, with Carroll's "Fall Break" weekend, but the attendance was listed as 5,144. Something about that just didn't add up, as far as I was concerned.
The Blue Streaks elected their solid, dark blue, outfits with the gold Notre
Dame style helmets. Mount Union went with solid white, as they did for
the night game two years ago. Paul Brown always took solid white,
whenever he was allowed. He thought it made his players look bigger
and, since one Carroll fan/friend told me that they thought the Mount team
looked like the Cleveland Browns, when they took the field, there must be
some truth to the idea.
The Streaks won the toss and deferred. Mount took the ball and ceded the wind, a slight breeze coming from the west in this west to east stadium. The breeze, slate gray skies, and a slight drizzle, just before kickoff, made it feel much colder than the indicated mid 50's temperature, and reminded us all that this was John Carroll - Mount Union day. A day when the weather always seems to be the same, regardless of where the game is played, or where it falls in the schedule. Though the game was broadcast on "dish" TV and the stadium has lights, it must have been the agreements with the neighbors that kept them turned off. Mount took the TV delayed opening kick and, led by #8 Jr. QB Zac Bruney of Martins Ferry, turned into the wind. Neither Bruney, nor his counterpart, in blue, #5 So. Tony Beiting of Akron/Hoban seemed to be able to get started in the early going. When Sr. QB #12 Jesse Burghardt of Uniontown/Lake came in, midway through the quarter, the JCU line charge was still holding the passing game at bay. Jesse went to work on the ground, moving 80 yards on 12 plays, thirty of it on his own, with most of the balance and the touchdown scored by #34 Jr. Ricky Ciccone, of Coshocton. Conversion by #11 Jr. PK Chad Teague of Orrville, put Mount up by 7-0.
Early in the second period Burghardt completed a pass to #46 Sr. RB Brian Miller of Orrville, who is seeing an unusual amount of work this year in a position that is normally restricted to blocking. Shortly after that completion, Jesse limped off with a toe injury that was thought not to be serious after the game. Bruney came in and completed two more to Miller for a total of 36 yards. The extra point was blocked. Later a 19-yard field goal was blocked, at the three, which prevented an immediate score but led to a later touchdown as the Raiders got the ball back, after a punt, on their own 36. Bruney hit #25 Sr. WR Nick Sirianni of Jamestown, NY twice, for 25 yards and 13 yard touchdown, streaking through the scoreboard corner of the endzone. Conversion by #48, Jr. PK George Wilders of Loveland/Kings upped Mount's margin to 20.
With less than two minutes to go in the half the Streaks decided to go for
broke. With time running out, Beiting unleashed a "Home Run" toss to
#88 6'4" Sr. WR Antoine Dunklin of Cleveland/VASJ. The play was very
reminiscent of a Tom Arth to Larry Holmes touchdown, as time ran out, in the
1999 game. The
differences were that that play was at the other end of
the field and that Holmes, now a graduate assistant at JCU, made the
touchdown. Dunklin was nailed at the seven, down by the entrance gate,
by #16 Sr. FS Half time entertainment was presented by the John Carroll girls dance team, this year they had uniforms and their music actually worked, though it was very faint. The pep band also was uniformed and sat in their own section, but did not appear on the field. Being unofficial has its advantages as they were able to sing and play several raucous tunes including local Cleveland favorite Frankie Yankovick's "Because, Just Because!"
For those of us not used to games on commercial TV, the difference in pace
is amazing. Games which usually take just over two hours, stretch to
over three hours, plus. Some of it was due to the closer game than usual
but a woman in an orange cap, from the TV company, was standing out on the
field and
After the intermission both Burghardt and #22 Jr. RB Jeff Strauch of Avon
Lake returned with crutches and without shoulder pads, effectively ending
job sharing at both positions, at least for the day. Strauch's ankle
injury was also thought not to be serious. Not much besides the pep
band and TV timeouts, happened in the third quarter though Carroll's men
scored on a sequence worthy of a Raider highlight reel. The Steaks set
up on the Mount 37, following an interception. Beiting found Dunklin,
up by the east end scoreboard for a single play touchdown. The third
period ended with Mount Union on the move.
The fourth period began with a 10 yard Bruney to Miller passing touchdown, topping off a 10-play, 80-yard drive. Wilders added the point. The morning paper quoted a Carroll player as saying that they couldn't win on just gadget plays, probably a sure tip that they'd stocked up on them. The Streaks tried one on the next series, with an end around option sweep by Antoine Dunklin. He was met, hard, by our Antoine, #91 Sr. DT Antoine Dillard of Cleveland/Benedictine, right on the visitors' sideline. Because of a penalty this was ruled a "No play," it would probably be hard to convince the young man in the new Shula trainer's room of that, today. The next play was a very nice pass to #16, in white, Matt Caponi of Pittsburgh, who went up for it in the center of the field and returned it down the visitors sideline for six, with Wilders adding the point.
John Carroll then drove almost 70 yards, but had to resort to a halfback
pass on fourth and one, to score. The passing attempt, for two points,
was no good and ended the scoring for the afternoon. Bruney had to
take a quarterback "slide" and a knee twice to keep the margin at 18. John Carroll has never won in Alliance, or on Wasmer Field, against Mount Union. Their only two wins came at the old (then new) Cleveland Municipal Stadium, on the Lakefront, and at Brush High School, in 1989, while Wasmer Field was being recarpeted. JCU, in an act of self flagellation, gives Mount Union credit for one more victory than we claim, a win over St. Ignatius College, in 1920. To me, the Mount team looked a bit flat and sluggish on Saturday. Hopefully that was caused by our opponent, not us. The mark of a good team is to win when you are not 100%. Today's win puts us past Oklahoma, again, for second longest winning streak. We are now at 48 straight, the longest current streak, with only one team ahead of us on the overall list: the 1996-1999 Purple Raiders who won 54 straight, between national semifinals losses, in Alliance, to Wis-La Crosse in 1995 and to Rowan in 1999. We have now won 81 straight conference games, 90 straight regular season games and are at 115-1 since the beginning of the 1992 season.
Next week, back home in Alliance, we'll "match-up" with the resurgent
Capital Crusaders, also Purple and White, and tied with us, for first place
in the OAC, although they have yet to play Baldwin-Wallace or John Carroll.
Should be a good game, stay tuned to this web site for photos and injury
updates. Buffet opens at 10:30 a.m. with kickoff set for at 1:30 p.m.
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FIRST QUARTER SCORE: MOUNT UNION 7, JOHN CARROLL 0
Matt Caponi of Pittsburgh/Baldwin and #20 Sr. CB Ross Watson
of Austintown/Fitch. With two seconds to go, time for only one play,
the Streaks elected to go for the field goal, and brought in their Sr. #1
George Theofilis of Warren/Howland, for the three.
responsible for most of the delays.
HIGHWAY 40 BLUES