The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
JCU still can’t beat Oshkosh, by gosh
The John Carroll football team just can’t figure out Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
The No. 8-ranked Blue Streaks shouldn’t feel too bad.
Only two teams have since the start of the 2016 season.
This is 2017, but it looked a lot like last season as No. 4 Oshkosh defeated the Blue Streaks on Sept. 2 at Don Shula Stadium, 23-17.
Oshkosh was 13-2 last sea-
son, and the NCAA Division III runner-up. Its lone losses were to Wisconsin-Whitewater and Mary Hardin Baylor in the national championship game.
The 2017 opener at JCU was a rematch of a 2016 D-III national semifinal won by Osh- kosh, 10-3.
The frustrating part for the Blue Streaks (0-1) is their only losses since the start of the 2016 are to Oshkosh. On Sept. 2, it was loss No. 3 to the Titans, and the frustration level continues to boil.
“What’s most frustrating is the mistakes we made,” said linebacker Mason McKenrick (Mentor), who made a gamehigh 13 tackles. “We missed too many tackles. I think we lost this game more than they won it.”
The biggest tackle not made was in the biggest moment with a little more than two minutes remaining in the game.
Oshkosh (1-0) led, 23-17, and faced a fourth-and-2 at its own 44 with the punt unit on the field. Instead of punter Turner Geisthardt back deep, kicker Greg Rand was inserted instead.
Rand took the long snap and rushed 4 yards around the left edge to secure the first down, and the big nonconference victory.
“A no-brainer,” said Oshkosh coach Pat Cerroni. “No question about it. That was the call.”
Coach Rick Finotti, in his JCU debut, said he and the coaches told his special-teams unit to be ready for the fake.
“Sometimes these kind of things happen even when you’re ready for it,” said Finotti.
The Blue Streaks have next week off, then travel to Baldwin Wallace on Sept. 16. The extra time might be needed to figure out the Blue Streaks’ quarterback situation.
Sophomore Anthony Moeglin, who led the team to 12 wins in 2016 and threw for 2,800 yards and 29 TDs, struggled early on, and was replaced by backup Riley Larkin in the third quarter.
Moeglin completed 8 of 19 passes for 120 yards and a touchdown pass that was the result of a fortunate bounce.
Trailing, 13-3, i n the second quarter, Moeglin heaved a pass to William Woods, who had the ball deflect off his hands by an Oshkosh defender. The ball popped into the air and was caught in stride by Eddie Williamson, who then raced to the end zone to complete a 72-yard TD.
“I was surprised because I thought (Woods) would catch it,” said Williamson.
Not much else worked for the offense with Moeglin in the game.
Larkin wasn’t much better statistically. He was 9 of 21 passing for 89 yards, but did orchestrate an 18play, 85-yard TD drive late in the game to pull the Blue Streaks to within 23-17.
Finotti said the plan was to play both QBs, but wouldn’t reveal much beyond the Oshkosh game other than this:
“We take it week to week,” said Finotti. “We don’t want our guys to be complacent. One guy starts, but the other guy better be ready.”
With his team facing fourth-and-2 on the next drive, Cerroni wasn’t interested in giving Larkin and JCU another shot.
“This game was huge,” said Cerroni. “(JCU) is a great team with a bunch of All-Americans, and we have huge respect for them. But we had no idea how we would play. We had little film on them. We came here pretty much blind.”
Sometimes just playing is good enough, and that’s what Oshkosh did on this day, mostly because of run- ning back Dylan Hecker.
The senior rushed for 186 yards on 28 carries and scored three touchdowns. His biggest play was a 69yard TD run that built a 13-3 lead.
“I missed that tackle,” said McKenrick. “He’s a great running back, but I have to make that tackle.”
Hecker later added a 11yard TD run to make it 2310, until Larkin’s 5-yard TD pass to Danny Disbrow closed the gap to six late in the fourth quarter.
With Hecker running efficiently, JCU’s running backs were completely shut down.
Ro Golphin (Gilmour) had 8 yards on seven carries, and Sam Kukura (Kirtland) 12 on six attempts.
The Blue Streaks were outgained, 345 to 260 in total yards.
Brian Kornowski was JCU’s leading receiver with eight catches for 60 yards. Woods had three for 33 yards.
Linebacker Todd Green (Mentor) was in on 12 tackles.