BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin-Wallace College football team defeated Ohio Athletic Conference and Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University, 17-14, today (Nov. 12) at The George Finnie Stadium in Berea on Seniors' Day. With their victory, the Yellow Jackets now take a 21-20-4 lead in the all-time series with the Blue Streaks which began in 1921 and a 9-8 lead in the Battle for the Cuyahoga Gold Bowl trophy series which began in 1989.
The Yellow Jacket victory improved their overall mark to 4-6 overall and 3-6 in the OAC. With its loss, JCU ends its season at 7-3 overall and 6-3 in the OAC.
B-W opened the scoring at the 13:09 mark of the first quarter when sophomore quarterback Mickey Mental (Olmsted Falls) passed to junior All-OAC running back Brandon Hedges (Oregon/ Clay) on a screen pass for a 27-yard touchdown. Junior placekicker Mike Anthony (Conneaut) tacked on the point-after-touchdown and B-W led, 7-0.
Less than a minute into the second quarter, a Yellow Jacket punt was fumbled by John Carroll on the return. The Jackets got the ball at the Blue Streak 4-yard line. On its first play, B-W's Mental found junior Mick Reilly (Johnstown/ Monroe) for his second TD pass of the half. Anthony's PAT made it 14-0 Yellow Jackets
John Carroll got on the board with 5:45 remaining in the first half when senior RB Brandon Oing scored on a 1-yard TD run. Dave Talenda's PAT made the score 14-7 at halftime.
The score remained 14-7 until the 1:14 mark of the third quarter when Anthony converted a career-long 41-yard field goal to put the Yellow Jackets up, 17-7.
John Carroll then responded with a 39-yard TD pass from senior QB Doug Phillips to Matt Matteucci. Talenda's PAT pull JCU to within three points at 17-14.
JCU had one more chance to either tie or win, but a Phillips pass was intercepted by junior safety Matt Stevens with 47 seconds left and then B-W ran out the clock to take back the Gold Bowl trophy.
Offensively, B-W outgained JCU, 284-270. Individually for B-W, Hedges led all runners with 86 yards in 13 attempts and caught the 27-yard scoring pass in the first quarter. Mental completed eight-of-17 passes for 95 yards with the two TD and ran for 52 yards in 17 attempts. Defensively, senior middle linebacker Joe George (Massillon/ Perry) led the team with 11 tackles and set a B-W career-record with 334, breaking the mark of 330 by btwo-time All-American Kert Boedicker (1982-85). In addition, senior outside linebacker Justin Princehorn (Massillon/ Washington) had six stops and ended his career third all-time with 260.
For JCU individually, Oing led the Blue Streaks on the ground with 47 yards in 15 attempts with a TD. Phillips completed 24-of-43 passes for 204 yards with a TD and a pickoff. Senior wide receiver Tommy McDonald led JCU with a game-high nine catches for 61 yards and Oing grabbed six for 21 yards. Defensively, freshman LB David Graves led JCU with 11 tackles.
FOR MORE B-W SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact B-W Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, by FAX at 440-826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. To contact Yellow Jacket Head Coach John Snell, please call him at 440-826-2069, FAX him at 440-826-2192 or e-mail him at jsnell@bw.edu.
