UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio — The red-hot No. 24 ranked John Carroll Blue Streaks dominated from start to finish en route to their first victory in the NCAA Division III Tournament since 2018.
The Blue Streaks steamrolled the Mount St. Joseph Lions, 52-7, at Don Shula Stadium in the largest playoff victory in JCU history.
"From here on out, it is down to one game seasons," head coach Jeff Behrman '95 said of his team moving on to the second round of the NCAA Playoffs. "Today we were 1-0, and it does not matter how you start the season, it is how you finish the season."
Since their 0-2 start to the season, the Blue Streaks have rattled off nine straight wins.
John Carroll defeated Marietta 49-35 last week at home to earn an at-large bid to the postseason. Their opponent, the Mount St. Joseph Lions, won their third straight Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) crown, getting an automatic bid to the big dance for the third straight season.
John Carroll won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, giving the ball to the Lions, who's offense sits 10th in the country, to open the game. The Lions moved the sticks in two plays, but the Blue Streaks defense stood strong and forced a punt. On the ensuing JCU possession, the Blue Streaks moved the sticks courtesy of a connection from Nick Semptimphelter to Dorian Facen Jr for 10 yards. An injury soon forced junior Harrison Feldman to take the reins. JCU leaned on senior tailback Evan McVay, who tabbed two first downs on runs of 20 and 13 yards. JCU moved the ball to the Lion 20-yard line but got no further. Sophomore Colin Schukert converted a 37-yard field goal, giving the Blue Streaks an early 3-0 lead. That field goal was the longest in JCU history in the postseason.
The early struggles for the Lions continued as they went three and out, off of a great play on the outside from sophomore defensive back Jacob Hufnagel in his first game back from injury, forcing an incompletion. John Carroll opened their second drive with a 14-yard scramble from Feldman. On a third down and four, Feldman hit fifth-year senior Tyler Mintz on a low throw to get another first down. After a run of 17 from sophomore Quincy Newsom, Semptimphelter checked back in a QB, and gave it to star wideout Tyren Montgomery on an end-around for an 8-yard touchdown.
Mount Saint Joseph got the football back with limited time in the first quarter and the Lions would fail their third straight third down conversion. This time junior linebacker Mason Rus collected his second sack of the year, forcing another punt to conclude the first quarter with a 10-0 Blue Streak advantage.
On the first play following the punt, the duo of Semptimphelter and Montgomery continued to be elite, as the two hooked up for 27 yards. After multiple short gains, the Blue Streaks were faced with fourth and one, and MSJ got a much needed stop. However, the Lions offense would go backwards, on another third-down sack from the Rus. Both teams continued to trade three and outs as the Blue Streaks forced them to punt on consecutive drives.
The Lions offense started to find their rhythm, as their best wide receiver Eli Aston started to get involved, getting a catch and run of 20 yards on their opening play. Quarterback Tyler Prather found Aston again for 21 yards two plays later. The Lions would get a rush of three and then two straight incompletions forced a fourth down. The Blue Streaks would ambush the line, forcing Prather to scramble long beyond the line of scrimmage, the Lions quarterback would trip and fall, forcing a 39 yard loss.
"I lined up in the A gap and nobody came and blocked me," Rus stated on his efforts on the field-flipping sack. "He kept going backwards and I said 'alright here we go', that was the first time I have ever been a part of a play like that."
The Blue Streaks would quickly move into the red zone, and then Semptimphelter hit Newsom on a screen pass, and the sophomore flipped into the end zone for another Blue Streaks score. On the ensuing kickoff, the Blue Streaks kickoff unit would force a fumble and junior Joe Thimons recovered, stealing another possession for JCU. The Blue Streaks' offensive line really started to impose their will on the Lions, with consistent chunk runs setting up the Blue Streaks inside the five. On second and goal, the historic season for Montgomery continued, as he hauled in his 16th touchdown reception of the season, making it 24-0 Blue Streaks in a blink of an eye.
The Blue Streak party continued on the next play, as Prather overthrew his target and senior cornerback Kevin Doyle picked it off and returned it to the 18-yard line. On the very next play, Semptimphelter rolled left, looked back to the right and found tight end Kenneth Rawls for another Blue Streak touchdown. That made it 21 points for the Blue Streaks in three minutes of game time. JCU closed out the first half by intercepting Prather again, as this time it was freshman Dylan Crasi. JCU took a 31-0 lead at the break, the largest lead to end a half for JCU in the playoffs since 2014, which saw JCU up 49-14 at the break against Centre College.
"I thought our defense did a great job against a very good offense," Semptimphelter commented on the offensive onslaught that put the game firmly in the hands of JCU. "They gave us a short field and our offense was able to capitalize on that a lot."
Semptimphelter was hitting on all cylinders completing 9-of-11 passes for 90 yards and three touchdowns. Montgomery and Rawls each had three catches, combining for 64 receiving yards. McVay and Newsom each had big halfs combining for 92 yards on the ground. JCU as a team racked up 138 yards rushing. The defense for JCU was the real story, holding the Lions to 47 total yards of offense and forcing three turnovers.
The halftime break did not slow down the JCU offense as they opened the second half with a 17 yard completion to Facen and then a rush of 20 from McVay. The drive would be capped off by touchdown machine, in Nicholls State transfer Tyren Montgomery, off a incredible one handed catch, for a 29 -yard touchdown. His third time hitting paydirt in the afternoon, it marked his 20th total on the season, putting him tied for third in single-season history for the Blue Streaks.
"Honestly the one handed catch was natural," Montgomery said about his incredible play toward the end of the quarter. "I saw the ball and thought i could grab it with one hand, shoutout to Nick he made a great throw."
The highlight plays continued for the Blue Streaks, as Crasi almost came down with a leaping interception on a deep pass from Prather. Nonetheless, the Blue Streaks forced another punt, and the run game kept taking big chunks of time off the clock. The Blue Streaks put on a 12-play drive that saw just under seven minutes of game clock tick off, capped off by a five yard touchdown catch from McVay. Semptimphelter's fifth touchdown pass of the game tied a JCU playoff record, previously held by Mark Myers in 2014.
"We say it all the time, tough people win," Coach Behrman stated on the efforts of his signal caller after he went down with an injury. "You have to be physically, mentally and emotionally tough and Nick is a really tough kid."
The Lions started to move the football toward the end of the third period, converting a third and fourth down setting them up inside the red zone for the first time in the game. On the third play of the fourth quarter Prather found Kadin Pollard, breaking the shutout with a 17-yard touchdown.
After the Blue Streaks punted for only the second time in the afternoon, the Blue Streaks picked off Prather for the third time, this time it was freshman Adam LaCarte, his first of his career. In the process, JCU tied a program record with three interceptions as a team in a playoff game. Nemo Jenkins put the game to bed with a 25-yard carry, and then a 17-yard touchdown scamper.
The Blue Streaks dominated this game from wire-to-wire as the tremendous performances from Semptimphelter continued. The Bucknell transfer completed 14 of his 17 attempts for 155 yards and 5 touchdowns. Facen, Rawls and Montgomery hauled in four catches for 138 yards combined. Montgomery now sits fourth all-time in receiving yards in a season in John Carroll history. JCU as a team notched 268 rushing yards, McVay led the way with 79 yards and a touchdown on 12 attempts. Jenkins and Newsom combined for 135 yards on the ground.
"It is part of our philosophy and who we are," Behrman remarked on his running back room dominating all year long. "We believe in running the football, and I have found over the course of my career that using multiple running backs, the fresher they are, the better they are."
It was a group effort from the entire defensive unit from John Carroll, as the Lions were held to 1.7 yards per carry and 193 total yards.
"We really just wanted to dominate the line of scrimmage," Rus said about the mindset of the defense coming into their first round playoff matchup. "We knew everything would happen off our effort up front, we generated a lot of turnovers and that was huge for us."
An all-time classic matchup has been set up for Thanksgiving weekend, as a rivalry is renewed. Mount Union vs. John Carroll on Saturday at noon. Mount Union defeated JCU in week two 37-31. Since that defeat, the Blue Streaks have now won 9 straight games.
"We talk a lot as a team about taking the season week-by-week, and embracing the process of improvement," Behrman commented. "We have gotten better and better and better every single week and that's a credit to the players."
Blue Streaks Rout Mount St. Joseph in First Round of NCAA Playoffs
/seasons/2024/boxscores/20241123_jt1o.xml
2024
Mount St. Joseph
7
John Carroll
52
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount St. Joseph (8-3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| No. 24 John Carroll (9-2) | 10 | 21 | 14 | 7 | 52 |
Nov 23, 2024