Muskingum needed inches. The John Carroll University defense did not buckle. Instead the Blue Streaks drove the Fighting Muskies back yards.
A late first half goal line defensive stand highlighted the day as No. 7 John Carroll (8-0, 7-0 OAC) continued to roll with a 62-14 win over Muskingum (1-7, 1-6 OAC) on Saturday afternoon in New Concord, Ohio.
Muskingum drove down to the John Carroll 1-yard line midway through the second quarter aided by three penalties. The Blue Streaks' defense rebounded from their miscues and held firm.
The Fighting Muskies turned to Melvin Smith on the goal line who was stopped by Kevin Cope and Frank Pines. On third down Brody Zangaro knifed into the backfield and sent Muskingum four yards backwards. Opting to go for it on fourth down Andy Bryan snuffed out the threat with a 15-yard sack.
"It was a great, great effort," said head coach Tom Arth. "Muskingum was down inside the 5-yard line to get the stop. It was unfortunately that we let that drive continue a few times with penalties on special teams and on defense. Those are things we have to fix and get corrected moving forward."
On the afternoon the John Carroll defense came through with five takeaways, all of which led touchdowns. Offensively, the Blue and Gold found the end zone on their first seven possessions.
Said Arth, "That's huge. It's phenomenal. I think that's something we really focused on the last few weeks is creating turnovers. We just have to do a better job on offense not giving them up."
The defense, who came into the game with 11 takeaways all season, recorded four of the miscues in the first half. David Porter recovered two of the three Muskingum first half fumbles and Jared Donovan recorded his first interception of the year. The Blue and Gold added a first half defensive touchdown with Jovon Dawson returning the third Fighting Muskie fumble two yards for the score.
Aramis Greenwood scored the game's first touchdown, just not by way of a game-opening kick return. Greenwood hauled in a 40-yard touchdown pass on the second offensive play of the game.
John Carroll did receiving the opening kick, just Muskingum did not give the senior a chance sending the ball out of bounds.
The defense came through setting up another quick score with Jimmy King forcing Muskingum's first turnover of the day. Tommy Michals made the Fighting Muskies pay with a 13-yard run to make it 14-0 less than three minutes into the game.
John Carroll's offense had an atypical drive on its third possession. While still ending up in the end zone after a 1-yard plunge from Michals, the 13-play drive marked the second-longest drive in terms of plays and longest since the season-opener.
The Blue Streaks struck quickly to start the second quarter with Myers lobbing up a 1-yard score to a leaping Zach Strippy. The duo would connected again on the next drive, this time from 31 yards out. For the game Strippy would finish with six catches for 89 yards and two scores.
"It was great," said Arth. "We came out right out of the gate with a big completion (to Zach). It set the tone for him early. He had a really great game."
Vince Ziccardi, a 4-year player had never found the end zone. That changed on Saturday.
Myers, and the senior fullback connected on a 2-yard score midway through the second quarter.
Myers would go on to find Marshall Howell from 17 yards out with just over a minute left in the first half for his fifth touchdown pass of the game. Myers, who only played the first half for the fourth straight week, finished 16 of 23 for 275 yards and five scores.
"Mark played really well," said Arth. "We're excited. The offensive line and running backs did a great job in protection. There were a couple times that the running backs came back and got some big blocks and allowed all that stuff to happen down the field."
Scott Eilerman paced John Carroll defensively with seven tackles. For the game the Blue Streaks recorded seven tackles for loss and five sacks.
A 9-yard pass from Wes Keller to Mark Baniewicz rounded out JCU's scored.
Muskingum scored twice in the third quarter on 75- and 5-yard runs from Desmond Waden. Waden finished with 121 yards on 12 carries.
John Carroll returns home next Saturday, Nov. 8, to host Otterbein at 1:30 p.m. The game will mark senior day for the Blue Streaks' 32 seniors.