Sunday, October 31, 1999
'Berg gives JCU a fight
By Andy Cole
Sports Writer
Simple math would tell you that one more Heidelberg field goal still would have left the home team eight points short in a 21-10 loss to John Carroll in Ohio Athletic Conference play Saturday at Frost-Kalnow Stadium.
Most of those who attended the game, however, know that three points at a certain point in the game would have made a significantly bigger difference.
Late in the third quarter, Heidelberg's John Woolridge had just booted a 21-yard field goal to close the gap to 14-3. On the second play of the next drive, the Heidelberg defense, which had turned in a solid, gutsy performance at that point, made it even better. Joe Conduah drilled JCU quarterback Tom Arth, forcing a fumble that The 'Berg's Matt Simon recovered on the 11-yard line of the Blue Streaks.
However, Heidelberg (3-5 overall, 3-4 OAC) couldn't put the ball in the end zone, and Woolridge's 28-yard attempt was blocked by Dominick Clayton. Five minutes later, in the final play of a drive helped along by a roughing-the-punter penalty, John Carroll widened the lead with on a 16-yard scoring strike from Arth to Larry Holmes.
"If we score there, it's a different game," Heidelberg head coach Larry Shank said. "That would have shifted the momentum of the game so much, and anything could have happened for us from there."
Having survived the scare, John Carroll (6-2, 5-2 OAC), which is trying to work its way in to the playoffs, prepares for a key game next week at home against Ohio Northern.
"If we win out, I have to believe that we make the playoffs," Scafe said. "With as good as the Ohio Athletic Conference is, I don't think they wouldn't take the second place team. We'll finish in second if we beat Ohio Northern and Hiram. Next week's game will be very big."
Heidelberg's defense was solid from the beginning, stopping the Blue Streaks on downs on their first possession, the game became a battle of field possession.
After a scoreless first quarter, John Carroll cracked the scoreboard with 8:57 to go in the second, when Jason Parker pinballed his way in to the end zone from 12 yards out. The score still stood at 7-0 at halftime. Heidelberg had limited the John Carroll offense, but had 60 yards on the ground themselves and had not yet completed a pass.
"Our defense played a hard, solid game," said Shank, whose team goes to Baldwin-Wallace next week before closing the season at home against Muskingum.
"John Carroll had great field position the entire game. Our offense was sticking our defense with some tough situations, and their punter put us in some tough situations with some excellent kicks. Defensively, we never got too discouraged.
"I'm extremely proud of the football players at Heidelberg College today," Shank said. "They played hard and they didn't quit. We blew a couple of opportunities to do something early, but we played extremely hard the whole game."
Sophomore Brian Frank, who had replaced Reid Geibel at quarterback, guided The 'Berg on a 16-play, 79-yard drive. After five minutes and 14 seconds, Heidelberg scored on Frank's 3-yard toss to freshman Jim Stetka with 34 seconds left in the game. Woolridge's kick produced the final margin, and Holmes recovered the ensuing onsides kick.
Heidelberg's receiving corps, which lost junior speed demon James Denegall for the season last week at Otterbein, received more bad news when junior Steve Reser, a Calvert graduate, went down on the scoring drive. Reser had six catches for 70 yards before leaving due to the injury.
The Blue Streaks did their damage through the air, where Arth was 21-of-33 for 242 yards before being relieved by Eric Marcy. Larry Holmes had seven catches for 53 yards, Jeff Lerner had 91 yards on four receptions, and Bobby Kraft and Tom McCrone had three catches each.
Andy Brown had nine tackles, two of them for losses, to lead Heidelberg's defensive unit. Mike Cole and Jess T. Miller had seven tackles apiece, and Ken York and Bill Bryant had sacks. No John Carroll rusher had more than 28 yards, and the team as a whole was held to 35 yards on 26 carries.
Simon, York and Chris Resendez joined Brown with two tackles for minus-yardage each, and Pete Gordon, who also played receiver to offset the loss of Denegall, broke up three passes.
Frank was 9-of-16 for 85 yards in backing up Geibel. Jeff Brock carried the ball 30 times for 91 yards, and needs just 12 more carries to break Bryce Tuohy's school record.
"I'm proud of the way we played against a solid football team," Shank said. "Now, we need to build on this effort and play hard the final two weeks of the season."