John Carroll football dominates in all phases in 66-14 win over Wilmington

After an 0-2 start to the season, the John Carroll football team is now 5-2 thanks to its most impressive performance of the season.

On October 26, the Blue Streaks strangled host Wilmington 66-14 while dominating on both sides of the ball.

The offense did its part with 652 yards of total offense, and the defense intercepted four passes and recovered a fumble.

Add that together and it was a game to build on for the rest of the regular season.

With three weeks to play, JCU (5-2, 4-1 Ohio Athletic Conference) travels to Ohio Northern on Nov. 2 and then hosts Otterbe on Nov. 9.

The Blue Streaks will be the heavy favorites in those games and if they play as expected it could set up a huge regular season finale at Don Shula Stadium against 7-0 Marietta, who dominated Baldwin Wallace 47-7 on October 26 .

With that game still weeks away, JCU spent October 26 filling out the stat sheet.

Quarterback Nick Semptimphelter continued his solid season with his best game – statistically – of his JCU career. He completed 21 of 26 passes for 388 yards and five touchdown passes. For the season, Semptimphelter completed 72.7 percent of passes (139 of 191) for 1,805 yards with 19 TD passes against just two interceptions.

Three of those Semptimphelter TD passes went to Tyren Montgomery, who had six catches for 122 yards in the game. Montgomery’s TDs went for 33, 30 and 25 yards. In seven games this season, Montgomery has 30 receptions for 554 yards and eight touchdowns.

Teammate Dorian Facen Jr. also had six catches that went for 171 yards and two scores. Facian had the longest TD of the game: a 61-yard catch in the first quarter.

The rushing attack compiled a season-high 237 yards, led by Lake Catholic graduate Josh Styles (14 carries, 102 yards). Teammate Evan McVay added 62 yards on eight carries and two touchdowns.

Wilmington (1-6, 1-5 OAC) moved the ball for 362 yards, but five turnovers – including four interceptions by the JCU defense on the season – were drive killers for the Quakers.

The Blue Streaks led a back-and-forth game, 14-7, after one quarter, but the visitors answered with four touchdowns in the second quarter to lead 42-14 at halftime. A 21-point third quarter by JCU put the game out of reach.