BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin-Wallace College Yellow Jackets defeated cross-town rival John Carroll University, 21-17, tonight (Saturday, September 20, 2008) before 7,176 fans in the Annual Battle for the Cuyahoga Gold Bowl Trophy
With its win, B-W is now 1-1 overall and leads the all-time series with JCU, 23-21-4, and the Gold Bowl series at 11-9. With its loss, JCU is now 1-1 overall.
JCU led 7-0 after one quarter and held a 10-7 advantage at halftime and at the end of the third stanza.
JCU opened the scoring at the 13:26 mark of the first quarter when senior quarterback Mark Petruziello threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Rebere Sparks. Josiah Kenzior's PAT kick gave the Blue Streaks a 7-0 lead. B-W then countered at the 2:32 mark of the second quarter when junior QB Anthony Gardner (Rocky River/Lakewood St. Edward) threw a three-yard scoring strike to senior wide receiver Matt Lepley (Bellevue). Sophomore Cory Ramos (Sagamore Hills/Nordonia) kicked the PAT to tie the score at 7-7. Undaunted, JCU drove the length of the field and gained a 10-7 lead at halftime when Kenzior made a 32-yard field goal.
In the fourth quarter, JCU increased its lead to 17-7 when Petruziello threw an eight-yard scoring pass to junior running back Mark Elsaesser at the 9:45 mark and Kedzior made the PAT kick. B-W then closed to within three points at 17-14 when Gardner threw a six-yard scoring pass to junior WR Matt Dash (Medina/Buckeye) and Ramos made the PAT kick at the 6:57 mark. Then the Yellow Jackets took their first lead of the game at 21-17 when Gardner hooked up with Lepley on a flea-flicker play from 24 yards out and Ramos made his third PAT kick at the 1:54 mark
Offensively, the Yellow Jackets were led by Gardner and junior RB Kyrell Crook (Columbus/St. Francis DeSales). Gardner completed 17-of-28 passes for 224 yards with three TD and one interception. Crook led the ground game with 92 yards in 18 attempts. The top receivers were Lepley and freshman Devon Jennings (Euclid) with four catches each. The Yellow Jacket defense was led by junior middle linebacker Paul Burger (Mentor) and junior cornerback Pete Taylor (North Olmsted) with nine total tackles each. Offensively, JCU was led by Petruziello and a host of Blue Streak receivers. Petruziello completed 29-of-44 passes for 301 yards with two TD and two interceptions. The top Blue Streak receiver was junior WR Frank Ross with nine catches for 95 yards. The top JCU tacklers were senior linebackers Mike Nettling and Derek Buell with a game-high 12 stops each.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Saturday, September 27 when they travel to Marietta, Ohio to play the Marietta College Pioneers in an OAC game at 7:00 p.m. Fans can both listen to that game on campus radio station WBW, 88.3 FM, and via the Internet at www.wBW.com and via the WTAP TV Internet Web site feed atwww.wtap.com.
FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 or 5906 and e-mail atkruple@bw.edu. or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.BWyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter athttp://twitter.com/bwathletics.
