A fourth straight loss to Otterbein would not be in store.

On Homecoming 2011, the Blue Streaks outlasted the Cardinals in double overtime, 47-41, in yet another offensive showcase (12 touchdowns and 1,039 yards of total offense).

“This is a win that I wanted more than any other this season,” said senior right tackle Devin Martin.

Led by senior quarterback Devin O’Brien, the Blue Streaks’ (2-2, 2-1 OAC) offense torched the Cardinals for 579 yards, including 353 on the ground. O’Brien amassed 403 yards of total offense alone (185 rushing, 218 passing), accounting for four touchdowns. Otterbein (1-3, 0-3 OAC) relied on senior quarterback Austin Schlosser, who tossed five touchdowns on 20-34 through the air for 353 yards.

“We knew it was a huge game for us,” said O’Brien afterwards. “It was a great team effort tonight. We faced a lot of adversity in the second half, but we battled all night; you can’t ask for much more than that from your teammates.”

O’Brien wasted no time in creating his Homecoming highlight reel. On the game’s first drive, the senior capped a 56-yard scamper with a dive at the pylon to put the Blue and Gold ahead.

That TD began a stretch of scores for the Blue Streaks on each of their first four possessions of the game. Freshman kicker Kresimir Ivkovic booted a 20-yarder with no time on the first half clock to send JCU to a 27-13 lead at the break. Both teams adjusted defensively during the intermission, resulting in a scoreless third quarter.

The Cardinals neutralized John Carroll’s offense in the final 15 minutes of regulation, while tacking on three scores of their own. With the score knotted at 34 and only a minute remaining, O’Brien marched his offense quickly down field with long passes to junior Lane Robilotto (six catches, 109 yards) and freshman Joe Quinzio (two grabs, 51 yards). A botched snap and a costly turnover (the game’s first) on the 17-yard line denied the Blue Streaks a sure chance to go for the win in regulation.

In the first overtime period, O’Brien hit junior tight end Ben Madden in stride in the end zone for a score on third and 10 from the 25-yard line. Schlosser would force a second OT with a touchdown pass to senior Trey Fairchild, who finished with eight catches for 132 yards and two scores.

After the Cardinals missed a field goal wide right, the Blue Streaks would turn to their dual-threat quarterback to put the game away from a yard out. O’Brien punched in the winning score two plays after junior fullback Anthony D’Aurizio plowed through the Cardinals’ defense for 24 yards.

Another win, another outstanding game for the John Carroll linemen – offensively, JCU finished the game with a second straight 350-yard rushing effort, while the defense dropped Schlosser five times behind the line. The senior-led offensive line leads the OAC with only two sacks allowed through the first four games.

“In the four years that I have coached here, I think this team has more of a chip on our shoulder,” said offensive line and special teams coach Tom Zagorski. “These guys really want to write their own chapter in the storied football tradition here at JCU, because they’re sick of hearing that the prestige of our program isn’t what it once was. I can’t wait to see how the rest of 2011 unfolds.”

John Carroll’s next game will be played at Wilmington this Saturday, Oct. 8 at 1:30 p.m.

Perhaps the greatest up of the season came when the Blue Streaks defeated the No. 7 ranked team in the country, the University of Mount Union, on the road in Alliance, Ohio. 

That victory marked the first time in program history that JCU defeated a team ranked in the top 10 on the road.

Despite that remarkable achievement, the Blue Streaks would have a difficult time handling some of the tougher opponents on the schedule. 

The first five losses of the season came against teams with a combined record of 63-15, including an 85-47 defeat at the hands of DePauw University, the No. 12 team in the country at the time, in Greencastle, Ind. over Christmas break.

The DePauw loss triggered a four-game losing streak, including losses to Baldwin-Wallace College, Muskingum University and Wilmington College. B-W sits atop the OAC, and Muskingum is currently tied for fourth.

However, since the Muskingum loss, coach Kristie Maravalli’s squad has had a reverse of fate, currently riding a three-game winning streak with wins over Marietta College, Heidelberg University and Capital University, who is tied for fourth in the conference.

In those three wins, the Blue Streaks are averaging 83.6 points per game, riding the solid play of freshmen Allie Lustig and Missy Spahar. 

Lustig got the call to start in the Marietta game and responded with 12 points and six assists, and then came up big for her team this past Saturday against Capital with a career high 15 points and five assists.

“I was definitely nervous to start for the Marietta game, but once I got all the nerves out, everything just seemed to fall into place,” said Lustig. “I know that one of my strengths as a point guard is to run and push in transition, and that’s simply what I’ve been doing.”

Spahar, who averages nearly 12 points per game and has logged four double-doubles on the year, has been a big contributor to the recent success.  

Over the past three games she’s averaging 14.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.

“Before every game I just think about all the things that I have to do to help contribute to the team,” said Spahar. “I have a lot to learn but I know that I am with a great group of girls and coaches that will make me play to the best of my ability.”

Of course, the spectacular play of senior guard/forward Lee Jennings and junior transfer Emilee Ritchie shouldn’t be ignored.  

Aside from the Capital game, either Jennings or Ritchie has led the team in scoring in every game this season. 

The duo also ranks first and second in scoring in the OAC with averages of 22.8 and 17.8 points per game, respectively.  

In the win over Heidelberg, Ritchie posted a career high 27 points, and leads the OAC in three-pointers made per game with 53 made three-balls on the season.

As the Blue Streaks head into another tough stretch in the schedule with Mount Union, B-W, and Ohio Northern University around the corner, the Blue Streaks are looking like they are ready to respond to the challenge.  

Next up for JCU is Saturday’s showdown in Ada, Ohio with ONU, slated for 2 p.m.

Saturday night’s contest in Bexley, Ohio was much of the same – led by a John Carroll and Ohio Athletic Conference record-breaking nine three-pointers by junior guard Michael Hartnett.

John Carroll overcame a six-point halftime deficit in a 93-87 victory to open conference play.

The last four regular season championships in the Ohio Athletic Conference have been nabbed by either Capital or John Carroll. 

With a “three-peat” in mind, the back-to-back regular season champion Blue Streaks knew one of their toughest games of the year would come early in the schedule. 

JCU had won four of the last seven matchups against Capital and had not lost to the Crusaders since Dec. 13, 2008. 

Coming off of a tough loss to Olivet College last weekend, John Carroll needed a “rebound” win on the road to make an early statement in the conference.

Coach Moran’s squad played a very competitive first half, leading by as many as seven points (with 7:10 to play). 

However, Capital’s Scott Robertson scored 16 first half points, assisting the Crusaders to a 48-42 halftime advantage. 

The Blue Streaks shot 50 percent from the floor, but the red-hot home squad drained 61 percent of their first half field goals. 

Aside from fouls, the halftime stat sheet seemed encouraging for John Carroll. The Crusaders also connected on 18 of 23 first half free throw attempts after John Carroll committed 16 team fouls.

The first four minutes of the second half were equally sloppy for both teams – eight total fouls were committed before John Carroll finally settled down. Capital would only step to the charity stripe three times in the second period.

All the while, junior guard Michael Hartnett was simply scintillating. After a chaotic start to the second half, Hartnett single-handedly brought the Blue Streaks back into the ball game. 

Hitting from almost every spot on the floor, the sharp-shooter canned nine three-pointers. He knocked down six of his nine from downtown in the second half, finishing with 27 points.

“We put in some new plays earlier this week to get Joey [Meyer] and I some more open looks,” said Hartnett. “I think just spending some extra time in the gym shooting around really helped me.”

Capital did not make it easy for the Blue Streaks though, as the second half saw four lead changes and four ties before John Carroll took the lead for good with just over five minutes left to go in the game. 

Junior guard Joey Meyer sealed the Blue Streak win with a couple of successful free throws with less than a minute to play.

 “I think it’s contagious when we shoot well,” said Meyer. “ It’s a huge momentum swing when one of us hits a couple threes in a row and then we can get into our press and start causing turnovers. Thankfully we hit some shots tonight.”

Meyer also finished three of six from the three-point line on his way to a quiet 19 points. 

Senior Kyle Hubbard contributed 13 points off the bench, including a perfect nine of nine from the free throw line.

The Crusaders had three players in double figures, led by senior guard D.J. Frazier who scored 25 points.

Michael Sommer hit five three-balls and finished with 19 points, while Scott Robertson, Capital’s best finisher so far this year, netted 18 points – but only two came in the second half.

John Carroll improved to 5-1 and 1-0 in the conference with the win. 

The Blue Streaks were predicted to win the conference again this year, and they certainly got off on the right foot with this win on the road.

“We haven’t won here in a long time,” said assistant coach Frank O’Brien of the nightmares the team has suffered in Bexley. 

“Coach Moran made a few defensive adjustments at the break and they worked well. It was definitely a team effort.” 

Before Saturday, JCU had not won at Capital since Jan. 4, 2006.

The Blue Streaks and Crusaders will battle it out again on Jan. 21 in the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center. 

Next up for John Carroll are the Ohio Northern University Polar Bears at home on Saturday afternoon.

Coach Cally Plummer’s squad did just that, as they knocked off the visiting Falcons in straight sets (25-17, 25-19, 25-19) to begin the season 1-0.

Game one proved to be a back and forth contest, as it fell to a tie for the seventh time at 11-11. It was then that sophomore Jess Hammer exploded on to the scene, as she aided the Streaks in taking ten of the next twelve points, including six of her own to take game one. 

John Carroll was off and running out of the gates in the second game, as they took 14 of the first 19 points. Juniors Laura Sudo and Kerry Fox each had two kills early. 

Although the lead began to slide, the Blue Streaks held on for dear life and pulled out a 25-19 victory. 

Freshman Teresa Noewer made a statement in game three with seven of her match-high 12 kills. Noewer and Fox combined for 44 kills on the night, while senior Meredith McDiarmid had 36 assists. 

Sophomores Emily Bendzak and Melanie Rodriguez paced the team with 12 digs and freshman Charlotte Sykora had three solo blocks. 

This sweet victory for the Streaks not only avenged last season’s loss, but set the tone for the weekend the Blue Streaks were about to have.

The team spent the weekend in Delaware, Ohio competing in the Ohio Wesleyan University Invitational. The ladies’ outstanding play would earn them a spot in the championship match against Alma College (4-0), a 2009 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association semifinalist. 

Coach Plummer’s team got to that point by going 3-0 in pool play to reach the finals by sweeping Ohio Wesleyan (25-22, 25-18, 25-21), defeating Adrian College in a five-game match (25-23, 25-16, 21-25, 19-25, 15-11) and culminating with a sweep of Grove City College (25-17, 25-19, 25-8). 

In the championship match, however, the Blue Streaks would fall to Alma by scores of 25-17, 25-17 and 25-22. Fox and McDiarmid were named to the Ohio Wesleyan Invitational All-Tournament team.  

After finishing last year with a 12-17 mark and only posting a 4-5 Ohio Athletic Conference record, the Streaks were determined to improve in 2010. 

They felt their best chance to succeed would be through their veteran players.

“In the offseason we did a ton of cardio and lifting to enhance our strength and endurance in order to get ready for our season,” said McDiarmid.

It certainly has paid off in the early going as the 4-1 mark ties the 2008 team as Coach Plummer’s best start to a season. 

“One of our biggest factors to such a great start is our team chemistry,” said Fox. “We all get along really well and have fun together, and that translates to success on the court. This team has a strong work ethic as well as raw talent, and it’s becoming more and more evident in how hard we push each other in practices and games.”

Editor’s Note: The Blue Streaks looked to continue their hot start with last night’s match against Hiram College. For full details, log on to jcusports.com.