Defense records school record 10 sacks as No. 12 ONU tops John Carroll 23-13

By Tim Glon

ADA — The Ohio Northern defense recorded a school-record 10 quarterback sacks as the No. 12-ranked Polar Bears defeated John Carroll 23-13 in an Ohio Athletic Conference football game Saturday afternoon at Dial-Roberson Stadium.

Ohio Northern improves to 3-0 overall, 2-0 in OAC play, while John Carroll falls to 2-1, 1-1.

Northern broke the previous school record of nine sacks set at Bluffton in 1995.

Nine different Polar Bears got in the act with at least one half a sack, led by senior middle linebacker Lenny Trusnik with 2.5.

Sophomore safety Cullen Rasmussen had a career-high 12 tackles and .5 sack, Trusnik had 10 tackles to go with his 2.5 sacks and sophomore nose tackle Jake Fallis had nine tackles, 1.5 sacks and a team-high 3.0 tackles for loss.

The Polar Bears led 23-0 before JCU scored 13 fourth quarter points to get back into the game.

Junior R.J. Meadows had a pair of 1-yard TD runs, sandwiched around a Jake Heaphy 25-yard field goal, and junior Ben Wittwer caught a 31-yard TD pass from Jeff Pankratz to give the Bears what appeared to be a comfortable 23-0 lead after three periods of play.

But the Blue Streaks marched 67 yards in 18 plays for a TD and 80 yards in 10 plays for another score in the fourth quarter.

Mike Petruziello threw a 2-yard TD pass to Peter Spachner with 14:10 left to make it 23-7. Petruziello then snuck in from a yard out to pull JCU within 23-13 with 1:56 left.

Trusnik sacked Petruziello on the 2-point try to keep ONU’s lead at 10 points.

Wittwer then recovered the onside kick to seal the game for ONU.

“It got a bit scary at the end, but it was a good win over a very good opponent,” ONU head coach Dean Paul. “Our defensive line had an outstanding day and overall we played well on defense until the fourth quarter. Offensively, we threw the ball better and had some good moments.”

Wittwer had career-highs of eight catches and 108 yards and a score and Meadows carried 20 times for 68 yards and two TDs for ONU. Pankratz completed 16-of-27 passes for 168 yards and a TD.

Rai Stover carried 13 times for 80 yards and Tyler Gingrich ran 18 times for 69 yards to pace the JCU ground game.

Petruziello completed 17-of-31 passes for 191 yards and a TD but suffered the 10 sacks for a total of 57 yards in losses.

JCU out-gained ONU in total offense 291-273. The game marked the 14th time in the last 15 games, dating to the 2005 season, that ONU held an opponent under 300 yards of total offense.

The Polar Bears will return to action next Saturday when they travel to Otterbein for a 7 pm night contest.