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Mount edges JCU in OAC battle

Above, John Carroll starting center Chris Clemens, a Sebring High School graduate, gets ready to snap the ball as running back Michael Canganelli is in the backfield on Saurday during the team’s game against Mount Union.

ALLIANCE — Sometimes the best offense is a good defense or in the case of top-ranked Mount Union — a great defense — as the Purple Raiders scored two defensive touchdowns in a 23-10 win over 15th-ranked John Carroll in an Ohio Athletic Conference battle Saturday in front of 5,866 fans at Mount Union Stadium.

The two defensive scores both game at key moments in game.

The first came from senior linebacker Danny Robinson forced a fumble and returned it 13 yards for a score to give the Raiders their first lead of the game 13-7 just before halftime.

The second was courtesy of senior defensive back Louis Berry, who came on a blitz, sacked John Carroll quarterback Anthony Moeglin, took the ball out his hands and sprinted 45 yards for a touchdown that made it 23-10 Mount Union with just 34 seconds to play.

That came after John Carroll scored what looked like the game-winning touchdown, which was nullified by a holding penalty. With Mount Union leading 16-10, Michael Canganelli scored on a 4-yard run around the right corner, but it did not count. On the next play, Moeglin’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete with 3:33 remaining in the game.

Mount Union is 3-0 and 2-0 OAC, while John Carroll is 2-1 and 1-1 OAC.

Both defense did their part, holding down their counterparts.

Mount Union’s defense finished the game holding John Carroll to 231 total yards with nine tackles for loss, three sacks, an interception and three fumble recoveries. Berry had two of those sacks, Robinson had eight tackles and Mitch O’Hara an interception.

John Carroll drove 81 yards on the game’s opening possession and Moeglin ran in from 5 yards out to give the Blue Streaks a 7-0 lead. The Purple Raiders gave up just three more points the rest of the way, hold John Carroll to minus-3 yards the rest of the first half.

The John Carroll defense did its part keeping the Raiders offense off the board until quarterback D’Angelo Fulford threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Jawanza Evans-Morris with five minutes left in the second quarter but the extra point was no good and John Carroll kept the lead 7-6.

Mount Union pushed the lead to 16-7 midway through the third quarter on a Cory Barnett (32-yard field goal.

John Carroll got to within one score, 16-10, with 13:18 to play when Matt Danko kicked a 45-yard field goal.

The teams exchanged possession five times before John Carroll got the ball back at its 46-yard line and the Blue Streaks got it to the Mount Union 43 before Berry got the strip sack and score.

Moeglin finished 10-of-23 for 118 yards with an interception while Michael Canganelli rushed for 116 yards on 24 carries for John Carroll

Fulford was 15-of-38 passing for 153 yards with a touchdown and ran 60 yards on 13 carries to lead the Raider offense.

Mount Union, which extended the nation’s longest win streak to 18 games, will play at Otterbein next Saturday.

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