Carthage Capitalizes on Seven Turnovers to Down Scots 14-7

Keith Adams breaks up a pass intended for Carthage's B.J. O'Donnell.

WOOSTER, Ohio — Carthage (Wis.) College scored a special teams and defensive touchdown and forced The College of Wooster into seven turnovers en route to capturing a 14-7 victory in the second round of the NCAA Div. III Football Championship at Wooster’s John P. Papp Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Carthage (11-1), which entered the game leading Div. III in turnover margin (+24), forced the Scots into five fumbles and two interceptions without turning the ball over once itself. The five fumbles lost marked a school record for a single-game by a Wooster team.

The Redmen’s opportunistic defense and special teams overcame an inept offensive attack, as they only mustered five first downs and 60 total yards on 65 plays, or an average of less than one yard per snap (0.9).

The Scots, who see their best season in school history come to an end at 11-1, struggled as well on the offensive side of the ball, but did manage to amass 15 first downs and 211 yards. Most of it came via Tony Sutton (Akron, Ohio / Archbishop Hoban), who finished with 156 yards on 28 rushes (5.6 average) in his last collegiate game.

Carthage took control right from the start, as Luke Thompson returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. It was the senior’s first collegiate kickoff return for a touchdown.

Neither team scored the rest of the first quarter. The Scots’ defense, as it seemed to all day, thwarted an opportunity after the Redmen intercepted a pass at the Wooster 42 on one possession. During their next series, Sutton brought the Scots into the "red zone" on a game-high 33-yard run, but two plays later, Carthage sacked and forced Justin Schafer (Bethesda, Ohio / Union Local) to fumble.

The Redmen brought the fumble back to the their own 45-yard line, but they went three-and-out and punted the ball into the end zone for a touchback early in the second quarter. On the ensuing possession, Wooster was forced into a 3rd-and-9, when Carthage’s Brandon Fox came on a blitz from the left side, stripped the ball from Schafer at the 11-yard line where it bounced right to Jim Cichon, who took it into the end zone for the Redmen’s 10th defensive touchdown of the season.

It appeared that it would be 14-0 heading into halftime, however, the Scots got a boost of momentum when Carthage failed on a fake punt, giving Wooster the ball at the Redmen 36-yard line with :57 remaining. The Scots scored on a three-play drive, which was keyed by a 31-yard pass from Schafer to Slovensky to the four-yard line. Then, Schafer took it himself on an option to the left to make it a 14-7 game.

Wooster appeared to build off that late first-half score, as the defense forced a three-and-out to begin the second half, and then the offense drove to the Carthage 20-yard line. But on 2nd-and-12, Schafer was sacked hard again, this time by Jason Kalinowski and Fox recovered the loose ball at the 29.

The remainder of the third quarter and most of the fourth was a battle for field position. Thanks to some outstanding punting and punt coverage, the Redmen won that battle, twice pinning the Scots inside their own five-yard line.

Carthage had a chance to put the game away a couple of times, but missed a 44-yard field goal with 5:48 to play. Two possessions later, the Redmen took over on the Wooster 6-yard line after a failed fake punt by the Scots with 3:02 to play. However again, the Wooster defense made a stand and Carthage elected to go for it on 4th-and-goal from the seven, instead of attempting another field goal.

Tim Slovensky hauled in this 31-yard pass late in the first half to set Wooster up first-and-goal at the four-yard line. The Scots would score on the next play.

At the 1:56 mark, the Scots took over possession at their own seven with backup quarterback Bob Reiff (Bay Village, Ohio / Bay) at the controls due to an injury to Schafer. Reiff, who had been in since Wooster’s initial drive of the fourth quarter, moved the Scots to the Carthage 49, with most of the yardage coming via two pass interference penalties. But on 4th-and-10, he was pressured, forced to throw it up for grabs, and the Redmen’s Donovan Moore came down with the ball, sealing Carthage’s trip to the national quarterfinals.

The game featured two of the top-six running backs, statistically speaking, in NCAA Div. III, and Sutton, the nation’s rushing leader, won that battle as Dante Washington was limited to 77 yards on 34 carries (2.3 average).

Both quarterbacks struggled due to the pressure both defenses were able to supply. Schafer ended up 5-of-17 for 64 yards, while his counterpart, Ferni Garza completed 4-of-17 passes for 22 yards.

The defenses combined for 10 sacks (five apiece), including 2.0 for Wooster’s Andy Mizak (Warren, Mich. / Paul K. Cousino), which gives him a school-record 15 on the year.

The Redmen will return to northeast Ohio next Saturday (Dec. 4) when they will take on No. 1 ranked and winner of six of the last eight national championships, Mt. Union College (11-0).