(UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio)—Senior quarterback Rocky Pentello (Columbus/Westerville South) completed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Kelly (Hilliard/Hilliard Darby) with 58 seconds left as Capital University’s football team, ranked No. 3 in the nation, rallied for a 24-21 Ohio Athletic Conference football win at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio.
Capital moves to 5-0 overall (4-0 OAC) and extends its winning streak to an OAC-best 11 regular season games, while John Carroll falls to 1-4 overall (1-3 OAC). It was just the second win in Capital history at John Carroll and first since 1978.
The game-winning touchdown was Pentello’s third of the game as he went 21-of-31 for 263 yards. Pentello now is the OAC’s most prolific passer with 10,403 yards moving past John Carroll’s Tom Arth (1999-2002) who had 10,345.
John Carroll had taken its first lead of the game with 5:53 left as Luke Palmisano intercepts a Pentello pass at the Capital 44 yard line then on the return laterals it Carlo Melaragno on the 15-yard line and he takes it into the endzone setting the score at 21-17.
Capital led 14-0 in the first quarter as the Crusaders covered 57 yards on just three plays on its first possession for a score as Pentello’s first pass attempt was a 42-yard touchdown pass to Kelly. The Blue Streaks drove their next possession into Capital territory before a fumble turned the ball over. The Crusaders then struck again this time Pentello threw to runingback Jeremy Mulkey (Dublin/Dublin Coffman) who turned it into a 48-yard touchdown pass.
John Carroll got on the board early in the second quarter capping a 10-play, 72-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown pass from Rudy Kirbus to Joseph Konrad. The Blue Streaks kept Capital scoreless the remainder of the period to make it 14-7 at the half.
The only score in the third quarter came from Capital junior placekicker Matt Spitz (Xenia/Xenia) who kicked a career-long 41-yarder to send the score to 17-7.
In the fourth quarter Kirbus and Konrad hooked up again this time from 23 yards to finish a 15-play 75-yard drive to close the gap to 17-14.
Kelly finished with three catches for 65 yards, senior Graham Holmberg (Newark/Newark) had five catches for 44 yards and Mulkey had 73 yards rushing on 17 carries to lead the Capital offense.
Zac McKenzie (Hilliard/Hilliard Darby) led Capital with nine tackles while senior Nick Bucci (Hudson/Hudson) forced his OAC-leading third forced fumble on the final drive of the game.
Freshman quarterback Rudy Kirbus making his first-ever collegiate start for John Carroll and completed 16-of-33 passes for 198 yards then ran for 51 yards on eight carries. Kirbus tossed a pair of touchdowns but also a pair of interceptions. His top target was Joseph Konrad who had game-highs with eight catches for 129 yards.
Capital stays on the road next week at No. 10 Ohio Northern University at 1:30 p.m. in Ada. The game will be broadcast by SportsTime Ohio and tape delayed to 9 p.m.