BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Carroll University football team opened the game with a 21-0 lead over Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday, but the Titans scored 26 unanswered points to take down Carroll 21-26 on the Titan's homecoming. Damon Loker led the Pio defense with 11 total tackles, 1.5 TFL, and a forced fumble. Nick Mantas added in 11 tackles as well for a career-high.
The Pioneers (2-1, 1-1 CCIW) continued their trend of forcing turnovers, intercepting two passes, and recovering a fumble in the loss. Despite surrendering 440 yards of total offense, Jake Binkowski came away with his second pick-six in back-to-back weeks and intercepted another pass later in the game. The Pioneers recorded just shy of 300 total offensive yards, with 177 yards coming from Josh Raby and the receivers, and 115 from the running back corps led by Jaxon Case. Reed Breckheimer caught two passes for 65 yards, Keon Miller caught a team-high five passes, while Josh Hill and Austin Eichstaedt each caught the two offensive touchdowns scored. Carroll struggled mightily on third downs, converting just one all day on 13 tries.
Carroll's second offensive drive sustained for 11 plays, the longest Pio drive of the afternoon. Case rushed for 28 yards of the drive leading up to Raby's pass to Eichstaedt for the 27-yard score. Three plays later, Binkowski picked off the starting quarterback and took it back 36 yards for the score.
In the second quarter, the Titans were driving over 11 plays when they went for a 4th and 4 at the Pioneer 31-yard line. The pass attempt was thwarted with a quarterback hurry by Helios Martinez. The Pioneers' drive stalled four plays later, unfortunately, and Noah Streveler was forced to put it away again. After a long punt return by IWU, Carroll once again stopped the Titans on fourth down deep in their own red zone.
Carroll started on offense to start the second half, and it took just six plays to go 75 yards and to add seven more points on the board for Carroll. Raby connected with Hill for an eight-yard score after Breckheimer's 54-yard reception.
The Titans came back and the ensuing drive and scored after nine plays. After forcing the Pioneers to punt, the Titans intended to continue driving but were stopped by a forced fumble by Loker. Steven Lazaris fell on the ball and gave Carroll possession with under five minutes left in the third quarter. A Pioneer three and out led to another huge interception by Binkowski on the next drive just outside of the Carroll red zone.
The Titans went 80 yards after the second-straight Carroll three-and-out. They forced Raby to miss two completions on Carroll's next drive, and after a 75-yard punt return, IWU scored two plays later but missed the extra point to tie the game. The Titans scored to take the lead with 4:13 left in the fourth quarter. Raby and the offense completed a 53-yard pass play to open their four-minute offense, but four straight rush attempts left the Pioneers short of the first down from the IWU 17-yard line. The Titans picked up one last first down and kneeled away the game.
Carroll celebrates homecoming on Saturday, October 1 with a 2 PM game against Augustana. Carroll and Augie played to an overtime thriller last season, as the Pios came out victorious on a walk-off touchdown pass.
Early Lead Not Enough in Pioneers' Loss to Illinois Wesleyan
/seasons/2022/boxscores/20220924_2pyc.xml
2022
Carroll
21
Illinois Wesleyan
26
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carroll (2-1) | 14 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
| Illinois Wesleyan (2-1) | 0 | 0 | 7 | 19 | 26 |
Sep 24, 2022