Wagner, defense lead Carroll over Sioux Falls for NAIA national title
Dylan Brown Independent Record Dylan Brown Independent Record - Carroll College running back John Camino, center, and fellow teammates react after winning the 2010 NAIA National Championship game against Sioux Falls University, Saturday, in Rome, Ga.
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Grading the Saints
RUSH OFFENSE – Carroll pounded its way to 174 yards, thanks to the extra efforts of senior running back John Camino and the fleet feet of senior quarterback Gary Wagner. They finished with 81 and 75 yards, respectively, while much of Wagner’s came on an 83-yard touchdown run. Chance Demarais also finished with five carries for 10 yards, but it was a new wrinkle in the Saints offense that got a lot of attention. Senior tight end Bubba Bartlett rushed five times for 12 yards. It wasn’t much, but it kept Sioux Falls on its toes and solidified the belief that Bartlett could turn out to be an NFL fullback after all.
Grade: A
PASS OFFENSE– Wagner didn’t throw the ball a lot, and really didn’t have to. He completed 12 of 21 passes, but in a game of field possession it was more important to finish without a turnover, and that’s exactly what the Saints did. Still, the 107 yards through the air were way under the team’s average,
NAIA Championship Games
2010 Carroll 10, SIoux Falls 7
2009 Sioux Falls 25, Lindenwood 22
2008 Sioux Falls 23, Carroll 7
2007 Carroll 17, Sioux Falls 9
2006 Sioux Falls 23, St. Francis (Ind.) 19
2005 Carroll 27, St. Francis (Ind.) 10
2004 Carroll 15, St. Francis (Ind.) 13
2003 Carroll 41, NW Oklahoma St. 28
2002 Carroll 28, Georgetown (Ky.) 7
2001 Georgetown (Ky.) 49, Sioux Falls 27
2000 Georgetown (Ky.) 20, NW Oklahoma St. 0
1999 NW Oklahoma State 34, Georgetown (Ky.) 26
1998 Azusa Pacific 17, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 14
1997 Findlay (Ohio) 14, Willamette (Ore.) 7
1996 Southwestern Oklahoma 33, Montana Tech 31
1995 Central State (Ohio) 37, NE State (Okla.) 7
1994 Northeastern State (Okla.) 13, Ark.-Pine Bluff 12
1993 East Central (Okla.) 49, Glenville St. (W.V.) 35
1992 Central St. (Ohio) 19, Gardner-Webb 16
1991 Central Arkansas 19, Central St. (Ohio) 16
1990 Central
NAIA Players of the Game
2010 Carroll 10, SIoux Falls 7
2009 Sioux Falls 25, Lindenwood 22
2008 Sioux Falls 23, Carroll 7
2007 Carroll 17, Sioux Falls 9
2006 Sioux Falls 23, St. Francis (Ind.) 19
2005 Carroll 27, St. Francis (Ind.) 10
2004 Carroll 15, St. Francis (Ind.) 13
2003 Carroll 41, NW Oklahoma St. 28
2002 Carroll 28, Georgetown (Ky.) 7
2001 Georgetown (Ky.) 49, Sioux Falls 27
2000 Georgetown (Ky.) 20, NW Oklahoma St. 0
1999 NW Oklahoma State 34, Georgetown (Ky.) 26
1998 Azusa Pacific 17, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 14
1997 Findlay (Ohio) 14, Willamette (Ore.) 7
1996 Southwestern Oklahoma 33, Montana Tech 31
1995 Central State (Ohio) 37, NE State (Okla.) 7
1994 Northeastern State (Okla.) 13, Ark.-Pine Bluff 12
1993 East Central (Okla.) 49, Glenville St. (W.V.) 35
1992 Central St. (Ohio) 19, Gardner-Webb 16
1991 Central Arkansas 19, Central St. (Ohio) 16
1990 Central
2010 NAIA playoff results
First Round
Saturday, Nov. 20
Sioux Falls 33, Northwestern Oklahoma State 14
Carroll 35, Azusa Pacific 21
Saint Xavier 66, Cumberlands 19
MidAmerica Nazarene 27, Georgetown, Ky. 21
Morningside, Iowa 38, Dickinson State 17
Marian, Ind. 35, Ottawa, Kan. 20
Saint Francis, Ind. 46, Lindenwood 38
McKendree 38, McPherson 14
Quarterfinals
Saturday, Nov. 27
Saint Xavier 40, Saint Francis, Ind. 21
Sioux Falls 27, McKendree 7
MidAmerica Nazarene 34, Morningside, Iowa 10
Carroll 38, Marian, Ind. 6
Semifinals
Saturday, Dec. 4
Sioux Falls 38, MidAmerica Nazarene 0
Carroll 27, Saint Xavier 5
Championship
Saturday, Dec. 18
At Barron Stadium
Rome, Ga.
Carroll 10, Sioux Falls 7
Carroll vs. Sioux Falls summary
CARROLL 10, SIOUX FALLS 7
Carroll 0 7 0 3 — 10
Sioux Falls 0 7 0 0 — 7
Second Quarter
CC—Wagner 83 run (Yaremko kick), 8:47.
USF—Taylor 1 run (Wieking kick), 3:02.
Fourth Quarter
CC—FG Yaremko 22, 7:47.
A—6,000.
CC U SF
First downs 16 13
Rushes-yards 47-174 25-35
Passing 107 172
Comp-Att-Int 12-21-0 18-33-0
Return Yards 0 (-5)
Punts-Avg. 6-30 6-38
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties-Yards 7-45 6-60
Time of Possession 34:26 25:34
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Carroll, Camino 24-81, Wagner 12-75, Bartlett 5-12, Demarais 5-8, team 1- —2). Sioux Falls, Walker —25, Porter —14, Hicks —8, Taylor —1, team ——2), Eastman ——11).
PASSING—Carroll, Wagner 12-21-0-107. Sioux Falls, Eastman 18-32-0-172, team 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING—Carroll, Bartlett 5
ROME, Ga. — It couldn’t have been more perfect.
In a game built up by two of the country’s elite programs and solidified by a rivalry that has resulted in nine combined titles since 2002, Saturday’s NAIA national championship football game was so close, it came down to a single play.
With 8.4 seconds left on the clock, University of Sioux Falls kicker Braden Wieking had the chance to tie the game with a 46-yard field goal attempt. But with the title on the line, the kicker sent the ball wide left and the Carroll College football team won its sixth title with a 10-7 win on the turf at Barron Stadium.
“The score tells it all,” Saints head coach Mike Van Diest said, whose team entered the contest ranked second in the nation, but finished the season 14-0. “It was going to be a great battle.”
The victory snapped Sioux Falls’ NAIA record-tying 42-game winning streak and denied the top-ranked Cougars (13-1) a third straight championship.
Carroll senior quarterback Gary Wagner — who took a medical redshirt in 2008 and had to watch from the sidelines as the Cougars pounded then-true freshman Matt Ritter in a 23-7 title-game loss — finished his sixth and final season by kneeling with the ball.
“I can’t really even put it into words,” said Wagner, who rushed for 75 yards and the team’s lone touchdown to win the Offensive Player of the Game award. “There’s a reason everyone was here; there’s a reason everyone come back.”
For Wagner, it wasn’t just to run off the field toward a raucous crowd of Carroll supporters, football in hand and trophy soon to follow. It was to be with the young men that carried him through the good times and bad. He was able to pay them back with a 12 for 21, 103-yard passing performance and one amazing run, while sophomore Tom Yaremko went from possible scapegoat to hero with a kick that won it all.
In a still-scoreless game highlighted by one big defensive play after another, Wagner hit paydirt with 8:47 left in the first half. On third-and-8, the quarterback tucked the ball on a draw and broke away from USF defensive lineman Jordan Carlson’s shirt tackle to run for 83 yards and a touchdown, snaking his way past the Cougars secondary all the way.
“We schemed up on that draw play for the last two weeks, and we felt like we were all right there,” said USF senior linebacker Eric Anderson, who finished with a game-high 17 total tackles and the Defensive Player of the Game award. “I even heard somebody yelling ‘Draw, Draw, Draw.’ ”
But no matter what they did, the Cougars couldn’t stop Wagner.
Nor could they stem the tide of the Saints’ experienced offensive line as it and seniors John Camino and Bubba Bartlett – the All-American tight end who had run just once from the backfield all season but finished the game with 12 yards on five carries – blasted their way downfield with one bruising run after another.
“We came into this game knowing that we were going to be coming up against one of the top rushing defenses in the nation,” Camino said of the Cougars, who allowed just 86.8 yards rushing per game but gave the Saints’ top running back 81 to cap his 1,000-yard season. Carroll finished with 174 as a team.
The Saints wanted to wear the Cougars down like they had all their other opponents, and for the most part, the strategy worked. They trudged their way into scoring range three times before the No. 1 scoring defense held them out of the end zone and forced Yaremko to kick. Twice, both in the first quarter, he had the chance to boot the go-ahead points, and both times the ball nailed an upright, dropping to the ground with a thud.
Yaremko, who was 7-of-11 heading into the matchup, would get his final chance at redemption when the Saints drove 53 yards to start the fourth quarter. Camino converted on fourth-and-1 with a blast up the middle and Wagner put the Saints on the 3-yard line when he converted on third-and-5 with a leap over the defensive line.
Three straight run plays later, however, and Carroll looked to go for it on fourth down from just inches away. When an illegal substitution penalty sent them back five yards, it might have been the best thing the Saints could’ve asked for.
Van Diest sent out the special teams, without saying a word to Yaremko.
“I didn’t say anything for the third try. I was still angry with him for missing the first two,” Van Diest said.
Yaremko lined up the kick and made the 22-yarder look easy as Carroll scored the final points with 7:47 left on the clock.
“He’s never had to win a football game and today he did, and he deserved it because I’m pretty hard on kickers,” Van Diest said. “He’s a hero back in Portland.”
And a hero back in Montana, too.
The Saints’ best defense had been their ability to run the ball, but with half a quarter left they knew it was plenty of time for a top-notch offense and the NAIA Player of the Year in senior receiver Jon Ryan to score.
It hadn’t taken the Cougars long to answer Wagner’s touchdown run earlier, moving 67 yards on the subsequent drive and scoring on a 1-yard run by Jordan Taylor. Senior quarterback Jon Eastman began that drive with three straight pass completions, but by the fourth quarter Carroll’s defense was tuned in.
After Eastman overthrew his receiver in the end zone on a first-down attempt, Carroll sent junior Brian Strobel on a safety blitz, and the team’s leading tackler this season drove the quarterback face first into the black rubber pebbles of the turf. Eastman finished with an incomplete pass on fourth down to end the drive.
“That’s a big play (by Strobel),” said Saints senior linebacker Thomas Dolan, who finished with a team-high five unassisted tackles (six in all), including two for a loss. “I’m glad (the defense) slid to me because he’s a little faster off the edge.”
It was the first time Eastman saw Strobel come barreling toward him on the blitz, as the Saints preferred to play straight up more than with exotic schemes.
“We did a lot of three-man fronts, and for the last three games it’s been really successful,” said Van Diest, whose defense finished with three sacks in the game and a nation-high 43 on the season. “We decided we were either going to rush three or blitz five, we didn’t have a lot of four-man rushes.”
It paid off on that drive, but with the Saints running three straight times to go three-and-out on the next one, the Cougars put together one last attempt for the win.
“I knew things were going to work out for us to get the ball back,” said Eastman, who finished 18 for 32 in the game for 172 yards. “The offense was rallying together and were saying ‘We’re going to get another shot.’”
That shot blew left of the uprights and sent the Saints into a frenzy on the sideline.
Van Diest searched to hug his son, Shane, who graduated from the team after last season’s semifinal finish and was on the sidelines Saturday, while Ritter — who found his own redemption in a five-catch, 39-yard performance — leapt into the arms of offensive tackle Connor Goudreau.
“I was kind of speechless,” said Bartlett, who finished with five receptions and a team-high 45 receiving yards in his final game before a possible career in the NFL. “I was hugging everyone, I didn’t even know who I was hugging half the time.
“I am just all together very proud of the guys, of this team. And to the guys back in Helena, this wasn’t just the guys down here. They helped us prepare.”
Those players will get their chance to hold the trophy soon.
Jeff Windmueller: 447-4065 orjeff.windmueller@helenair.com
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