After an 0-2 start to the season, the John Carroll football team is now 5-2 thanks to its most impressive performance of the season.

On October 26, the Blue Streaks throttled host Wilmington, 66-14, as they dominated on both sides of the ball.

The offense did its part with 652 yards of total offense and the defense intercepted four passes and recovered a fumble.

Add it up and it was a game to build for what’s to come throughout the regular season.

With three weeks to play, JCU (5-2, 4-1 Ohio Athletic Conference) travels to Ohio Northern on Nov. 2, then hosts Otterbein on Nov. 9.

The Blue Streaks will be heavy favorites in those games and, if they play as expected, could put together a huge regular-season finale at Don Shula Stadium against 7-0 Marietta, which on Oct. 26 dominated Baldwin Wallace, 47-7.

With games weeks away, JCU spent Oct. 26 filling up the stat sheet.

Quarterback Nick Semptimhelter continued his solid season with his best game – statistically – of his JCU career. He completed 21 of 26 passes for 388 yards and five touchdowns. For the season, Semptimhelter is completing 72.7% of his passes (139-of-191) for 1,805 yards with 19 TD passes against just two interceptions.

Three of those Semptimhelter TD passes were to Tyren Montgomery, who had six catches for 122 yards in the game. Montgomery’s TDs went for 33, 30 and 25 yards. Through seven games this season, Montgomery has 30 receptions for 554 yards and eight TDs.

Teammate Dorian Facen Jr. also had six catches that went for 171 yards and two scores. Facian had the longest TD of the game – a 61-yard catch in the first quarter.

The rushing attack racked up a season-high 237 yards, led by Lake Catholic graduate Josh Styles (14 carries, 102 yards). Teammate Evan McVay added 62 yards on eight carries and two TDs.

Wilmington (1-6, 1-5 OAC) moved the ball 362 yards, but five fumble returns — including the JCU defense’s season-high four interceptions — were killers for the Quakers.

The Blue Streaks led a back-and-forth game, 14-7, after one quarter, but the visitors answered with four touchdowns in the second quarter and led, 42-14, at halftime. A 21-point third quarter by JCU put the game out of reach.