John Carroll sees season come to an end

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Top-seeded North Central ended No. 9 John Carroll’s season with a 41-21 victory Saturday in an NCAA Division III national semifinal at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.

The Cardinals scored on their first three possessions and built a 28-0 halftime lead on their way to their sixth straight appearance in the Stagg Bowl. North Central extended its home winning streak to 46 games and will seek its fourth national title since 2019. The Cardinals (14-0) will play University of Wisconsin – River Falls at 8 p.m. on Jan. 4 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton for the title.

John Carroll (12-1) was making its third national semifinal appearance and finished with a program-record 12 wins.

“They’re a phenomenal program,” John Carroll coach Jeff Behrman said. “I’m incredibly proud of our team and the perseverance they showed all season.”

North Central quarterback Garret Wilson directed an offense that struck quickly. He capped the opening 87-yard drive with a 5-yard pass to Pat McAtee, then found Jack Rummel for a 71-yard touchdown later in the first quarter. Rummel added a 31-yard scoring run early in the second quarter.

An interception returned 60 yards for a touchdown by Eli Renick late in the second quarter put the Cardinals ahead 28-0 at the break.

North Central added a field goal midway through the third quarter before John Carroll got on the board on a 73-yard touchdown pass from Nick Semptimphelter to Tyren Montgomery. Wilson answered with a 15-yard touchdown run, and the Cardinals maintained control the rest of the way.

Semptimphelter finished 34 of 47 for 307 yards and three touchdowns. He set an NCAA all-divisions record for completion percentage in a season at 77.9 percent and led the Blue Streaks to a team completion mark of 77.16 percent, also an NCAA record.

Montgomery caught 10 passes for 136 yards and a touchdown, completing the most productive receiving season in program history with 119 catches for 1,528 yards.

John Carroll added fourth-quarter touchdown receptions from Kenneth Rawls and South Range graduate Shane Lindstrom, the latter coming on Semptimphelter’s final collegiate pass. Lindstrom caught seven balls for 63 yards.

Kenny Grobolsek led the Blue Streaks defensively with 10 tackles.

Crosby leaps over Super Mario

PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby broke Mario Lemieux’s franchise scoring record and Rickard Rakell had the deciding goal in the shootout as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 on Sunday night to snap an eight-game losing streak.

Crosby, who began the night one point behind Lemieux, broke the mark in the first period with a goal and an assist and now has 645 goals and 1,079 assists for 1,724 points in 1,387 games. He also moved past Lemieux for the eighth-most points in NHL history.

Crosby, who has 20 goals this season, achieved his 18th 20-goal season. Only six players in NHL history have more.

Rakell had a goal and an assist in regulation and Noel Acciari also scored for the Penguins. Arturs Silovs had 23 saves for his first win since Nov. 6 against Washington.

Oliver Kapanen, Ivan Demidov and Noah Dobson scored for the Canadiens, who saw a brief two-game win streak end. Montreal is 4-1-2 since a 6-1 loss against Tampa Bay on Dec. 9. Jakub Dobes had 28 saves.

Kevin Hayes also scored for the Penguins in the shootout and Cole Caulfield tallied for the Canadiens. After Rakell gave Pittsburgh the lead in the third round, Silovs denied Nick Suzuki on Montreal’s last attempt.

Pittsburgh, which is 1-4-4 in its last nine games, rebounded from consecutive shutout losses at Ottawa on Thursday and Montreal on Saturday. The Penguins won their first shootout this season.

Phillip Danault, who was traded to Montreal from Los Angeles on Friday, didn’t play on Sunday and is expected to play on Tuesday at Boston.

Pittsburgh led 3-2 entering the third period, but Dobson tied it with a backhand from the slot.

Crosby tipped Erik Karlsson’s point shot at 7:58 of the first period for a goal to tie the game and the record. Crosby then broke the mark with 7:20 left in the period when his shot on a power play hit Bryan Rust and Rakell tapped the rebound behind Dobes.

Crosby also passed Phil Esposito 449 for sole possession of the ninth-most even-strength goals in NHL history. He also tied Adam Oates for the eighth-most assists in NHL history in the first period.

UP NEXT

Canadiens: Continue a seven-game road trip at Boston on Tuesday.

Penguins: Visit Toronto on Tuesday.

Canes next for Buckeyes

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Coach Mario Cristobal was doing his postgame interview on the field after his 10th-seeded Miami Hurricanes knocked off Texas A&M in the College Football Playoff when Michael Irvin came out of nowhere and planted a kiss on his cheek.

A beaming Cristobal laughed before wiping off the NFL Hall of Famer’s slobber as the celebration continued for the Hurricanes.

The U is back, with the Hurricanes proving doubters who didn’t think they deserved a playoff spot wrong with a 10-3 victory over No. 7 seed Texas A&M on Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals.

“It was important, first, to get in the playoff, then to go and win at a place like this, 100,000-plus plus people, on the road, a team that was arguably top 2 or 3 until their last game, and to get it done in this type of environment, we needed that,” Cristobal said. “If you could draw it up how we wanted it, we wanted to go there. We wanted to come here and do it against a great football team.”

Next, the Hurricanes face a bigger challenge with a New Year’s Eve date against No. 2 Ohio State, the defending national champs, in the Cotton Bowl.

The Hurricanes (11-2) got the last at-large bid in the playoff over Notre Dame thanks largely to their win over the Fighting Irish in the opener, causing some debate about whether they belonged.

Now they get a chance to compete for a sixth national championship and first since 2001. Irvin, who helped the ‘Canes to a title in 1987, and fellow Hall of Fame receiver Andre Johnson, the star of that 2001 squad, joined in on the party at Kyle Field on Saturday, bringing some of that old school swag to this current Miami team that has its own brand of confidence.

It’s a third straight appearance in the Cotton Bowl for the Buckeyes (12-1), who won the CFP semifinal over Texas there last season before beating Notre Dame for their ninth national title. Ohio State was the Big Ten runner-up after No. 1 Indiana handed the team its first loss of the season 13-10 in the conference championship game.

But the Buckeyes still received a first-round bye, giving them several weeks to rest before opening their title defense. They opened as 10-point favorites over the Hurricanes, according to BetMGM’s College Football Odds.

Though the Hurricanes haven’t contended for a title in more than two decades, quarterback Carson Beck was on two national championship teams as a backup at Georgia in 2021 and 2022.

The sixth-year senior, in his first year with the team, is impressed with how the Hurricanes bounced back with a four-game winning streak to end the regular season after a tough stretch where they lost two of three games to fall to 6-2.

“The way that we responded from that just tells the whole entire story of who this team is and what this team wants,” Beck said. “We responded those last four games in honestly astounding fashion and proved that we should be in the playoffs, that we should have this opportunity. Now that we have had this opportunity, we come in on the road in one of the toughest places to play, some would argue the toughest place to play in a road playoff and come out with a victory.”

Miami beat the Aggies thanks to a nasty defense that forced three turnovers and had seven sacks and with an offense led by Mark Fletcher Jr.’s career-high 172 yards rushing. The junior had a career-long 56-yard run to set up the game-winning touchdown and averaged 10.1 yards per carry against the Aggies.

“He’s just the heart and soul of our football team,” Cristobal said. “Everything he does is dedicated to his teammates getting better, to the team winning and… he just took over.”

Against the Buckeyes, he’ll face a run defense that is among the best in the country. Ohio State ranks sixth nationally by allowing just 84.5 yards rushing a game and the four rushing touchdowns the team has given up this season ranks first.

The Cotton Bowl is played at AT&T Stadium, which is home to the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. The Buckeyes won a national championship there in the 2014 season with a 42-20 win over Oregon when the playoffs consisted of only four teams.

This will be only the second appearance for the Hurricanes in the bowl and first since New Year’s Day 1991, when they routed Texas 46-3 when it was played in the Cotton Bowl on the site of the State Fair of Texas in Dallas.

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