Sep 6, 2021 4 min read

CLEVELAND – When it was over, they gathered near their sideline.

“Where is it?,” shouted Mike Sirianni, the head coach of these merry men. “Go get it.”

It took a few moments but the runner returned with the black flag with the white skull and crossbones on it. It was the same flag that led W&J out of the locker room for the first half.

The runner, a little out of breath, handed the flag to Sirianni, who stuck it into the artificial turf of Don Shula Stadium on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon to the cheers of Washington & Jefferson College’s football team and their fans who made the trip to Cleveland.

A little while later, Sirianni gathered the group again, this time to hand out a game ball to the parents of Todd Young, an assistant coach for W&J who died a couple seasons ago.

In a way, those two activities mirrored the game, a somewhat somber scoreless first half that turned into a raucas second.

The result was a 21-14 nonconference victory over John Carroll, the No. 11 team in Division III.

All the points for both teams came in the second half, and W&J’s might have saved the starting quarterback job for Justin Heacock.

Heacock, who came into camp with his job on the line, played a superb second half. For the game, Heacock completed 21 of 26 passes for 234 yards and threw three scoring passes to wide receiver Andrew Wolf.

He played quarterback the way Sirianni expected in the second half, hitting Wolf with a 65-yard bomb one play after John Carroll, a perennial power in the Ohio Athletic Conference, took a 7-0 lead.

“We made some adjustments in the second half,” said Heacock, a 6-0, 190-pound junior. “We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game. You just had to keep fighting, especially in a game like this.”

Wolf and Heacock connected again, 4:40 later, on a 56-yard touchdown pass and run to give W&J a 13-7 lead as the extra-point kick was missed.

“The first half, we missed some opportunities,” said Wolf. “This is huge, the No. 11 team in the country. We put ourselves on the map nationally. We got the train rolling pretty hard for us.”

The third time the duo connected was only from seven yards but turned out to be the game-winner.

“(Wolf) did all the work, and the line,” said Heacock. “Trust Wolf. He’s a great player obviously.”

Heacock got off to a staggering start, throwing an interception on W&J’s first possession and making a mistake on a read on its second.

“I was telling someone that I was going to take him out if he made another mistake,” Sirianni said.

Patience won out.

And the second half, Heacock blossomed.

“We knew it was going to be a slobber-knocker type of game,” said Sirianni.

W&J’s defense was outstanding. holding John Carroll to just 106 total yards in the scoreless first half. For the game, W&J held John Carroll to another 217 total yards but more important, just the two scores.

“It’s a huge win. I was telling the guys we haven’t beaten a team ranked this high since my freshman year,” said free safety Max Garda. “We felt like we controlled the game. We think we’re a pretty good unit.”

The last one came with 2:25 remaining to play. W&J recovered the onside kick attempt and ran out the clock.

“This is just one game and we have to learn from it,” said Heacock. “We have to keep moving on.”