Grand Rapids Community College found the end zone on their first four possessions and Joliet Junior College had no answer for sophomore quarterback Casey Therriault.
Therriault shredded the JJC defense for 216 yards in the air and 129 yards on the ground and a total of six touchdowns as the Raiders cruised to a 51-7 victory at Memorial Stadium on Oct. 10.
Joliet looked impressive on their opening drive. Sophomore quarterback Chris Walley hooked up with Alexis Reedus for a 39-yard pass down the right sideline. However, the Wolves would have to settle for a field goal attempt and the 37-yard attempt by Jason Owens fell just short.
Grand Rapids would waste little time getting on the scoreboard. After a 12-yard run by Phillip Mayberry, a play-action fake was executed to perfection as Therriault found Demonte Collins wide-open down field for a 68-yard touchdown.
On Joliet’s next drive, Walley would find Donny Shwaga for gains of 12 and 1 yard before a fumble gave possession back to Grand Rapids.
Seven plays later Therriault would take it in the end zone himself for a 6-yard score with 4:22 remaining in the first quarter.
After a Joliet punt, the Raiders would take ten plays before Therriault found Collins once again, this time for a 27-yard score to put Grand Rapids on top 21-0.
Grand Rapids would force another punt on JJC’s next possession. Following a holding penalty, Grand Rapids faced a third and 13 before Therriault hit an open Collins for a 12-yard gain setting up a fourth and one. Therriault kept the ball himself and ran past Joliet defenders for a 47-yard touchdown run.
Facing a 28-0 deficit, the Wolves offense took the field trying to orchestrate a rhythm of their own. Walley found Shwaga in the corner of the end zone for what appeared to be the first score of the game for the Wolves, however the line judge ruled Shwaga out-of-bounds.
On third and 13 Walley hit tight end Brandon Williams for a 14-yard gain. Three plays later Walley kept it himself and slipped between Grand Rapid defenders for an 8-yard score to bring the Wolves within 28-7 at half time.
"Numerous things went wrong for us this game," said second-year coach Jeremy Richardson. "It’s hard to pinpoint just one thing."
After trading the ball back-and-forth to start the second half, Grand Rapids put together a seven play drive before the Therriault-Collins combination connected again for an 8-yard score. A blocked extra point put Joliet down 34-7.
Joliet would once again be forced to punt on their next possession and Therriault put the exclamation point on his afternoon with a 60-yard touchdown run with 2:43 left in the third quarter and following a two-point conversion made it 42-7.
"That is a very good team," said Richardson. "I don’t know if they are the best team we have played this year, but there is a reason they are undefeated. I give a lot of credit to their coaching staff."
Walley came into the game averaging 282 yards through the air, but was held to just 145 yards on 14-34 passing, including an interception. It was his first game without a passing touchdown.
"Their defense played well, but we didn’t execute to the best of our ability collectively; Chris is a competitor and is going to fight the whole time out there," said Richardson.
The Wolves currently sit at 4-3 with two games left. They travel to Harper College next week.
"We have to focus on staying together," said Richardson. "Technically, we have lost three games in a row so we can either crumble or fight back. We’ve been saying put up or shut up the last three weeks. Although we’ve played three ranked teams, we are not putting up and shutting up ourselves."
"I’m not going to take anything away from this game and all my focus is on Harper right now because we need that game more than any game this year."