The John Carroll offense has many options to score points but a 1-2 tandem has clearly emerged. Quarterback Nick Semptimphelter and wide receiver Tyren Montgomery have formed a lethal combination with the Blue Streaks’ most important game of the season looming. On Nov. 16 at Don Shula Stadium, the 7-2 Blue Streaks take on 8-1 Marietta in a game that has national implications. A win by Marietta almost assuredly puts it in the NCAA Division III playoffs. A JCU win eliminates Marietta from playoff contention and puts the Blue Streaks on the playoff bubble. First things first for JCU: It must beat a talented Pioneers team that nearly upset Mount Union a week ago before losing, 28-21. The JCU-Marietta winner clinches second place in the Ohio Athletic Conference behind the OAC champion Purple Raiders. The Blue Streaks will need points to keep up with Marietta’s high-scoring offense that averages 44.2 points and 469.2 yards. JCU’s offense has been clicking of late with 171 points in its last three games — an average of 57 points. Leading that charge has been the Semptimphelter-Montgomery connection, which has produced outstanding results. John Carroll quarterback Nick Semptimphelter — shown in action against Baldwin Wallace Oct. 19 — has 26 touchdowns and just two interceptions this season. (Lianna Holub — For The News-Herald) Semptimphelter is the OAC’s leading passing and his passing efficiency rate of 200.4 ranks No. 5 nationally in D-III. In nine games, he’s thrown for 2,334 yards, completed 75.2 percent of his passes (167 of 222) with 26 touchdown passes and just two interceptions. “He’s a great student student of the game, and he’s really intelligent. He understands what we’re trying to do on offense,” said JCU head coach Jeff Behrman. Montgomery is JCU’s big-play threat. He has 41 receptions for 843 yards, is averaging 20.4 yards per catch and has 13 TD catches. How Semtimphelter and Montgomery arrived at JCU has been anything but conventional for D-III standards. For years, the JCU football program has recruited from reliable areas such as, of course, Northeast Ohio and the rest of the state, and from areas such as Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Detroit and Chicago. Semtimphelter is from Nashville, Tenn. He played four years at Bucknell, mostly as a backup, and came to JCU with two yeas of eligibility. He’s working toward a master’s degree in business and hopes to coach football one day. By transferring to JCU, Semtimphelter has helped create a family atmosphere among Blue Streaks athletics. His sister Graci also transferred in to JCU (from Ohio Wesleyan) in the fall and is a guard averaging 13.5 points this season. Nick’s high school teammate Kenneth Rawls is also a transfer and is the team’s starting tight end. “Kind of got the whole family here so it’s been a great transition,” said Semptimphelter. Montgomery’s football story is surreal. He’s originally from Houston, and just the second player from the state of Texas to play football for the Blue Streaks. Michael O’Neal, a 2010 graduate from Dallas, is the other. John Carroll’s Tyren Montgomery has 13 touchdowns this season for the Blue Streaks. (Brian Fisher — For The News-Herald) Here’s the catch: Montgomery never played football in high school. How JCU landed Montgomery … well, here’s Behrman. “It’s a bizarre connection, honestly,” he said. After graduating high school in 2019, Montgomery — a standout basketball player for Woodlands High School — enrolled at LSU, where he walked on and made the Tigers’ men’s team. He lasted one semester at LSU before returning home because of poor academics. https://x.com/mpodo/status/1856825879424315838 “I feel like I failed early in my life because I wasn’t open to learning and I couldn’t take criticism,” said Montgomery. “I’ve overcome that … just growing up, learning from mistakes.” He eventually enrolled at the University of Houston with the intent of walking on to the football team, but then COVID-19 hit. Two years later, he enrolled at Nicholls State and after an injury-filled year in 2022 as a walk-on, Montgomery finally got some playing time in 2023. Then he entered his name into the transfer portal after that season. During his time between Houston and Nicholls State, Eddie Franca was running a flag football team in Las Vegas and put out a request for players. Montgomery answered and found a spot on the team. Meanwhile, Franca had a brother who played for Behrman when Behrman was the coach at Union College in New York. When Montgomery entered the portal, he contacted Franca asking for any assistance finding his next college football home. Franca then called Behrman. “He said, ‘There’s a guy down here you might be interested in,’ ” said Behrman, who’s obviously glad he accepted that call. That’s because Montgomery has transformed himself into an all-conference-type player who might even get some All-America votes. “He’s an elite athlete. He can run, he can jump. And he’s still growing as a football player,” said Behrman. Montgomery is 23, and Semptimphelter is in his fifth year of playing college football. But the JCU QB has been playing the sport since he was 8. Montgomery and his QB could not be more opposites in football experience. “I remember the first time I got a playbook. It was like a foreign language to me,” said Montgomery with a laugh. “I didn’t understand anything. It took a lot of film study, talking to guys who have been playing all their lives. I had to be an open book.” It took a while for Semptimpehlter and Montgomery to be on the same page on the football field but the QB has appreciated the transition period. “It’s a great story,” said Semptimphelter. “I had to remind myself a lot of times this is just his third year playing football. Not just college football, football period. He’s made great strides this year … Seeing him learn the game and become a great player, it’s been a great thing to watch.” While Semptimphelter has one more year of eligibility, Montgomery isn’t sure about his football future. He said it’s “50-50” the NCAA grants him another year and he returns to JCU, but his immediate focus is the Marietta game. “I”m extremely grateful for this,” said Montgomery about playing this season at JCU. “I’ve worked for this … it’s unfolding in front of my eyes and I’m shocked sometimes. I’ve come a long way in the past three, four years.” Marietta at John Carroll When: 2 p.m., Nov. 16 Where: Don Shula Stadium Records: Marietta 8-1, 7-1 OAC; JCU 7-2, 7-1 OAC Radio: WJCU-FM 88.7