The Centre football team saw its undefeated season come to an end in a 63-28 loss at No. 6 John Carroll in an NCAA Tournament First Round game on Saturday in University Heights, Ohio.

Though the Colonels were never able to erase an early deficit and saw their postseason run come to an end, the 2014 campaign will still go down as one of the most memorable seasons in program history. Centre had its first undefeated regular season since 1955, reached the NCAA Tournament for the second time, won its first Southern Athletic Association title, and tied a school record with 10 wins.

"That's why I coach Division III," Centre head coach Andy Frye said when looking back on the season. "I'm grateful that I get to coach kids who play because they love to play football. I don't care who we play, it's tough to go 10-0. I do want to commend this team on being 10-0 and earning the right to play a very good team in the playoffs. We'll learn a lot from this game, and that second half may be an impetus to lead us to even greater places next year."

Though the Colonels put together a solid second half performance, they fell victim to an unfortunate series of events early on that left them playing from behind the rest of the way. John Carroll's Kelly Culbertson ran the opening kickoff back 94 yards for a touchdown, and on the ensuing possession Michael Hollins returned an interception 43 yards to put the Blue Streaks up 14-0 less than three minutes into the game. 

Even worse for Centre, starting quarterback Heath Haden suffered a concussion on the opening series and did not return. Freshman quarterback Devin Hayes (Bowling Green, Ky.) came on and performed admirably for the Colonels, who continued to be competitive despite John Carroll taking a 28-0 lead by the end of the first quarter and a 49-14 lead by halftime.

"It was like I was watching a movie, but that's a tribute to John Carroll," said Frye. "They come out and score, Heath suffers a concussion, and you're looking around wondering what happened. I give credit to John Carroll because they pushed that momentum button then, and they made some great plays."

Hayes went on to complete 14 of 29 passes for 224 yards, nine of those balls going to Max Mazza (Cincinnati, Ohio) for 162 yards, which tops a previous career-high of 161 yards from just a week ago. Mazza also finishes the season with 1,153 receiving yards, breaking the previous school record of 1,117, set by David Crowley in 2004.

"I think Devin had six reps in the last three games," Frye said of his freshman quarterback. "It made me feel good that he was taking mental reps. He came out there and engineered drives, got us 28 points, and got us in scoring position two more times. I'm thrilled that he played his heart out for his teammates."

After falling behind early, Hayes scored Centre's first touchdown early in the second quarter when he dove on a fumble in the end zone to finish off a 10-play, 75-yard drive. Unfortunately for the Colonels, John Carroll scored on its next possession and turned Centre turnovers into touchdowns on the next two possessions. With Centre down 49-7, Nolan Coulter (Knoxville, Tenn.) finished a nine-play, 65-yard drive by punching in the first of his two touchdown runs to make the halftime score 49-14.

For Hayes, it was a learning curve being put into such an important position, but he credited his teammates for pulling him through.

"On that first snap, I had a drop, but then I settled down," Hayes said. "This senior class, I can't say enough about them. Those guys were on the sideline picking me up. And the two senior o-linemen on the field were out there calming me down."

In the second half, Centre got as close as 49-21 when Nate Byerly (Louisville, Ky.) recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown. Centre made it 56-28 after Coulter's second score, but would not trim the margin any closer. Not having the option of settling for field goals due to the score, three times Centre drove deep into John Carroll territory in the second half but eventually turned the ball over on downs. 

"I was thrilled how hard we played the second half," Frye said. "I've been in this game a long time. These guys, you could just tell they weren't going to give up. That's the greatest lesson this game gives you. As far as lessons in life, you're going to have adversity and disappointments."

Mark Myers, who threw for five touchdowns on the day for John Carroll and broke head coach Tom Arth's school record for career touchdown passes, hooked up with Brendan Carozzoni on a fourth quarter touchdown to arrive at the final score. For the game, Myers threw for 264 yards, finding Carozzoni and Marshall Howell for two touchdowns each. Tommy Michals led the Blue Streaks on the ground with 150 yards and two touchdowns while also catching another touchdown pass. 

Amoh Kumengisa (Lexington, Ky.) led Centre on the ground with 76 yards while Coulter had 36 yards to go with his two touchdowns. Conor Flaherty and Anthony Kersey (Winchester, Ky.) led the Colonels' defense with 10 tackles each.

Both teams come away from the game with 10-1 records. John Carroll will advance to face Wheaton, a 43-14 winner over Benedictine on Saturday, next week in the NCAA's round of 16.