Nov 01, 2014
Rallying after a last-second loss in its previous game, the North Central College football team dominated early and late on Saturday in posting a 45-24 victory over the Illinois Wesleyan University Titans at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.
The 23rd-ranked Cardinals (6-2, 4-1 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) put last week's 34-31 loss to Wheaton College behind them quickly, building a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and finishing strong to close out their fifth straight victory over the Titans.
"Last week was an extremely exciting game and we went through a lot of emotions and were extremely exhausted," said North Central head coach John Thorne. "We had to get our energy level back up. We also changed up some things on offense as well as defense to try and put ourselves in a better position. We did a great job of coming back today and doing some good things, and hopefully we learned some things that will help us game-plan for the next two weeks."
North Central possessed the ball for nearly 13 minutes in the 15-minute opening period as the Titans (3-5, 1-4 CCIW) were able to run only five offensive plays. Cardinal quarterbackDylan Warden jumpstarted the game's first drive with a 32-yard scramble on third down before running four yards for the first touchdown of the afternoon. Linebacker Michael Monterrubio intercepted a pass by IWU signal-caller Jack Warner on the visitors' first play from scrimmage to give North Central possession at the TItans' 49-yard line, and the hosts ran the ball 11 times in a 12-play drive to double their lead after Oshayne Brown's one-yard scoring run.
After a short Titan punt, North Central needed to travel just 41 yards to get in the end zone again, as Warden passed to Alex Ulmer for a seven-yard touchdown with 37 seconds still to play in the opening frame.
Warner, seeing his first action after missing the last four weeks due to illness, got IWU on the board with a seven-yard TD pass to tight end Quincy Butler with 12:59 on the second-quarter clock. North Central's next drive resulted in a failed fourt-down conversion attempt near midfield, and the Titans took advantage of the advanced field position by driving 53 yards in nine plays and scoring on Warner's five-yard run with 6:14 before halftime.
The Cardinals ran eight times and got an acrobatic 25-yard completion to Peter Sorenson in the final drive of the first half and ended the period with a 28-yard field goal by Dom Zavaglia as time ran out.
"Our offense played really well," said Sorenson, who finished with a game-high 107 yards on seven receptions. "(Illinois Wesleyan) has some really good players, and they're getting healthy at the right time. We just stuck to our game plan and had a lot of success with it. Our offensive line gave Dylan time and I was able to get open and make some plays."
IWU got the thid period started with a jolt on just the second play, as Warner lofted a 71-yard touchdown pass to Artie Checchin to narrow the gap to 24-21. Warden, who attempted just seven passes in the first half, responded on the ensuing drive by going a perfect 4 for 4 and hitting Sorenson for an eight-yard score. After Titan kicker Michael Kelley converted a 32-yard field goal, Warden went 3 for 4 passing and fired a 31-yard scoring strike to Ryan Kuhl in the final minute of the period.
Kevin Schroeder collected the first of his two interceptions of the day on the next drive to set the Cardinals up on the IWU 42-yard line, and a run-heavy possession ended with a 14-yard TD run by Matt Randolph with 11:49 left. The North Central defense stopped the Titans' next drive on downs after repelling three straight plays from the one-yard line, and Schroeder picked off Warner's pass in the end zone to halt IWU's final possession.
"I was really proud of how we communicated," Monterrubio said of the defensive unit. "We've been through a lot of adversity, a lot of guys have gone down with injuries, and it's just really impressive how the younger guys have stepped in and learned the defense really well. I was glad we were able to force so many turnovers."
Warner completed 13 of 18 passes for 187 yards while also runing for 102 yards on 22 carries, while Brown gained a game-high 114 yards on 23 attempts. Monterrubio finished with seven tackles, two tackles for loss and a quarterback sack, while Tom Sora and John Skokna each made five stops. Sora was making his first start at middle linebacker, while Skokna was pressed into service at cornerback after playing wide receiver most of the season.
Warner finished the day 17 of 27 passes for 267 yards while running 13 times for 53 yards. Butler made five catches for 43 yards and Checchin made four grabs for 92. Connor Klein and Sean Garvey each made 11 tackles.
North Central hosts Augustana College for Senior Day next Saturday. The Vikings are 4-4 overall and 3-2 in the CCIW following a 26-20 victory over North Park University. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.