By Clyde Hughes
D3sports.com

It’s been a winding road for the North Central Cardinals to reach this point of the season -- one game away from capturing a share of a conference title for the first time since 1960 and winning the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin’s automatic bid in the Division III playoffs.

First, North Central (7-2, 5-1 in CCIW) opened the season with a 30-24 loss to Illini-Badger Conference champion Concordia (Wis.) in double overtime. Then, in its first big conference matchup this season, the Cardinals fell to No. 18-ranked Wheaton 31-19.

With it’s back against the wall and a chance to win the CCIW fading, North Central had one last shot -- not only beating a hot Augustana team but beating them by at least three touchdowns.

"We knew we had to win by 22 points," said John Thorne, North Central’s coach. "That was our whole focus. The players understood it and the coaches understood it. I think that was the game where we really came together. I’ve been in college coaching for five years and of those five years, it was the most complete game in executing all three phases. We had very few mistakes on offense, very few on special teams and very few on defense. We’d like to take that with us all the time."

North Central’s 27-0 victory over Augustana on Oct. 28, had laid the groundwork for North Central’s renewed playoff run. Ironically, now the Cardinals need Augustana to beat Millikin Saturday while they beat Carthage (6-3, 3-3 in CCIW) at home to move into the playoffs.

If North Central, Wheaton (8-1 overall), and Augustana (6-3) all win Saturday, they will finish at 5-1 and earn the title of conference co-champions, said CCIW’s information director Mike Krizman. Krizman said if that is the case, North Central will capture the conference’s automatic bid because of the point differential between the teams in its games against each other.

"We lost two of our first five games and we weren’t planning on that to happen," Thorne said. "We knew it would be tough from that point on. When the season started, we thought we would be a better team than what we were last year and right now we are. We just stumbled a couple of times early, so we still have to prove to everybody that we are a better team."

The prove that fact, the Cardinals will give the ball to the CCIW’s reigning Offensive Player of the Year in four-year starting quarterback Kam Kniss. Kniss has passed for 2,121 yards over nine games this season, averaging 261.6 yards per game. He’s thrown 22 touchdowns and five interceptions for a passing efficiency rating of 153.2.

"We have a four-year starting quarterback, so that always helps," Thorne said. "He lost three out of his four receivers from graduation last year, so it took awhile to get that same chemistry back to what we have this year. In the second half of the season, that’s what started to happen. He’s completing a very high percentage and making good decisions and he’s a tremendous leader."

His favorite target, Eric Stuedemann, has 62 catches for 763 yards and 10 touchdowns. Thorne said, though, the emergence of wide receiver Michael MacIntosh, who along with fellow sophomore Perry Welsh, who had given Kniss another reliable target and another concern for opposing defenses.

Thorne said he has been also pleased with freshman running back Dominic Sulo, who is rushing for 90.2 yards per game and is 188 yards away from 1,000 yards. His twin brother, Derek, plays in the North Central secondary and has three interceptions this season. Sophomore defensive back Tyler Venier has five interceptions for the Cardinals long with senior Tim Bellazzini.

"We have some new guys come, and you can never count on freshmen helping you out, but these guys have done a great job," Thorne said. "A lot of little things have helped. Our offensive line is probably better than in my past five years here."

Thorne said he hopes those surprises continue to surprise him right into the Division III playoff Nov. 18.

Making the case for Franklin

Mike Leonard said when he took over the Franklin program, just south of Indianapolis, four years ago, he had his team visualize beating archrival Hanover in the final game of the season and the following day watching the playoff selection show on television to find out if they made the Division III playoffs.

On Saturday, Leonard and his players will have an opportunity to actually live that visualization as they take on Hanover and try to complete one of the best seasons in school history. The 8-1 Grizzlies are clinging to the No. 6 ranking in the North Region and hoping perhaps against hope that they will be invited to the big dance.

Franklin watched the automatic bid for the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference slip away during homecoming when a fourth-quarter touchdown propelled Mount St. Joseph to a 21-14 win. The win catapulted the undefeated Lions into the Top 25 rankings and they are currently rank No. 20.

"I didn’t know what year it would happen," Leonard said about making his visualization exercise the real thing. "It could happen this year. Some things are out of our control. All we can do is take care of the things we can control and that’s this next game and leave the outcome to the committee."

Sophomore quarterback Chad Rupp, who wasn’t even a starter at the beginning of the season, has been one of the reasons Franklin has had this dream season. He’s ranked as one of the nation’s best with a sky-high passing efficiency rating of 164.6, which includes 1,976 yards, 19 touchdowns against five interceptions.

When Franklin needed to run, they’ve been able do that behind R.J. Hartsfield, who is averaging 82 yards per contest, including a 131-yard effort on 26 carries against Manchester last week. Rupp’s favorite target, Danny Sears, is averaging 85.3 yards per game and he is among the national leaders in all-purpose yardage at 150.6 yards per contest.

"I think we’re a team that’s getting better each game, especially defensively," said Leonard as he made a case for his team in the playoffs. "Offensively we started off hot and kind of maintained pace. We’re playing to win. I’m not into showing people how much we can win by.

"I think we’ve beaten some quality teams like Wabash and Defiance. We went toe-to-toe with (Mount St. Joseph) until we let them score in the fourth quarter. We’re one touchdown away from being 10-0 ourselves if we take care of this deal this weekend."

Leonard said even though some of his players will be hurt if they didn’t make the playoffs this year, the future is bright for Franklin football in the upcoming years.