Josh Delancy, facing camera, is the only returning starter on the Cardinals' offensive line. Photo by Keith McMillan, D3sports.com

By Clyde Hughes
D3sports.com

With only 10 weeks to prove yourself, North Central coach John Thorne knows when you have a chance to play a team ranked in the Top 25, you have to take advantage of the situation.

So beyond the typical "we take them one game at a time" coach-speak, the Cardinals 2008 and home opener against No. 16 Ohio Northern (7-3 in 2007) from the rough Ohio Athletic Conference, has been a long-anticipated event. For No. 15 North Central, which bowed out of the Division III playoffs last year to eventual national champions UW-Whitewater in the second round, it's playoff time in September.

"It made it easy to get the guys to work really hard in camp knowing that it's a playoff-type game right away," Thorne said. "This game will be important for either one or both of us when it comes playoff time. We don't get to see a lot people from all over the country like the big schools do so I'm sure it's very difficult for people to pick the teams who really should go into the playoffs."

North Central is the defending co-champion of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. With a young team that featured a lot of sophomores in key positions, they were able to make solid playoff run. Many of those players return with higher aspirations.

The core of the Cardinals junior class is led by returning CCIW offensive player of the year Aaron Fanthorpe at quarterback and all-conference selections Dominic Sulo at tailback, John Delancy at right tackle, and Matt Wenger at linebacker on defense.

Joe Schneiderbauer started as a freshman last year at defensive back and gained all-conference honors. The "old man" in this group is senior left guard West Welnack.

"We're still a young team," Thorne said. "We don't have that many seniors who are actually starting. Some of our absolute best players last year were sophomores. They got a full year under their belts now. They are pretty seasoned and we're hoping that can play the way they played at the end of the season last year and even a little better."

The Cardinals went 9-3 last year, bouncing back to go 6-1 at the end of the year after two early losses to Washington U. and Wheaton. Thorne did develop a "good" problem that Division I teams only tend to deal with -- numbers.

Some 145 players showed up at Thorne's doorstep the first day of practice this summer, which he admits kept him and his coaching staff hopping.

"This was by far the largest group North Central has ever had for football," Thorne said. "It was difficult to make sure you kept all of those guys busy and make sure you had enough eyes to watch them and evaluate them.

"We had an awful lot of fun and the players worked very hard. Our team chemistry seems to be really good. We were quite pleased with the way the players handled this year's camp. Now we're going to find out if we've got things taught well enough to where they can do it at full game speed against a really good opponent."

And what better way to do that than against Ohio Northern, one of the favorites in the OAC and the only team to beat No. 1 and perennial power Mount Union in the regular season in more than a decade. Thorne said like most opening games, the special teams could provide the pathway to victory, or down a dark alley to defeat.

"I think if you watched a lot of the major colleges get started the last couple of weeks, there were a lot of mistakes on special teams," Thorne said. "There were a lot of blocked kicks and those turned out to be the difference in some games. We're hoping our special teams play solid without mistakes and without penalties."

He said his squad is learning new terminology and tweaks from a new defensive coordinator and looking to see how new guys fit into the system.

"You win games by blocking and tackling, so we'll get to see if the guys are really ready to do that and that's always a big question. You have guys who look like players and now you get to see if they play like players. Are we going to have guys who are new to the system figure it out and play at full-game speed? We'll be nervous but excited and happy to ply a game."

And what a game it should be for North Central and Ohio Northern.

Two Minute Drill

The CCIW has another big game this week when No. 6 Bethel travels to No. 17 Wheaton. Traditionally strong Wheaton will be taking on a Bethel team that humbled Northern Athletic Conference favorite Concordia (Wis.) 38-10 in its opener on Saturday. What adds a little bit of intrigue to this game is that Wheaton has not lost a non-conference game since 2002, when Alma beat the Thunder 23-16 to open that season. Since then, Wheaton has been 17-0 in regular-season non-conference games. The Thunder is coming off of an 8-2 record last season in hopes of wrestling away the CCIW crown from North Central in 2008.

No. 18 Case Western Reserve scored an impressive 62-27 win over Kenyon last Saturday, but most of the damage was done without its star quarterback Dan Whalen. Whalen, who passed for 2,390 yards last season while leading Case to a school best ever 11-1 record, went down with an injury in the second quarter. At that point in the contest, he was 11 for 14 for 199 yards and two touchdowns. Sophomore backup Joey Baum finished the game with 117 yards passing and two touchdowns. Officials say Whalen is day-to-day with what is being described as a hamstring injury but both are being prepped for Saturday home opener against Rochester.

It was the best of times and the worst of times for No. 19 Franklin last week. The Grizzlies quarterback Chad Rupp looked outstanding in the season opener of Franklin's 42-35 victory over Baldwin-Wallace, going 22 for 37 for 317 yards and four touchdowns. The worst of times for Franklin was giving up a whopping 576 yards in total offense to Baldwin-Wallace. Franklin nearly let a 35-14 fourth-quarter lead slip away as well, something that will certain be addressed when the Grizzlies take on I-AA non-scholarship Butler in Indianapolis.