KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College Red Men opened their 2017 home slate on the newly renovated Art Keller Field with a historic win, defeating the Bethel University Royals, 31-0.
Now at 2-0, the Red Men have posted back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 1969 and back-to-back shutouts to open a season for the first time since the 1921 season.
"A great win today and all-around a much improved I think," said head coach Mike Yeager after the win. "Offensively, defensively and special teams we played well. Bethel is not a good team. They are a real good team. Unfortunately, I think they have some injuries that hurt them but we knew we would have to play very well in all three phases and I thought we did that."
The loss drops Bethel to 0-2 on the year.
Much as they did last week, the Carthage defense dominated the entire game and was especially strong in the first half. The Red Men defense held the Royals to just 34 total yards of offense in the first half, including just 20 yards on 21 carries.
On the defensive pressure by the front four Yeager stated, "If you are able to get home with four it makes it much easier on your defensive backs. We did bring pressure with five or six guys at times and had success. I think Dustin Hass is doing a great job with the defense and our guys are embracing what we are. We are an aggressive defense. We still gave up a very plays today but we responded how and when we needed to and that is who we are."
The defense's success allowed the Red Men to out gain Bethel 395-162 in total yardage for the game and saw the Red Men win the takeaway battle, 2-0, courtesy of interceptions by Amani Dennis in the third and a Shawntrel Garner's 84-yard pick six in the fourth quarter. Garner finished as the games leading tackler with five of his eight tackles coming for loss with one sack.
On Shawntrel's play the head coach said, "Obviously this is the best game he has played since he has come to Carthage. He has embraced this position. It has taken him a while since it is different than safety but he gets better and better each week and that showed with an incredible game today."
Kyle Friberg passed for a career-high 298 yards in the win with touchdown passes to Manny Jones, Tommy Bazarek and Dominic Lucito. Friberg finished the afternoon a very efficient 14-of-23 passing with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
Jones led all receivers with 86 yards on three receptions including his 54-yard TD reception. Bazarek's 65-yard touchdown reception and Lucito's 17-yard touchdown reception were their only catches in the win.
"Kyle played really, really well," stated Yeager on his starting quarterback. "We knew we were going to have to hit the deep balls to put points on the board because of how aggressive they are upfront with their blitz. We anticipated them making the run game tough for us with what they do but when you do those things it opens up the pass game a little bit and Kyle and his receivers took advantage of that."
Kicker Lance Unland was once again perfect on the day, opening the scoring with a 22-yard field goal in the second quarter, and converting all four of his PAT's.
The Red Men will play under the lights next weekend for the first time since 2015 as Carthage launches their 2017 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin campaign at #5 Wheaton College in a battle of undefeated teams. Kickoff is slated for 6:00 p.m. from Wheaton's McCully Stadium.
Red Men Post Back-To-Back Shutouts To Open Season For First Time Since 1921
/seasons/2017/boxscores/20170909_6k2t.xml
2017
Bethel
0
Carthage
31
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bethel (0-2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carthage (2-0) | 0 | 10 | 14 | 7 | 31 |
Sep 09, 2017