North Central no longer dreaming

Jan 11, 2025

Mogie Adamchik Creative for d3photography.com

By Greg Thomas
D3football.com

HOUSTON – Five years ago in the Houston suburb of Shenandoah, Texas, John Thorne’s dream came true when North Central delivered a paradigm-shifting win in a 41-14 Stagg Bowl victory over UW-Whitewater. The dream didn’t end there, however. Instead, it went on a five-year North American tour with Stagg Bowl stops in Canton, Annapolis, Salem, and finally back to where it all started — Houston.

With a 41-25 win over Mount Union in Stagg Bowl LI, North Central captured its third national championship in five seasons. Three championships in five seasons is dynasty-level stuff — a feat only accomplished by the legendary Augustana title teams of the 80s, the heyday of Mount Union’s championship runs of the 90s and 2000s, and UW-Whitewater in the 2010s.

North Central’s ascension to the top of the Division extends beyond the championships. The Cardinals’ domination this season was literally unprecedented. According to stats maven Logan Hansen of Hansen Ratings, no team in Division III’s history (beginning in 1973) has completed a national championship season winning every game by 16 or more points. North Central’s 66-point margin of victory in the semifinal round has only been matched one other time (unsurprisingly, by Mount Union).

The voters have also taken notice of North Central’s excellence. Since winning their first championship in 2019, the Cardinals have occupied the top spot in the D3football.com poll in 45 of the subsequent 52 polls and have been ranked first in every poll in each of the last two seasons except for the final poll of 2023, which recognized Cortland’s one-point win in Stagg Bowl L.

The Cardinals’ team achievements have been jaw-dropping, but their individual accomplishments are equally impressive. An offensive line recognized as the best in the division featured a pair of seniors in Jeske Maples and Sam Pryor, who have each been named the CCIW’s offensive lineman of the year in their careers and are both multiple-time All-Americans. Along the defensive line, Martin Egbo and John Sullivan have each been named the CCIW’s Defensive Player of the Year. Is there a correlation between great line play and championships? I’d say so.

And then there’s North Central’s recent haul of Gagliardi Trophy winners. Four times in the last five seasons, the Division’s most outstanding player has been a Cardinal. Broc Rutter (2019), Ethan Greenfield (2022), and Luke Lehnen (2023 and 2024) have brought the Gagliardi Trophy to Naperville. Each of these winners will tell you that this is a team award, and in that light, it makes sense that the award has taken up residence at North Central. The Cardinals are presently, unquestionably, the Division’s most outstanding team.

Lehnen’s career, in particular, is unprecedented. Over four seasons, he rewrote the record books, setting an all-divisions record for consecutive games with at least one touchdown pass at 59 — every game of his career. His final touchdown pass in the Stagg Bowl tied the all-divisions career record for passing touchdowns at 162. Achievements like these underscore why Lehnen is a back-to-back Gagliardi winner and a central figure in North Central’s historic rise.

After 2019, we weren’t sure if North Central would stick in the upper echelon of the division. They did, after all, graduate NCAA Division III’s all-time leader in passing yards, and one does not simply replace a generational quarterback, right? As it turns out, one can. Lehnen stepped in for a legend and not only maintained the program’s success but led the Cardinals to greater heights. That North Central was able to follow Broc Rutter’s career with a talent like Lehnen speaks to the core of what makes Cardinal football singularly great.

The Thornes — John, who jump-started Cardinal football in 2002 and set the course for where they are today, and his son Jeff, who coached North Central to that first championship in 2019 — created a culture and a brotherhood valued by every student-athlete that passes through it. To a man, the student-athletes will tell you, with no hint of insincerity, that the thing they value most about Cardinal football are the relationships they make and the bonds they form with their teammates and coaches.

Relationships matter to these Cardinals. In the moments following North Central’s postgame news conference, in the depths of Shell Energy Stadium and with a locker room of teammates waiting to celebrate with him, Lehnen, Division III’s most outstanding player who had just capped a 57-win career, stepped down from the dais and took a moment to shake hands with and thank every member of the media in the press room. An uncommon gesture, but one that informs why talented players flock to Naperville.

This championship wasn’t just another trophy for the Cardinals; it was a resounding statement. North Central stared down adversity for the first time this season, trailing after an early turnover led to Mount Union’s first-quarter score. The seniors remained poised, as they have all season, and when the opportunity to seal the championship came, Spencer put the game in the hands of those seniors. On fourth-and-1 from their own 32-yard line and under six minutes to play, Spencer moved Pryor from right guard to left guard, next to Maples, and let his All-American senior linemen clear the way for senior running back Joe Sacco to pick up the first down that allowed North Central to effectively end the game. It was the kind of uncommon call afforded to coaches who have the luxury of uncommon talent.

In the end, the Cardinals turned a closely contested first three quarters into another commanding performance. Each player, from the stars to the role players, executed with precision, demonstrating why North Central sits alone atop the Division III mountain.

Lehnen’s gesture in the media room after the game is emblematic of the program’s ethos: one built on humility, respect, and brotherhood. That culture, first forged by the Thornes and now carried forward by Brad Spencer, ensures North Central’s success transcends individual talents. This isn’t a dynasty built solely on the backs of Gagliardi winners or All-Americans. It’s a dynasty rooted in a shared commitment to excellence, relationships, and doing things the right way.

As the final whistle blew in Houston, it was clear: North Central has cemented its place as Division III’s preeminent program. The Cardinals are no longer chasing history — they’re making it, one championship at a time. And for every other team in Division III, the road to glory runs through Naperville.