KENOSHA, Wis. - Augustana quarterback David Lee broke his own school record for single game passing yards Saturday night as the Vikings defeated Carthage 43-16 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Augustana is now 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the CCIW while Carthage falls to 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the league.
Lee finished the game 28 of 41 for 429 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, not only breaking his own record of 422 yards set against Millikin last year, but tying his own record for completions in a game with 28. It's the third time he's had 28 completions in a game. The Viking ground game was efficient as well, producing 155 yards and three touchdowns on 39 carries.
The Vikings took advantage of five Red Men turnovers in the game, scoring 24 points off those miscues and converting four of the five into points. The first Carthage turnover occurred when Curt Perschnick recovered a Jake Smith fumble at the Carthage 27 with 7:44 left in the first quarter. On the Vikings' second play, Lee found tight end Keith Abbey for a 27-yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 Augustana lead.
A Rob Mago interception both stopped a Carthage drive and set up the Vikings' next score. After the Red Men had driven into Augustana territory, Mago picked off quarterback Evan Jones at the Viking 25. Lee then completed five of six passes on a 58-yard, 8-play Augustana drive that was eventually derailed by a pair of penalties. Arnie Fitzwater's 34-yard field goal made the score 10-0 after one quarter.
Taking over after a Carthage punt, the Vikings went 66 yards on six plays on their next possession. Nate Pena, seeing his first action since the season opener, finished it off with a seven-yard touchdown run and the lead was 17-0.
A stiff Viking defense continued to stymie the high-powered Red Men and after it forced two more punts, the offense took over and struck quickly this time. Lee's 67-yard touchdown pass to Corbett Ball capped an 80-yard, five-play drive and put Augustana up 24-0 with 7:42 left in the half.
Carthage finally got on the board, going 74 yards in 10 plays with Jones connecting with Tim Lukas on a 19-yard touchdown pass. That's the way the half would end as Augustana drove inside the Carthage 20, but Lee was sacked on fourth-and-14.
The game was never in doubt in the second half as Lee scored on a one-yard run and found Kyle Hundman for a 34-yard touchdown pass to make it 37-7 with 5:23 left in the third quarter. After a Red Men field goal, Robert Wood scored the final Viking touchdown of the night on a 5-yard run with 9:25 left in the game. Mike Koeneman caught a 31-yard touchdown pass from Jones to account for the final
The Augustana team record for passing yards fell as well as Lee's backup Patrick Rae added 21 yards for a total of 450, surpassing the 445 compiled at Millikin last year. Three Vikings caught 100-plus yards in passes. Ball had eight grabs for 120 yards, Hundman caught eight for 101 and Zach McCullough was on the receiving end of four passes for 113 yards. Wood rushed for 77 yards on 19 carries and his effort was complimented by Alex Hembrey three carries for 39 yards) and Pena (three carries for 23 yards).
The Viking defense gave up 407 passing yards, but most were late with the game out of reach. Carthage managed just 60 rushing yards on 22 attempts as well. Danny Hess and Matt Glawe were each in on 10 tackles and Mago had a pair of interceptions
Augustana travels to Chicago next Saturday, October 23, to face North Park in a 1:00 p.m. contest.