Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
Treating a raucous Homecoming crowd to a runaway victory, the North Central College football team had no trouble remaining unbeaten Saturday, throttling the Augustana College Vikings, 58-6, at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.
The top-ranked Cardinals (3-0, 2-0 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) defeated Augustana for the 15th straight meeting and matched their largest margin of victory ever over the Vikings, scoring the final 44 points of the contest.
The hosts needed just two plays to open the scoring as Ethan Greenfield snared a swing pass from Luke Lehnen and darted 48 yards to the end zone. Greenfield started North Central's second possession with a 35-yard run, and four plays later, Lehnen connected with Andrew Kamienski for an 18-yard touchdown pass as the Cardinals led, 14-0, after just over four minutes of play.
The Vikings (1-2, 0-2 CCIW) followed with their lone scoring drive of the afternoon, covering 65 yards in 13 plays and scoring on quarterback Thomas Hall's two-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tag Grampp. Augustana followed with an onside kick and recovered the ball, but its subsequent drive was cut short when Nic Rummell intercepted Hall's pass at the North Central three-yard line. Rummell returned the pick 45 yards to near midfield and Greenfield put the Cardinals in the end zone again nine plays later with a three-yard scoring run.
In the final 5:03 of the second quarter, the Cardinals scored three more touchdowns, the first of which came after Jake Beesley blocked an Augustana field-goal attempt. Greenfield capped a 10-play, 72-yard drive with a one-yard TD plunge, and after a Viking punt, Lehnen unleashed a pass downfield to Blake Williams, who outraced the Augustana defense for a 69-yard touchdown reception. Greenfield capped the first-half scoring with an eight-yard TD run with just 20 seconds before halftime.
Both of North Central's third-quarter touchdown drives were scored by Terrence Hill, who punctuated an 11-play, 61-yard possession with a two-yard touchdown run before hauling in an 11-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Jake Johnson. The lone fourth-quarter points were scored by Cardinal kicker Thomas Mitchell, who converted a 41-yard field goal attempt with 3:21 to play.
The Cardinals gained 602 yards of total offense, eclipsing the 600-yard mark for the second time in three games, and their 392 total passing yards rank as the eighth-highest single-game total in the program's history. Lehnen completed 20 of 29 passes for 331 yards, hitting Kamienski 10 times for 124 yards. Greenfield gained 106 rushing yards on 16 attempts, and Tyler Rich and Ben Wong shared the team lead in tackles with five each.
North Central limited the Vikings to 189 yards of total offense, including just 57 yards after halftime. Hall completed 13 of 32 passes for 107 yards, finding Bobby Inserra four times for 46 yards. James Macklin was Augustana's leading tackler with nine stops.
The Cardinals travel to face Carroll University next Saturday. Kickoff at Schneider Stadium is set for 1:00 p.m.