North Central head football coach Brad Spencer got his first win, first CCIW win, and now his first home win in the first three games of the season. The hurdles keep coming, though, as Wheaton awaits this weekend. This week on The Red Zone, Spencer contextualized where his team is at as they sit between a 70-point margin of victory over Elmhurst and what is likely their most difficult game of the regular season.
Offensive Fireworks and Shutdown Defense
Despite turning the ball over three times, the Cardinals put up 76 points against the Blue Jays. With nine different players credited with touchdowns, there was no shortage of positives to take from the first home game of the season.
“Any time you can rush for over 470 yards you’re going to be happy about that,” said Spencer of a performance that featured 10 different ball carriers. “Guys played hard and played for each other. We were efficient passing even with a couple of interceptions, so those are the things we have to clean up if we want to beat Wheaton.”
For North Central, the second half saw the starters get a rest and other players given the opportunity to make plays, a chance they certainly took advantage of.
“On both side of the ball we had young guys make some plays,” Spencer said, and specifically referring to the running backs and defensive backs. “Jake Johnson at quarterback is efficient, he knows what he’s doing, he knows what he’s looking at. It’s just fun to watch the guys play.”
The Cardinals tied a program record with six interceptions spread across first, second and even third team players. They even included two picks for defensive linemen, all of which helps give the defense as a whole tremendous confidence.
“Our goal no matter who’s in is we want to continue to play Cardinal football and make plays,” Spencer said. ” The defense only allowing 81 yards was a school record… really proud of our guys, how they played, and now we’ve gotta get ready for the real fun one.”
Brad Spencer on Wheaton Week
The real fun one, of course, being this week’s matchup against the Wheaton College Thunder in the Battle for the Little Brass Bell. As a member of the Cardinal Football family for the last 22 years, Brad Spencer has no shortage of experience with the rivalry, which he’s witnessed become increasingly competitive in recent years.
“As a player we never beat them, so I can’t there’s many memories,” said Spencer. “As a coach, beating them in 2005 for the first time in a number of years was certainly a memory. I remember the 2008 game at their place, we were both ranked in the top five in the country. And honestly last year. It’s been a few years since we’d beaten them and to see our guys wrestle that trophy back was really a lot of fun and we’re hoping for the same result this Saturday night.”
