North Central Looks to Stay Perfect
The North Central football team, coming off a big win over Wheaton face another orange and blue challenge this week: the Carroll University Pioneers on a beautiful fall day in Waukesha, Wisconsin. A win would mean reaching the halfway point of the regular season a perfect 5-0 and extend their winning streak over Carroll to 8.
First Half Blowout
Things got off to a perfect start for the Cardinals, as Terrence Hill takes the opening kickoff back 94 yards for a touchdown. It’s the senior’s first career kick return touchdown, and Cardinals running away from Pioneer defenders would be a theme of the day. Speaking of which, on North Central’s first offensive drive, Ethan Greenfield runs 52 yards for yet another touchdown, and just over three minutes in the Cardinals are up two scores.
After a second successive Carroll three-and-out, Jacob Paradee fields the punt and weaves his way into plus territory, which of course was shortly followed by another touchdown. Paradee the scorer of it as well on a pass from Luke Lehnen, 21-0 with over nine minutes still to play in the first quarter. That was plenty of time for a similar looking Lehnen touchdown pass, this one to Terrence Hill for both of their second touchdowns of the day. 28-0 at the end of the first, business as usual for the #1 team in the country.
The defense was doing plenty of good work to maintain the shutout, like this sack by Brandon Greifelt. On the next Cardinals drive, Lehnen stands in under pressure and floats a perfect pass down field for DeAngelo Hardy inside the Pioneers 10-yard-line. They link up again a couple plays later, this time for six. Lehnen’s third TD pass of the half and Hardy’s team-leading sixth of the season.
The hosts couldn’t get anything going on offense. Here quarterback Josh Raby tries to force a pass into a tight window but is picked off by Angelo Cusumano; the sophomore linebacker with a takeaway for the second week in a row. His good return once again sets up great field position, and once again it’s Terrence Hill with his third touchdown of the first half to make it 42-0 still in the second. But the Cardinals were far from done, an almost identical play to the one early from Lehnen to Hardy, but this time the ball gets caught in the wind and Hardy makes a great diving adjustment for the catch. It’s then Greenfield time again as he spins, stiff-arms and trucks his way to another rushing touchdown, already up to 11 on the season.
Last week the Cardinals beat the first half buzzer with a field goal. This week they do it with a touchdown pass, Lehnen to Peter Braithwaite with no time left. A staggering 56-0 lead for North Central at halftime.
Quick Second Half Recap
Quickly running through the second half scoring, Tanner Rains made a 39 yard field goal, his longest yet this year, and both Joe Sacco and Darius Byrd scored rushing touchdowns to extend the lead to 73.
Keeping the shutout was a point of pride for the Cardinals defense, and just when it looked as if they would lose it a Raby pass is deflected and then spectacularly intercepted with one hand by Adam Green. The Cardinals get their first shutout and largest margin of victory yet this season in a 73-0 romp.
