North Central football hit the road to St. Louis for what may be their final road game of the year to take on the Washington University Bears with a chance to clinch at least a share of the CCIW conference title. But at 7-1 and still in the conference title hunt as well, the Bears were looking to play spoiler.
First Quarter
The Cardinals offense got right to work, taking just 8 plays on their first drive finished off by Luke Lehnen diving into the end zone
The Cardinals leaned heavily on Ethan Greenfield in the first quarter including on strong runs like this one
His deputy Terrence Hill was a frequent contributor as well, Lehnen here with all day to throw and find Hill down field for a gain of 37 yards
A couple plays later and here goes Lehnen, 17 yards for the score. He now has 9 rushing TDs on the season
Andrew Kamienski missed last week’s game but how’s this for a comeback? 77 yards to the house on the punt return, this on one of 4 straight WashU punts to begin the game. 21-0 Cardinals
It was another good game for the defensive line, their first sack a group effort between Dan Gilroy, Brandon Greifelt and Cameron Martin
Second Quarter
After another punt the Cardinals get the ball back and Ethan Greenfield goes straight through the middle of a pile of players to open up a 28-point lead for North Central
When the defense got back on the field, Dan Gilroy got right back into the backfield, the NCC sacks leader now with seven-and-a-half on the season
Fourth offensive drive now and it’s a fourth touchdown. After the earlier punt return look at this run after the catch from Kamienski complete with the dive over the pylon, his 9th of the season as he went over 900 receiving yards on the season
Ethan Greenfield would score the 5th straight offensive touchdown to being the game. The Cardinals looking unstoppable and up 42-0 at half time
Second Half
Matt Rush was on the run from Cardinals defenders all day. Brayden Lindmark and Cam Martin combine for this sack…one of four for the visitors on the day
Later in the drive WashU lines up a field goal, but Dan Gilroy gets a bear paw of his own on the ball before it’s fielded by Storm Simmons; the senior leaders continuing to make plays
And here is your regularly scheduled ‘Luke Lehnen deep down the middle touchdown pass to DeAngelo Hardy’ segment of the highlight. 49-0 at that point
One more sack to show: Lane Brinkman this time the man getting into the backfield
The running back stable showed out as they often do…first with this reversal of field and speed from Justin Lynch…and then Darius Byrd finishing things off for North Central’s final touchdown.
The Cardinals clinch at least a share of the CCIW conference title with a 59-20 win, which is definitely something to sing about.
